#inspiration

UNEXPECTED GIFT

 

What often makes this trip so alluring and appealing

as on the river of life we drift…

is how every now and then 

Fate loves to hand us…

 
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TALKE A MOMENT

 

May we be blessed to take a moment 

to remind ourselves

as each new day begins…

not to race from moment to moment

without taking a moment every now and then

to embrace the moment we are in.

 
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I'VE SLOWED DOWN

 

As I’ve grown a little older…when I stop to look around

I see life moves as fast as it always has…but it’s me who has slowed down.

 

As I climb the ladder of life…each year reaching a new rung…

I’m slowed by knees and eyes and ears 

that don’t work as well as they did when I was young.

 

“You can’t run on me anymore!”

That’s what my knees would say if my knees could talk.

So instead of running from place to place…I’ve been forced to walk.

 

And while I’m walking 

because my eyes don’t see as clearly as they used to see

I’m forced to walk a little slower and sometimes stop…

to see what I want to see. 

 

Because my hearing over the years has started to fade away

I have to look more people in the eye and listen more carefully

to what they have to say.

 

But…since I have to walk more slowly, 

and look and listen more carefully to the world around me…

I find I have the time to enjoy a little more 

the people and the beauty that surrounds me.

 

Which makes me wonder about all the beauty I might have missed…

all the wonder

all the fun…

back when I had eyes and ears that worked much better…

atop knees on which I’d run.

 
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FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

 

 

When we love someone…with our whole body, soul and heart

We make a vow to love them, for better or for worse…until death do us part.

 

But what if we are meant to love everyone…no matter how different or diverse?

What if with every person we touch we have the opportunity…the choice…

to make their life a little better…or a little worse?

 

There are some things we cannot choose.. in life…that are written in the stars…

For instance…I didn’t choose to be born the person I am…

any more than you chose to be who you are.

 

I did not choose to be born…or the moment my life would begin…

I didn’t choose how tall I’d be, what foods I’d like…the color of my eyes or skin.

 

I didn’t choose to be straight anymore than others chose to be L, G, B or T.

I was not blessed, as the Native American’s believed, with two spirits inside of me.

 

But if you believe in a God…don’t you have to marvel at his or her creativity…

knowing…if I was born a different way…I would still be me. 

 

And if you were born a different way…a different gender…

if your eyes were brown instead of blue

you would still be who you are…you would still be you.

 

And here is where choice enters the equation…

if you believe the same God who created you…also created me

then you can choose to accept me, to love me, to hate me

or to simply let me be.

 

Every day as into this life on Earth we are immersed

we have a chance…a choice when we touch another person’s life

to make that life a little better…or a little worse.

 

Today I pray we all choose to make every life we touch a little better…

to enhance, enliven and strengthen every heart…

no matter how different or diverse we are from one another…

until…death do us part.

 
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AN ANGEL AND TWO OWLS

 

When my life turns upside down and the stars no longer align…

I know this may sound crazy but…I search the world for signs.

 

I look to people, to nature, to animals…to the sky, the sea, the land…

to help me cope with a confusing world I no longer understand.

 

At Christmas time Dunedin businesses decorate our lamp posts 

with garland, ornaments and lights…

They’re meant to bring peace and joy into our days…

and brighten up our nights.

 

On Main Street…in front of a church…

where many have left a hope, 

a dream, 

a prayer…

stands a lamp post decorated with an angel…

who looks like she’s hovering in the air..

 

I stopped in front of this angel…

well before the break of day…

and two owls who’d been perched upon the post…

quickly flew away.

 

And I thought to myself…an angel and two owls… 

were these two symbols sent to help me cope?

to remind me I would be wise…not to abandon hope.?

 

Yes, it may sound crazy…but I took them as a sign…

and immediately I felt better…and my stars began to realign…

 

Who would have thought on a day I was felling low…

a day my heart and spirit needed feedin’

I’d find my strength and hope and courage…

from an angel and two owls on a lamp post in Dunedin.

 
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4 STEPS

 

There are 4 steps in the fulfillment of our dreams…

4 steps…of which even Walt Disney was aware…

 

Step 1 … you think

Step 2 … you believe

Step 3 … you dream

and Step 4 …is when you dare

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ONE DAY NEVER CAME

 

They had big dreams the day they wed…

The kind of dreams you make when you’re young…you know!

They planned all the things they wanted to do…

all the places they wanted to go.

 

As they made their list of dreams…such a wide and diverse array…

He would smile…hold her hand and say…

“We’ll do them all…one day”.

 

But there were jobs and children a house…a car…

something was always getting in the way…

In their quiet times he would smile, hold her hand and say

“We’ll get to our dreams…one day”.

 

She would bring one up occasionally…

asking him if today’s the day…

He would smile, hold her hand…

“Not today…but one day.” he would say. 

 

Now…as she looks at his empty chair…

she remembers how he use to say…

while smiling, and holding her hand…

“We’ll get to our dreams…one day”.

 

Although she has been happy…

and she knows he felt the same…

a twinge of sadness fills her heart

knowing…one day…never came.

 
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FAIRY TALE LIVES

 

For me…when times are rough…I think back to Fairy Tales….

How evil wins its share of battles…but in the end…how good prevails.

 

Whenever I fight evil…sometimes I lose…sometimes I win…

and oftentimes I’m in need of mending….

but I truly believe for every Once Upon a Time 

there should be a happy ending.

 

I also know life in not always a Fairy Tale…

filled with joy and love…and laughter…

I know there is pain and suffering and heartache in our world

and that everyone does not life Happily Ever After.

 

But…having been influenced by Fairy Tales all my life… 

my mission is a simple one:

To enter into the fairy tale of everyone I meet…

so when their story’s done…

 

I may not have been able to come to their rescue 

riding a white horse…like a knight…

but their lives will end a little happier…

because of the pages I helped write.

 
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EMILY'S MESSAGE

 

 The wedding was completed…

in the cabin only Damien, Trista, Deborah and I remained.

when we heard the unmistakable sound of a bird

crashing into our window pane.

 

We ran out on the deck and were happily amazed…

to find a little warbler standing there…

She seemed unhurt, unscathed…

but she was definitely dazed. 

 

We knew it was best to let her be…

so we told her she was welcomed to stay…

to take all the time she needed…

to get herself ready to fly away.

 

We were hoping all she needed was a little time to get herself together

to take a little rest

and, sure enough, the third time we checked on her

she had flown back to her nest.

 

Once we knew that warbler was safe…that she had only been stunned….

my mind immediately found their way…to the words of Emily Dickinson:

 

If I can stop one heart from breaking

I shall not live in vain.

If I can ease one life the aching

Or cool one pain

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again

I shall not live in vain.

 

Of course she was talking about a male robin not a female warbler

but it really doesn’t matter the gender or the name….

or, for that matter, if she was talking about animals or humans…

Emily’s message is the same.

 
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