Seasons of the Soul

Food for Thought

A little boy is telling his Grandma how everything is going
wrong. School, family problems, severe health problems,
etc.

Meanwhile, Grandma is baking a cake. She asks her grandson
if he would like a snack, which, of course, he does.

“Here, have some cooking oil."

Yuck," says the boy.

“How about a couple raw eggs?"

“Gross, Grandma!"

“Would you like some flour then? Or maybe baking soda?"

“Grandma, those are all yucky!"

To which Grandma replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad by themselves.  But when they are put together in the right way,they make a wonderfully delicious cake!"

God's $20 Bill

A well known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.  In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this?"

Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."  He proceeded to crumple the  bill up.

He then asked, "Who still wants it?"  Still the hands were up in the air.  "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?"  And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson.  No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value.  It was still worth $20. 

“Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way.  We may feel as though we are worthless.  But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value in God's eyes."

Whether dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless!

The worth of our lives comes not in what we do, but in who we are.

~Author unknown

Optimism

On his way home one day, a friend stopped to watch a Little League base ball game that was being played in a park near his home. As he sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, he asked one of the boys what the score was.
"We're behind 14 to nothing," the boy answered with a smile.
"Really,"  my friend said. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged."
"Discouraged?", the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet."
~Author unknown

"I Just Helped Him Cry"

Author and lecturer, Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four-year-old child, whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.       

When  his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy replied,

"Nothing, I just helped him cry."

Worth 8 Cows!

On a certain isolated Pacific island where it was the custom that when a young man proposed marriage, he would announce his intention to the entire village. Then he and the whole community would go to the young woman's home and barter with the woman’s father for her. The main item of value on the island was the cow. The all-time record was set by a man who gave four cows for an especially attractive woman.

Imagine the shock to the village when its most eligible, handsome bachelor, Johnny Lingo, announced that his choice was a, plain, frightfully shy girl named Lisa. The community gathered at Lisa's house for the bartering. Then came an even greater shock. Johnny's opening bid for Lisa was eight cows! Her father almost fainted, but he gladly accepted. After the wedding the couple departed for their home on an adjacent island.

For a full year no one saw Johnny and Lisa. Then on their first anniversary they returned to visit their parents. From the moment they arrived at the dock, the word spread, "Come and see Johnny and Lisa! You won't believe it!" Everybody came, but nobody noticed Johnny. All eyes were on Lisa. She had been transformed! She was a vision of loveliness. She was poised, warm, friendly, and confident.
At the end of the day as Johnny and Lisa were preparing to return to their home, one of Johnny's long-time friends pulled him aside and said, "I want to know the secret of this amazing transformation in Lisa. How did it happen?"

Johnny said, "I will tell you. From the time Lisa was born, she had been treated as though she was not worth very much. She had begun to believe that about herself. But I announced to the community that she was an 8-cow wife, and I have treated her just that way. She has become that vision of herself that she sees every day in my eyes."

Whether we want to have an eight-cow friend, relative, or spouse, it begins with  treating that person like they are an eight-cow person.
Author Unknown

The Piano Lesson

Wishing to encourage her young son's progress on the piano, a mother
took the small boy to a Paderewski concert.  After they were seated,
the mother spotted a friend in the audience and walked down the aisle to
greet her.

Seizing the opportunity to explore the wonders of the concert hall,
the little boy rose and eventually explored his way through a door marked
"NO ADMITTANCE."

When the house lights dimmed and the concert was about to begin, the
mother returned to her seat and discovered that her son was missing.

Suddenly, the curtains parted and spotlights focused on the impressive
Steinway on stage.  In horror, the mother saw her little boy sitting at
the keyboard, innocently picking out  "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."

At that moment, the great piano master made his entrance, quickly moved
to the piano, and whispered in the boy's ear, "Don't stop; "Keep playing."
Then  leaning over, Paderewski reached down with his left hand and began 
filling in a bass part.  Soon his right arm reached around to the other
side of the child and he added a running obbligato.  Together, the old
master and the young novice transformed a frightening situation into a
wonderfully  creative experience. The audience was mesmerized.

That's the way it is with God. What we can accomplish on our own is hardly
noteworthy.  We try our best, but the results aren't exactly graceful
flowing music.

But with the hand of the Master, our life's work truly can be beautiful.
The next time that you set out to accomplish great feats, listen  carefully.
You can hear the voice of Spirit whispering in your ear, "Don't quit;
"Keep playing." Feel loving arms around you as the strong hands of your Creator
are playing the concert of your life.

Remember, God doesn't call the equipped; God equips the called. 
~Author Unknown

Rose

The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know.  I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.

She said, "Hi handsome.  My name is Rose.  I'm eighty-seven years old. “Can I give you a hug?"  I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.

"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.  She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."  "No seriously," I asked.

I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. "I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one!" she told me. After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop.  I was always mesmerized listening to this
"time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.

Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and easily made friends wherever she went.  Sheloved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students.  She was living it up.

At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet and I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium.  As she began to deliver her prepared Speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said "I'm sorry. I'm so jittery.  I gave up beer for Lent and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know." As we laughed she cleared her throat and began:

"We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.  There are only four secrets to staying young, being  happy, and achieving success.

"You have to laugh and find humor every day You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die.  We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!"

"There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up.  If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one proactive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight.  Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change."
                        
"Have no regrets.  The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."

She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She  challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year’s end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.  One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that

it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.
~Author Unknown

He Will Sit As The Purifier and Refiner of Silver

There was a group of women in a Bible study on the book of Malachi. As they were studying Chapter 3, they came across Verse 3 which says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver". 

This verse puzzled the women and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible study. 

That week this woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest so as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, then she thought again about the verse that says "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. 

The man answered that yes, he had not only to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. For if the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered "That's the easy part, when I see my image reflected in it."   -Author unknown

The Precious Stone

There was once a wise woman traveling in the mountains who found a
precious stone in a stream. The next day she met another traveler
who was hungry, and she opened her bag to share her food. The
hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked if she might give
it to him. She did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime. But only a few days later he came back to return the stone to the woman who had given it to him.

"I've been thinking," he said, "I know how valuable the stone is,
but I'm giving it back in the hope that you can give me something
even more precious. I want you to give me what you have within you
that enabled you to give me the stone."             

~Author unknown

To Know Tao

To know Tao, meditate and still the mind.

Knowledge comes with perseverance.

The Way is neither full nor empty:

A modest and quiet nature undersands this.

The empty vessel, the uncarved block: nothing is more mysterious.

When enlightenment arrives, don't talk too much about it:

Just live it in your own way.

With humility and depth, rewards come naturally.

The fragrance of blossoms soon passes:

the ripeness of fruit is gone in a twinkling.

Our time in this world is so short, better to avoid regret:

Miss no opportunity to savor the ineffable.

Like a golden beacon signaling on a moonless night,

Tao guides our passage through the transitory realm.

In moments of darkness and pain, remember all is cyclical.

Sit quietly behind your wooden door:

Spring will come again.

~Loy Ching Yuen