Government

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have! (Thomas Jefferson)

Reason, Season, Lifetime

People come into our lives for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When we know which one it is, we will know how to react to that person.

When someone is in my life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need for which I have expressed. They have come to assist me through a difficulty, to provide me with guidance and support, or to aid me physically, emotionally or spiritually. They may seem like a godsend and thay are. They are there for the reason I need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on my part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes thay act up and force me to take a stand. What I must realize is that my need has been met, my desire fulfilled, and their work is done. The prayer I sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Then some people come into my life for a SEASON, because it is my turn to share, grow or to learn. They bring an experience of peace of make me laugh. They may teach me something I have never done before. They usually give me an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, because it is real. But, only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach me lifetime lessons, things I must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. My job, in this case, is to accept the lesson, love the person, and put what I have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of my life.

So, whether it is I, you, or someone else, let us thank whomever for being a part of our lives, whether they were for a REASON, a SEASON or a LIFETIME.

Too Busy

I've no doubt my day of accounting for taking on too many and varied things lately is fast approaching. I am not particularly looking forward to it. Still, the ride is fun for the moment. If only I could get things under control a bit more.

Three Favorite Questions

1. Yes, it is a matter of opinion, but the more important question is whether that opinion is right or wrong. (Lady Socrates)

2. The quality of our lives depends far less on what we do not have or what is done to us, than on how we choose to think about and respond to our situatiion. (Ibid)

3.It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied, and if the fool or the pig are of different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the comparision knows both sides. (John Stuart Mills)

Considering a Question

Considering the question of why did something happen, all I can do is try to rise beyond the question of why, and begin to ask what do I do now that it has happened?

Fireflies

When I was a small child, on summer nights I would playfully run through the yard catching twinkling lightening bugs which I imprisoned in a lidded jar. I thought them to be tiny fairies, for whatever in the world could they be otherwise? After catching dozens upon dozens of these little fireflies, I would sit on the ground and watch them engage in their playful attitudes, seemingly unaware of their glass prison. If they were really fairies, why did they not look like fairies? Once, my Dad told me that maybe I had caught the Queen of Fairies, whose name was Boadicea. Attaching a proper name to one of them made me wish I had never imprisoned a single one. Today, I know that one cannot see a fairie with, or without, a name unless one believes in fairies. I suppose that is one reason why I no longer catch fireflies. I am grounded in reality.

Solitude

Ah, solitude! Defined as being alone or in a secluded place, I find it interesting that soliloquy and solitaire immediately precede solitude in Webster's, and solo follows it. Each of these words deals with aloneness, being apart from anything which, or anyone who, would interfere with my person. It seems trite to say "in this busy world of today". . .but, that IS the reason I need solitude. Solitude helps to strengthen me and change whatever is necessary, so that I am not constantly buffeted by new experiences.

A Penny's Worth of Good Wishes

Not often, but sometimes, when I am relaxing in a beautiful garden, I envision how things should be, or could be. It is then that I entertain my dreams and consider wishes for tomorrow. When I was younger, I remember tossing pennies into fountains and making wishes. Then I would attempt to count the pennies shinning all coppery under the sparkling, gentle quaking of the water. Someone once told me that if I picked up any penny from the water, the wish of that penny's person would be given to me. I remember walking around a particularly lovely fountain, with the desire to reach in and take a penny's worth of good wishes. As I thought on this, my hesitancy increased due to that unknown factor attached to each penny. How wise to be satisfied with my own dreams and wishes, for I never know what another's dreams and wishes may visit upon me.