Chapter 2, Page 20, Book 19

Let everything we do and say be an expression of the beauty in our heart, always based on love.

Don Miquel Ruiz

February 20th - -Gratitude is one of the greatest ways we can show love.  

Saying thank you, creates love,

Daphne Rose Kingma

Thankfulness in whatever form, is essentially a way to love someone else.  Expressing our gratitude is a way of showing love.  As important as it is to feel gratitude, it’s important to express gratitude.  When we forget to show gratitude is is essentially forgetting to show love.  

We often forget to tell those we love, just how much they mean to us.  Forgetting to be grateful is forgetting to love.  Love is a precious thing and I want to make every effort to show my gratefulness. When we are grateful for another person we are much more likely to love them.

Saying thank you is such a simple thing, but I want those I love to know I’m grateful for whatever they have done for me.  Being grateful and expressing our love for someone through gratitude is easy, but it can get lost in the mix of life.  

When we feel gratitude  we feel love, joy, appreciation and peace.  Gratefulness is the essence of love and love is essential to gratitude.  Gratitude will keep us together

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.

Melody Beattie

Chapter 2, Page 19, 2019

Love just seems to make life not just livable, but a gallant, gallant event.

Toni Morrison

February 19th - bring love to every facet of your life.

Nothing should be prized more highly than the value of each day.

John van Goethe

There is so much in life to love, that love should be celebrated every day we live.  Love is thoughtfulness, Love is priceless.  Love is giving our all.  

Love where you are, love where you come from, love the things you do, love those around you.  Love yourself, love life and never let anyone stop it.

Seize every chance you get to celebrate love. Don’t let anything in this world stand in the way of love.  There is always time to love.  Love has no beginning or ending. Love is in the every day.  Love is eternal. 

What ever you do, do it in the name of love. Love doesn’t need ribbons and bows.  It requires no assembly or added accessory.  Love is one size fits all.  Regardless of ones age, station in life, or circumstance, love is aways welcomed , appreciated , cherished and treasured and should be celebrated.

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have truly lived are the moments when you done things in the spirit of Love. 

Henry Drummond

Chapter 2, Page 18, Book 19

God Bless America!  Land that I love…

Irving Berlin

February 18 - for the love of country

And I’m proud to be an American

Where at least I know I’m free

And I won’t forget the men who died

Who gave that right to me

And I’d gladly stand up next to you

And defend Her still today

‘Cause there ain’t no doubt

I love this land

God Bless the USA!

Lee Greenwood

Since today is Presidents Day I thought it appropriate to write about love of country.  I am proud to be an American.  My heart beats red white and blue. 

I grew up reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every morning during my school days which instilled a great love of this land.  I learned that divided we fall, united we stand.

Our U.S. Nation Anthem by Francis Scott Keys says it well.

O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilights last gleaming,

Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight

O’er the rampagers we watched, were so gallantly streaming?

And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air.

Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;

O say does that star spangled banner yet wave

O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Love of country is call patriotism.  It is good to love your country because that is where you live. This song reminds me of the sacrifices of those who fought for our freedom of speech, religion and worship. I’m proud to say I’m a part of such a nation.  

Patriotism is love of country. But you can’t love you country with loving your countrymen and countrywomen.  We don’t always have to agree, but we must empower each other, we must find the common ground, we must build bridges across our differences to pursue the common good.

Cory Booker

Chapter 2, Page 17, Book 19

Be faithful to your love and you will be recompensed beyond measure.

Albert Schweizer

February 17 - faithfulness

Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others.

Erich Fromm

The quality of being faithful means loyal, full of faith or trust. Firmly and resolutely staying with a person , group, cause, belief or idea without waver, despite the circumstances, Faithful love endures for ever. 

We live in a culture where faithfulness is hard to find. Too many don’t want to work, they don’t want to be loyal or faithful.  Everybody wants, but not many are faithful or willing to pay the price for what they want. If they don’t like it here, they go there.  Many companies are struggling to recruit faithful loyal people.  

Faithfulness is the heart, that is where you find loyalty.  Faithful in little things is the indication you will be faithful in the larger things. Faithful to our jobs, to our kids, or to our spouses.

Faithfulness will give you a peace beyond understanding, chronic happiness, an uncontrollable sense of pride, strong confidence, a feeling of security and a real connection with others. 

Be faithful in small things because it is in them your strength lies.

Mother Teresa

Chapter 2, Page 16, Book 19

Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person they are almost indistinguishable. 

David Augsberger

February 16th - talk less, listen more

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a king word, a listening ear, a compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.

Leo Buscaglia

It is often hard to listen and resist the temptation to give advice.  But just listening is often the best thing we can do to show our love for others. Being a good listener is often more important than speaking.  Truth is the better you listen, the better people will listen to you.

When you listen, just listen and don’t interrupt. Sometimes that is all that is needed for someone to be able to vent for a few minutes and figure things out for themselves.  Everyone needs to let off a little steam now and then and people love a good listener.  

The first duty of love is to listen.

Paul Tillich

Listening is a great way to show others that they matter to us.  When we give them our full attention, we make it clear to the other person that we care. The best thing we can do is be there for them when they want to talk.

Listening leads to a better understanding of others.  Because what effects the people we care about, often effects us too.  

God gave us mouths that close and ears that don’t, that must tell us something.

Anonymous

Chapter 2, Page 15, Book 19

You must remember to love people and use things,

Rather than to love things and use people

Fulton J. Sheen

February 15th -people matter to me

A good motto is: Use friendliness but do not use your friends.

Frank Crane

People were created to be loved.  Things were created to be used.  Sad but true the world is full of things that are being loved and people that are being used.  There is an unhealthy inclination in our world to remove people from our lives who no longer serve us.

Our closets may be full, but our hearts are empty.  Many people put countless value on possessions, not people. Things begin to go wrong  when things are loved and people are not.

I’ve had it happen, maybe you have had it happen to you too,  there have been people in my life that were only friends as I long as I served their purpose.  When I no longer did what they wanted, or gave them what they needed,  they dropped me as a friend.  What I’d thought of as a person to love, was not a true friend at all.

As far as I’m concerned people will always matter to me more than the things I have.  

Who doesn’t want to know that we notice them and value them? And who might respond to us better when they feel that they matter?  It cannot be overstated - it matters… that people matter.

Steve Goodier

Chapter 2, Page 14, 2019

A Valentine Prayer

I said a Valentine prayer

 for you and asked the Lord

above to fill your heart

and bless your soul with

the precious gift of love.

I asked Him for sincere love

The kind that’s meant to stay

Just like the generous love

You give to those

you touch each day

I prayed for love from 

family and every 

cherished friend. Then I

asked the Lord to give you

His love that knows no end.

February 14th - Happy Valentines Day

Valentines Day is the highlight of February, the month of Love. It’s a day to truly appreciate the love that it is all around us. But it doesn’t have to be the only day you show your love for family, friends and for yourself. 

Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends time and space.

Author Unknown