Love thy neighbor???

Neighbor: 1: One living or located near another
2: Fellow man

My neighbor on my left side's name is Patrick, he is an exceptional father and a true famliy man.
My neighbor on my right side's name is Fannie, she is a stay at home mother of two, she is a dedicated mother and loves to laugh.

Patrick once found me trying to wrestle the snow from our driveway, he went behind his house for a moment came back with a snowplough and ploughed the whole driveway. This was the first time we had ever talked, he didn't even know my name at the time.

Fannie just moved on to our street about two weeks ago, she introduced herself immediately and we have already exchanged houseplants and gifts for our respective children.

There is a little boy named Steve whom I had the pleasure of meeting last week at the park where I sometimes bring my children. As he was swinging upside down from the monkey bars two blades fell from his napsack. Without ever having spoken to him before, I immediately began to question this boy about where he found those blades and why he had them in his bag. I spent the following hour trying to wrap his 12 year old mind around what it means to pierce the flesh of another human being and draw blood or worse yet, kill. I made him think about what it would be like to have to be sentenced with time in jail and labeled as a murderer.
In the end he understood, I walked him home on the way to my home, each of us holding one hand on either side of my 3 year old whom he played with while we spoke. The boy had a good heart and I can tell he like the way that I spoke to him, he liked being treated like a young adult, because that is what he is. He had begun to think of himself as a degenerate, simply because the people in his life treated him so.

Is it not our responsibility, as fellow human beings, to treat eachother like good neighbors? We love on the same planet and breath the same air and we all bleed blood and must die one day. Our time here is so short, and yet we constantly ignore any chance we have at doing good for one another.

We all watch the news or read the paper, and there is no question that the world is filled to the brim with terrible, nightmarish situations and people. It is easy to chain up our doors and pretend not to see the people around us so as to avoid "potential" dangers or whatever it is people hide from.

We complain about change needing to happen everywhere, but are WE as individuals willing to make the changes within ourselves to suit the outcome that we wish to see?

When I met that little boy Steve, and saw two giant blades slip from his bag, Steve became my own son at that moment, he became my responsibility, simply because he is my neighbor, my fellow man.

Patrick had finished his driveway and could have gone inside and warmed himself with some hot cocoa on that cold winter day, but I am his neighbor, his fellow man and he felt it to be his responsibility to help a woman who was trying to shovel her driveway while attending to her toddler.

Fannie could have pretended not to notice me as I was walking towards my front door, but instead she called out to me to get my attention so that she could introduce herself, she felt it her responsibility to simply exchange pleasantries with her neighbor and fellow man, which in turn created a budding friendship.

I challenge you today to go out there and do some nice things for people who's name's you don't know! We can be mindful of our safety without being rude and unsocial.

Assault on a gentle spirit

I warn you that the following post is not my usual type of post. It was written on a day that my heart was heavy with burdens. We all have these sorts of days and it is important to remember during trying times, that there is a greater purpose in our life and keeping our minds and hearts on the end goal and on the Word and Ways of God, will keep us from the temptation to fall away from our path.

One day slips into another. Am I happy? Am I doing all that is important and necessary to my happiness. Do my dreams correspond with my final day’s fulfillment?
How difficult the hours of my day are as I try to fulfill my life’s desires while attending to my children my husband, my friends and family, strangers, enemies and loved ones. Everyone demands a moment of my time...My time, the time that becomes increasingly valuable to me as I grow wiser and older and closer to my final moments.
I am a small voice in the vast ocean of egos that assault this air. No one can hear me and no one cares to hear me because most are consumed by their own desires and dramas. I listen to their needs attentively hoping that it will inspire one to return the courtesy. Most never do and never will. This is the world and I must continue to breathe in it even as the air is assaulting my lungs and giving me cancer.
I must smile and forgive even as I feel the next assault coming on.
I am promised a place in the kingdom if I can only remain a pillar on earth. I shall abide because I cannot imagine an eternity without light, without comfort without the king of kings attending to my many wounds. Oh and they are many. My gentle spirit has been through the spin cycle too many times and counting.
What does it all matter anyhow? The money, the glory, the riches, the clothing. The fancy homes and shiny accessories? These things can never bring me the peace that I so dearly crave and need. What I crave, what I need are the molecules, the itsy bitsy fragments of cells in my body that tell my brain to tell me that I am happy and healthy, peaceful and loved. Appreciated and cared for. Everything is so senseless. Glory to God for the way the truth and the life, for without it my life would have no purpose, no form and shape.
Words printed and visible for the eyes to read make my voice louder than it can ever truly be.

~Ecclesiastes 12: 13+14~

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.

Work hard, Play harder!

I have recently come to understand that just working hard in life will not ensure us great personal success. Nor does it ensure great financial success for that matter! Hard work needs to be mixed with such core values as, integrity, compassion, vision, and a deep driving desire to reap the greatest rewards.Most importantly, having a joyful disposition will make even the most difficult of workdays smoother and more enjoyable. How dreadful a thing it is to not find joy in what you do and how you live.

I have witnessed people who are labeled "workaholics" who work night and day, yet don't seem to have any satisfaction either in their pocketbook nor in the area of personal accomplishment. The lives of these people sadden me deeply because I value life, I know that our time is our greatest commodity. Our time cannot be bought nor sold, it is PRICELESS and IRREPLACEABLE, so it is important to use the precious hours and days, minutes and seconds of our life and our time with the greatest of care. What good is a 16hr work day if it hasn't helped you to move any closer to your goals or desires?

I am a firm believer that small chunks of time used everyday to work on our life goals will without a doubt reward us with our hearts desire in time. The key,however, is to be CONSISTENT. This is a VERY VALUABLE way of spending one's time.

Our day's work should not end at the end of a work day. Especially if we are working for someone else doing something that we don't love. Instead, our workday should just be begining! Instead of parking ourselves in front of the TV night after night right after supper, why not get down to the business of LIVING! MOVING! PLAYING! Even if you love your job, that isn't a reason to stop dreaming and planning and living.
I don't know about you, but I know that I definately do NOT want to live to pay my bills!

So, try something different tonight after work and supper. Go for a long walk with someone you love, or take up a class that teaches something that intrigues you. Read a book, do some exercise, just try it...You can do it! I believe in you ( :
If you need ideas of what to do, then try writing down some of the dreams or goals or any interest that you have and then try to chose an activity that will be a fun way to explore those interest or goals.


If you have a crush on an italian guy at work, then take an italian class for beginners, practice with your crush...who knows where that can lead ( ;
If you have always wanted to learn how to knit, start up a knitting group that meets once a week to just chat, knit and enjoy some good times.
Have a sweet tooth? Take up a baking class! I'm sure you get the point by now, if not...then let me spell it out for you... HAVE FUN, amuse yourself and enjoy yourself, doing something thing that is foreign to you. You never know where this may lead you!

~Think and grow rich- Napoleon Hill~

Strange and varied are the ways of life, and stranger still are the ways of infinite intelligence, through which people are sometimes forced to undergo all sorts of punishment before discovering their own brains, and their own capacity to create useful ideas tthrough imagination.

~ 1 Corinthians 2:9~

But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.