CS Lewis Quote
I just ran across this quote and it's too good not to share:
"Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing either into a heavenly creature or into a hellish creature; either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself."
C.S. Lewis
Every choice you make is important...so make good choices!
Words of Affirmation
One of the most lasting gifts we can give someone are words of affirmation. What exactly are words of affirmation? As described in Gary Chapman's book, "The Five Love Languages", words of affirmation are:
Words of affection and endearment, praise and encouragement, and words that give positive guidance and which say "I care about you." An unsolicited compliment, a kind word, or words of appreciation expressed in simple, straightforward statements of affirmation.
What is affirmation?
To affirm means to state positively or to assert some truth or other;
especially some truth concerning the nature of another person
and the relationship that one has with them...To affirm something means to value it.
~ taken from Sermon and Liturgy (Two) for Ordinary 01 - Year A
So words of affirmation are words you give to others that build them up and show them the value they have to you and to others. They're a tool for encouragement and a gift of love, and if written in a card or letter, are a gift that gives over and over again. Mark Twain once said,
I can live for two months on a good compliment.Last week at work one of my proofers ended his temp assignment because he found a permanent job. He was an extremely well-liked young man, and all of us were sad to see him go. I wanted to give him a gift that shared my appreciation for all his hard work, so in addition to the
dancing hula Homer Simpson doll I gave him, I also gave him a card with some words of affirmation.
In the sermon I quoted above is the following:
We long to be praised.
We long to be held in value as worthwhile,
as people who can accomplish something of worth,
especially by those whom we love
by those whom we respect
by those upon whom we rely each day...
All of us long for affirmation
but too often, it seems, those words come too late,
they come after we have gone out from our homes and families, after
we have struggled with things and won over some and lost over
others,
too often they come after some victory or in the midst of some crisis,
as if we had to prove ourselves worthy of them, or in desperate need
of them.
In my life I've learned that words of affirmation are rare, and that often people do wait until too late to let others know they love them, appreciate them, value them, care for them.
I want words of affirmation to be a daily part of my life, and to let those around me know how much I appreciate them not only for what they do but for who they are, one of God's wonderful creations. It doesn't matter if they're believers or not...all of us are His creation and as such are worthy of love and affirmation.
The sermon reference above closes with:
Show forth the love that God has for you by affirming one another as God
affirms you:
- before being asked,
- before the other has done either good or bad,
- before they deserve or do not deserve your favour and your
encouragement..
And after affirming one another - after creating an atmosphere of
encouragement, praise, fairness, acceptance, and love - pray and thank
God - and do it all again - knowing that this is how God greets you each
morning of your life.
Only good can come of it.
The good that we all seek
- the good that we all need.
I think this is something we all need to practice in our lives each day. As the writer of that sermon stated, only good can come of it.
........
Words of affirmation are only one of the five love languages as written about by Gary Chapman in his book, "The Five Love Languages".
This page sums up the five love languages sucinctly. My two primary languages are probably words of affirmation and receiving gifts. I know I enjoy giving gifts to others (not always big gifts, quite often a small simple gift that I think they'd like) and giving words of affirmation in cards for special occasions. The others come into play as well, naturally, but I do love gifts and appreciative words!
What July 4th Means to Me - by President Reagan
For one who was born and grew up in the small towns of the Midwest, there is a special kind of nostalgia about the Fourth of July.
I remember it as a day almost as long-anticipated as Christmas. This was helped along by the appearance in store windows of all kinds of fireworks and colorful posters advertising them with vivid pictures.
No later than the third of July – sometimes earlier – Dad would bring home what he felt he could afford to see go up in smoke and flame. We'd count and recount the number of firecrackers, display pieces and other things and go to bed determined to be up with the sun so as to offer the first, thunderous notice of the Fourth of July.
I'm afraid we didn't give too much thought to the meaning of the day. And, yes, there were tragic accidents to mar it, resulting from careless handling of the fireworks. I'm sure we're better off today with fireworks largely handled by professionals. Yet there was a thrill never to be forgotten in seeing a tin can blown 30 feet in the air by a giant "cracker" – giant meaning it was about 4 inches long. But enough of nostalgia.
Somewhere in our growing up we began to be aware of the meaning of days and with that awareness came the birth of patriotism. July Fourth is the birthday of our nation. I believed as a boy, and believe even more today, that it is the birthday of the greatest nation on earth.
There is a legend about the day of our nation's birth in the little hall in Philadelphia, a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the words "treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe," and the issue remained in doubt.
The legend says that at that point a man rose and spoke. He is described as not a young man, but one who had to summon all his energy for an impassioned plea. He cited the grievances that had brought them to this moment and finally, his voice falling, he said, "They may turn every tree into a gallows, every hole into a grave, and yet the words of that parchment can never die. To the mechanic in the workshop, they will speak hope; to the slave in the mines, freedom. Sign that parchment. Sign if the next moment the noose is around your neck, for that parchment will be the textbook of freedom, the Bible of the rights of man forever."
He fell back exhausted. The 56 delegates, swept up by his eloquence, rushed forward and signed that document destined to be as immortal as a work of man can be. When they turned to thank him for his timely oratory, he was not to be found, nor could any be found who knew who he was or how he had come in or gone out through the locked and guarded doors.
Well, that is the legend. But we do know for certain that 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all preserved their sacred honor.
What manner of men were they? Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, 11 were merchants and tradesmen, and nine were farmers. They were soft-spoken men of means and education; they were not an unwashed rabble. They had achieved security but valued freedom more. Their stories have not been told nearly enough.
John Hart was driven from the side of his desperately ill wife. For more than a year he lived in the forest and in caves before he returned to find his wife dead, his children vanished, his property destroyed. He died of exhaustion and a broken heart.
Carter Braxton of Virginia lost all his ships, sold his home to pay his debts, and died in rags. And so it was with Ellery, Clymer, Hall, Walton, Gwinnett, Rutledge, Morris, Livingston and Middleton. Nelson personally urged Washington to fire on his home and destroy it when it became the headquarters for General Cornwallis. Nelson died bankrupt.
But they sired a nation that grew from sea to shining sea. Five million farms, quiet villages, cities that never sleep, 3 million square miles of forest, field, mountain and desert, 227 million people with a pedigree that includes the bloodlines of all the world. In recent years, however, I've come to think of that day as more than just the birthday of a nation.
It also commemorates the only true philosophical revolution in all history.
Oh, there have been revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of government.
Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people, with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.
We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should.
Happy Fourth of July.
Ronald Reagan
President of the United States
Count Your Blessings
Hey, the Flip Wilson Show is on TV Land tonight! I'd forgotten about it until seeing it, but I recall my father watching it regularly.
Anyone remember Sha-Na-Na? My father watched that religiously as well as Hee-Haw
"Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep dark depression, excessive misery
if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all
Gloom, despair and agony on me"
I don't really mean that, but that song always made me laugh because of the groans and wails of agony as they sang it, and the extreme pessimism of the guys in that skit.
There's a lesson in that...if you're determined to be depressed, you will be depressed. Happiness is a choice that rises above circumstances and isn't dependent on them, but is dependent on God
So...choose happiness!
Count your blessings!
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your blessings
See what God has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your many blessings
See what God has done
When upon life's billows
You are tempest tossed
When you are discouraged
Thinking all is lost
Count your many blessings
Name them one by one
And it will surprise you
What the Lord has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your blessings
See what God has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your many blessings
See what God has done
Are you ever burdened
With a load of care
Does the cross seem heavy
You are called to bear
Count your many blessings
Every doubt will fly
And you will be singing
As the days go by
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your blessings
See what God has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your many blessings
See what God has done
When you look at others
With their lands and gold
Think that Christ has promised
You His wealth untold
Count your many blessings
Money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven
Nor your home on high
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your blessings
See what God has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your many blessings
See what God has done
So, amid the conflict
Whether great or small
Do not be discouraged
God is over all
Count your many blessings
Angels will attend
Help and comfort give you
To your journey's end
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your blessings
See what God has done
Count your blessings
Name them one by one
Count your many blessings
See what God has done
~ Words by Johnson Oatman, 1897
