Chapter 3, Page 31, Book 19

The motto of those who know the joy of working -- who bring joy to their work, their lives and into the lives of others, who use their time and talents to the fullest — is T.G.I.T., or Thank God It's Today.  They know that happiness takes place in the present; it can’t be reserved for another — a better time.

Dennis Waitley

March 31st - Joy is a decision

Joy is not in things; it in us.

Richard Wagner

Joy should not be based on your circumstances, but by having the right mind set. Joy depends on your decision to enjoy life, to be happy with who you are and where you are. 

We don’t have a choice when it comes to our circumstances, but we do have a responsibility to decide how we are going to react to them.

Every day may not be a good one, but there is something good to be found in every day when you take the time to look for it. When you focus on the good, you can’t help but be joyful.  Life is always brighter when we focus on what's important.

Joy does not simply happen to us.  We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.

Henry Nouwen

I count my blessings every day and that simple practice, brings more and more joy in my life.  You can’t help but be happy when thinking about all the things you have to be thankful for.

You can choose to focus on the negative, but then you miss out on all the beauty and happiness to be found in each day. In the end what matters is that our lives were filled with JOY.

Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take when it runs by.

Carl Sandburg

Chapter 3, Page 30, Book 19

Everyone Needs Someone

People need people and friends need friends

And we all need love for a full life depends

Not on vast riches or great acclaim,

Not on success or on worldly fame.

But just in knowing that someone cares.

And holds us close in their thoughts and prayers

For only the knowledge that we’re understood

Makes everyday living feel wonderful good,

And we rob ourselves of life’s greatest need.

When we lock up our hearts and fail to heed

The outstretched hand reaching to find

A Kindred spirit whose heart and mind

Are lonely and longing to somehow share

Our joys and sorrows and to makes aware

That life’s completeness and richness depends

On the things we share with our loved ones

and friends.

Helen Steiner Rice

March 30th - money is not everything

Friends and good manners will carry you where money won’t go.

Margaret Walker

There is nothing quite like having a good friend.  I have relatives that are my friends and many of my friends are like family. I have old friends and a few new ones, all more precious than gold.

Manners Matter. Treating a friend with good manners shows thoughtfulness and thoughtfulness cultivates the groundwork for friendship to thrive.  How you do something can be just as important as what you do.

It takes a lot of understanding, time and trust to gain a close friendship with someone.  As I approach a time in life of complete uncertainty, my friends are most precious asset.

Erynn Miller

In the end, only our relationships will matter. Tend them well. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster.

No act of love or kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.  Relationships flourish when two people are able to share their feelings and thoughts with each other.  

The most important decision you will ever make is what you do with the time that’s been given to you.  To have a good friend, you must be one.

A friend is what the heart needs all the time.

Henry van Dyke

Chapter 3, Page 29, Book 19

How would you feel if you had no fear?

Feel like that.

How would you behave toward other people 

if you realized their powerlessness to hurt you?

Behave like that.

How would you react to so called misfortune

 if you saw it’s inability to bother you?

React like that.

How would you think toward yourself 

if you knew you were really all right?

Think like that.

Vernon Howard

March 29th- fear less, hope more

Fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.

Dale Carnegie

Fear is something we’ve all felt at one time or another, but because of my faith there is very little I fear these days.  My faith has taught me that our Father in heaven watches over us and cares for us.  For me, there is no fear where there is faith. 

Fear and faith do, however, have something in common.  They both ask us to believe something is going to happen that we cannot see.  The good news is that we get to choose, whether or not we will be fearful, or live in faith.  Faith says my best days are still out in front of me.  

Fear ends where faith begins.

Giorgio A. Dano

If you dwell on fear all day and you let it play again and again in your mind, then you give it a right to became. a reality.  But I have faith that everything will turn out just the way it’s supposed to be. I don’t give any space in my head or my heart for fear to grow.  

It’s when we take the first step into the unknown that we can truly live life to the fullest.  Our lives cannot be lived well if we are constantly surrounded by fear.  When confronted with unforeseen circumstances, we have two choices to make.  We can either allow ourselves be paralyzed by fear or we can keep the faith and trust that all will be well. 

 Remember God is in control.

Fear doesn’t have any special power unless you empower it by submitting to it.

Les Brown

Chapter 3, Page 28, Book 19

Truth is such a rare thing, it is delightful to tell it.

Emily Dickenson

March 28th- Be on the level and you won’t go downhill

If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember anything.

Mark Twain

To be on level means that someone is sincere or honest, and not attempting to deceive others. When we trust someone we think they are reliable, and we have confidence in them.

Honesty is the first chapter of the book wisdom.

Thomas Jefferson

If someone is described as level headed, they are calm and sensible even in difficult situations.  Their level headed approach to life, means they will do what ever is necessary. They say what they mean, and mean what they say.  

I strive to be on the level and to be level headed too. I think one begets the other.  Being a level headed person means you express your thoughts, feelings and beliefs in a direct and honest way. You are straightforward and sincere.

Be true to your work, your word and your friend.

Henry David Thoreau

Chapter 3, Page 27, Book 19

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.

Robert Louis Stevenson

March 27th- what goes around comes around

You will reap what you sow.

Galatians 6:7

What goes around, comes around is another way of saying we’ll reap what we sow.  What we give away, will always come back to us.  Our deeds good or bad, will repay us in kind. In other words, we usually get out what we put in.

Spring is the time to plant.  We sow seeds so that we can reap a harvest later. Here is one of my favorite poems and I share it every Spring. Best advice when it comes to planting now and reaping later.

Planting Time.

  Plant three rows of Peas

Peace of mind.

Peace of heart 

Peace of soul.

Plant four rows of Squash:

Squash gossip.

Squash indifference.

Squash grumbling.

Squash selfishness.

No gardens should be without Turnips:

Turnip for service when needed.

Turnip to help one another.

Turnip the music and dance.

Plant four rows of lettuce:

Lettuce be faithful.

Lettuce be kind.

Lettuce be happy.

Lettuce really love one another .

To conclude our garden we must have Thyme:

Thyme for fun.

Thyme for rest.

Thyme for others.

Water freely with patience and cultivate with love.

We reap what we sow—you should have a bountiful garden.

Author Unknown

In our modern wold, there are some who see advice like this worn out and irrelevant  but perhaps, you’ve been looking in the wrong place.  What is old can become new when you shed a different light on it.

Before the reward there must be labor.  You plant before you harvest.  You sow in tears before you reap joy.

Ralph Ransom

Chapter 3, Page 26, Book 19

If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else.

Booker T Washington

March 26th-life is good

It is one of the most beautiful compensations of life that no man can sincerely help another without helping himself.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

There are plenty of simple favors we can do for others on a day to day basis.  We may not be able to fix what is wrong, but can lift their spirits. Words are powerful so why not use them to lift someone up when they are needed.

There is no  exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.

John Andrew Homes.

We never know when our words could brighten someone’s day or even save a life.  Everyone needs encouragement now and then.  A gentle smile, a pat on the back, a compliment freely given makes a world of difference.  Life is good.  Live it well.

We rise by lifting others.

Robert Ingersoll

Chapter 3, Page 25, Book 19

The Hope of Lent

Give up complaining — focus on Gratitude

Give up pessimism —become an optimist

Give up harsh judgements — think kindly thoughts

Give up worry — Trust Devine Providence

Give up discouragement — be full of hope

Give up bitterness — turn to forgiveness

Give up hatred — return good for evil

Give up negativism — be positive

Give up anger — be more patient

Give up pettiness — become mature

Give up gloom — enjoy the beauty all around you.

Give up jealousy —pray for trust

Give up gossiping — control your tongue

Give up sin — turn to virtue

Give up on giving up — hang in there!

March 25th- Hanging in there

The longer you hang in there, the greater that chance that something will happen in your favor.  No matter hard hard it seems, the longer you persist, the more likely your success.

Jack Canfield

It’s almost halfway through Lent so I thought I’d post the Hope of Lent again and do a mental check to see just how I’m doing.  I’m doing my best to quit complaining and be more optimistic.  The few warmer days and longer hours of daylight have made a big difference in my attitude.

Choosing happiness, focusing on the positive and being kind is a choice.  One we each have to make every day.

It’s only a few weeks now until Easter and I’m still learning the lesson of patience. Even though we’ve had some spring like days, we’ve also had some very cold ones…  I did see my first robin of the year on Saturday evening though, and felt renewed by that cheerful harbinger of Spring.

I’m not giving up, ever,  I keep on keeping on ! Nothing beautiful in life ever comes easy.  

When life gives you a hundred reasons to cry, show life that you have a thousand reasons to smile.

Author Unknown

Chapter 3, Page 24, Book 19

Forgiveness is a funny thing.  It warms the heart and cools the sting.

William Arthur Ward

March 24th - forgive and move on

It really doesn’t matter if the person who hurt you deserves to be forgiven. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself.  You have things to do and you want to move on.

Author Unknown

If you’ve lived long enough, you’ve probably been both on the receiving and giving end of forgiveness..  I know I’ve had plenty of occasions for both.  Sometimes the hardest thing can be just to forgive myself.  But nothing is ever going to get better if I keep dwelling on what happened over and over.  It’s better to forgive and move on.

The refusal to forgive often comes from a desire to right the wrong .  But the past is done over so we need to let go and let God.   When we forgive, we experience peace because where there is no forgiveness there is always anger and anger and peace cannot exist in the same place.  When we let go of bitterness, we stopping dwelling on what hurt us .  

The dictionary says that forgiveness means to allow room for error or weakness.

We are only human and none, not one of us, is perfect.  We need to both receive and give forgiveness.  

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.

Paul Boese

Chapter 3, Page 23, Book 19

The grass is not, in fact, always greener on the other side of the fence.  No, not at all.  Fences have nothing to do with it.  The grass is greenest where it is watered.  When crossing fences, carry water with you and tend the grass where ever you may be.

Robert Fulghum

March 23rd - water well...

We are always looking for something better that we sometimes fail to realize that we already have the best.

Author Unknown

There are always going to be times when we think that others have it better than we do, but the truth is we often have it better than others do. We tend to lose sight of the things we have worked so had to achieve   We have to take a good look at what we do have as opposed to what others have.  They may have more money but along with that they can also have more problems.  Wealth and status is not as important as they seem to be.

The thing about grass is that if you water it becomes greener.  If you aren’t happy about your present circumstances , you and only you can change it.  Making your grass greener takes time, but it also takes that first step to making it so. 

Most of the time I’m much too busy trying to keep myself on track that I don’t have time to even notice how green someone else’s grass is.  Fact is, if it’s greener than mine, they are going to have to mow more often than I do.  

I am content with who I am.  I have more now that I could have ever imagined.   It doesn’t matter if I have the best of the best. 

It’s not that I don’t care about others, I just don’t care about how much more they have than I might.  I do have a problem though, when people have a lot and don’t share the wealth with others who do not have as much.  

I’m too busy working on my own gress to notice if your’s is greener.

Author Unknown

  

Chapter 3, Page 22, Book 19

Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.

William Barclay

March 22nd- endurance

Endurance is patience concentrated.

Thomas Carlyle

Patience and endurance seem to got together.  We all need to learn to be patient.  There is a right time for everything under heaven.  If we’re not patient we will rush head on and things will tend to end up a mess.  This is where endurance comes in. We need to endure what seems to us, long periods of time when we need to be patient, waiting for the right moment to move on.

Good things come with endurance. What we’ve been working for and hoping for comes with patient endurance.

 

One verse that always inspires me comes from the Bible.  

Isaiah 40: 31

…but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles,They shall run and not grow weary,

they shall walk and not be faint.

We can all soar like the eagles with a little patience and endurance. 

Do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.

Oprah Winfrey

Chapter 3, Page 21, Book 19

Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal.

Henry Ford

March 21st - obstacles

If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.

Frank A. Clark

Life is never easy.  There are always going obstacles and hurdles to get over. The only way we can get where we want to be is to set goals and stick with them.  We have to know where we want to be in order to be where we want to be.

 

There is no stopping circumstances that come our way.  We don’t have control over them, but we can always control our attitude to what happens.

Obstacles are often blessings in disguise.  They can be your best friend and wisest teacher.  Obstacles teach us courage to improve our situation and ourselves.

We can turn obstacles into opportunity and problems into possibilities.  Focus on what you can do and not what you can’t.  

Life’s problems wouldn’t be called hurdles if there wasn’t a way to get over them.

Author Unknown

Chapter 3, Page 20, Book 19

The March wind roars

Like a lion in the sky

And makes us shiver

As he passes by.

When winds are soft

And the days are warm and clear,

Just like a gentle lamb,

Then spring is here.

Author Unknown

March 20th - It’s Spring!

Spring is nature’s way of saying, Let’s party!

Robin Williams

The first day of spring is just like a party.  It’s the same but different every time. Sometimes it’s full of sunshine, sometimes rain, Today we will have some rain, but the good news is that before the rain, it will be warmer than usual.  

Parties are always happy times and today I’m happy for sure!  Winter said goodbye yesterday and today we welcome Spring.  It’s a WELCOME Spring party at my house and I’m doing a happy dance!

Winter was not a total loss, there were some happy days and nothing was really terrible.  We only had one snow that I had to have help clearing the driveway.  Although it was bitterly cold, the others were lighter and much more manageable. And thankfully, I’ve remained healthy.  

We still have colds and flu floating around here in Ohio, but they will soon be gone with the warmer weather.  We all need that sunshine with it’s added benefit of Vitamin D.  I took a supplement for most of the winter as we get very little of that here. 

So let’s get this party started.  Please join me as I celebrate.  There’s going to be a whole lot going on!  Whether you like bike riding, jogging or going on long walks, Spring allows us to enjoy outdoor activities that we had to put on the back burner all winter.

Spring reawakens the soul to the wonder and expectation of life.  Make today a celebration of miraculous changes, growth, and endless possibilities.

The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month.

Henry Van Dyke