Inspirations
"I don't know what your destiny will be,
but one thing I do know:
The only ones among you who will be really happy
are those who have sought and found how to serve."
Dr. Albert Schweitzer
"Joshua's Rainbow"
Joshua's rainbow hugs his house,
arching snugly over roof and down again.
Ajacent sunflowers, orange and yellow, loom large,
as tall as the rainbow.
Somehow the house smiles,
or perhaps it's Joshua
smiling through the paint.
I hold his creation in my hand,
this paper found upon my doorstep,
and conjure images of this child
suddenly and tearfully aware of his loss,
or his disappointed mother
searching the sidewalks with a flashlight,
deep into the night.
Perhaps Joshua just tired of the game:
one more picture to carry home,
one more picture to go from hand
to refrigerator to a drawer somewhere.
Of course, he might have dropped it,
simply deliberately dropped it,
weary of the routine.
Or maybe other children ridiculed his efforts -
making fun of the rainbow hugging his house,
and the too-large sunflowers,
orange and yellow...
so that Joshua, embarrassed and temporarily defeated,
threw down the drawing
in a gesture of not caring.
I suppose it'd be too much to hope for that
Joshua saw that rainbow above our door,
and felt a kindred spirit,
and even entertained the thought
that perhaps someone who lived here
would understand and appreciate
his perception.
Whatever happened, the artist
- a very young man -
created his inward smile
upon manila paper,
and somehow his creation
found its way into the heart of another
who celebrates hugging rainbows,
smiling houses,
and overzealous sunflowers.
Who knows through what mysterious notes of grace
our inner smiling spirits connect...
I do know I am smiling now
and so is my spirit.
Thank you, God ... for Joshua.
From: "Searching for Shalom" by Ann Barr Weems, 1991
The Burden of the Day
No man ever sank under the burden of the day. It is when tomorrow's burden is added to the burden of the day, that the weight is more than a man can bear.
George MacDonald
The weight of nothing
"Tell me the weight of a snowflake," a coal-mouse asked a wild dove. "Nothing more than nothing," was the answer. "In that case, I must tell you a marvellous story," the coal-mouse said. "I sat on a branch on a fir, close to its trunk, when it began to snow - not heavily, not a raging blizzard - no, just like a dream, without any wind and without any violence. I counted the snowflakes settling on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3 741 952. When the 3 741 953rd dropped on the branch - nothing more than nothing, as you say - the branch broke off." Having said that, the coal-mouse flew away. The dove, since Noah's time an authority on the matter, thought about the story for awhile and finally said to himself, "Perhaps there is only one person's voice lacking for peace to come to the world."
Dolly Parton
In order to see the rainbow, you must first experience the rain.
Be the best you can be
If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill, Be a scrub in the valley - but be The best little scrub by the side of the rill; Be a bush, if you can't be a tree. If you can't be a bush, be a bit of the grass, And some highway happier make; If you can't be a muskie, then just be a bass - But the liveliest bass in the lake! We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew, There's something for all of us here. There's big work to do and there's lesser to do And the task we must do is the near. If you can't be a highway, then just be a trail, If you can't be the sun, be a star; It isn't by size that you win or you fail - Be the best of whatever you are!
Douglas Malloch
It couldn't be done
Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled that thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go do it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.
Edgar A. Guest
God sees the scars
When some friend has proved untrue - betrayed your simple trust; Used you for his selfish ends and trampled in the dust The past, with all its memories and all its sacred ties, The light is blotted from the sky - for something in you dies. Bless your false and faithless friend, just smile and pass along. GOD must be the judge of it; He knows the right from wrong. Life is short, don't waste the hours by brooding on the past; His great laws are good and just; truth conquers at the last. Red and deep our wounds may be - but after all the pain GOD'S own finger touches us and we are healed again. With faith restored, and trust renewed - we look towards the stars. The world will see the smiles we have - but GOD will see the scars.
Anonymous
He was a flop at 33
He was a flop at 33. His whole career was one of failure and of loss The thing that's most distressful Is he could have been successful But, instead of climbing up, he climbed a cross. He was a flop at 33. He jumped from carpentry to preaching to the mob. He never was adjusted He spend his whole life busted He never got promoted on the job. He never saved a single cent And Dun & Bradstreet wouldn't list him on their list; He could not establish credit You might as well be dead At 33 as have your credit not exist. He spend his time with fisherfolk When there were more important contacts to be made. He would contemplate a flower And ignore the cocktail hour. It's no wonder that he never made the grade. He took his lunch out to the park. He shared his fish and bread with others like a fool. He'd commute afoot to work Like any petty filing clerk. He never rode...except that time he took the mule. He never bought a pin-striped suit, He always went without a hat, and wore a beard. He never bought his wife a fur; In fact, he never had a her. So you can see why folks who know him call him weird. He had no place to lay his head, He never had a home or owned a swimming pool. The one thing that's bewild'ren' Is he never had no children, 'Cause it helps if you can manage private school. He was licked right from the start When he said do unto others as you'd wish they'd do to you For to make it you must strive And, of course, the fit survive You gotta do the others in - or they'll do you! He paid no head to social code The status factors that help you get ahead. Now you and I have never stopped And yet our names are seldom dropped The way that they've been dropping his since he's been dead.
We fought our way up to the top We're all established and successful folks of worth. So the thing that puzzles me, Is that this flop at 33 Became the most successful man to live on Earth.