“The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away.” – Pablo Picasso
Point to Ponder: “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss
Reflection: "In solitude there is healing. Speak to your soul. Listen to your heart. Sometimes in the absence of noise, we find the answers." -Dodinsky
Residence of Jun, El Nido, Philippines
Side View: Kitchen and An Open Air Exercise Area
Dining Room and Bedroom
A Place with Daily Views
And here are fresh from the tree coconuts https://vimeo.com/391870745
Reflection: Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's needs, but not every man's greed. - Mahatma Gandhi
Point to Ponder: "We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow; Our wiser sons, no doubts, will think us so" - Alexander Pope
Story Line: A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year-old grandson. The old man’s hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered. Every night, the family ate together at the table. Unfortunately, the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped his glass, he always spilled milk on the tablecloth. The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.
“We must do something about my father,” said the son. ‘I’ve had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.”
The husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, Grandfather would eat alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the big table. Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. If the dropped the bowl, it would clatter with a loud noise, but at least it would not break.
This went on for some time. When the family glanced in Grandfather’s direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.
One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, “What are you making?”
Just as sweetly, the boy responded, “Oh, I am making a little wooden bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up.” The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.
The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. They looked at each other, and felt a cold sensation wash over them. Though no words were spoken, both knew they had acted poorly and needed to take action.
That evening the husband took Grandfather’s hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.
Reflection: Yours?
Special Thanks to a good friend Don Bruner for reminding me about the story we had read about 20 years ago.
Artist for the Picture unknown. Thanks to Evelyn Tan from Philippines for sending this.
Points to Ponder:“Love is what we are born with. Fear is what we learn. The spiritual journey is the unlearning of fear and prejudices and the acceptance of love back in our hearts. Love is the essential reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life. Meaning does not lie in things. Meaning lies in us.” - Marianne Williamson
Story Line: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”- from A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson
For more than two decades the profound message that Marianne Williamson wrote in her 1992 book A Return to Love was falsely attributed to Nelson Mandela. For those interested in learning more about the background here is the link
Reflection: We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?.......And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
Reflection:
Point to Ponder: “For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?” – guess who said this?
Ode to Reason- as the year ends
“Man!
Why do you hate,
When there is love?
Why do you hate,
Your own fellow man?
Each one of us, born to die,
In so little time, on this, our planet earth,
So why hate and why not love,
All things that live and breathe,
Including your fellow man
There is so little time.” Erza Mir
Reflection:
I cannot but hate the prospect of slavery’s expansion. I hate it because of the monstrous injustice of slavery itself. I hate it because it deprives our republican example of its just influence in the world-enables the enemies of the free institutions, with plausibility, to taunt us as hypocrites-causes the real life friends of freedom to doubt sincerity- What Abraham Lincoln said about Slavery applies as well to Hate and Prejudice.
It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honored by the humiliation of fellow beings- Mahatma Gandhi, The story of my experiments with Truth.
No one is born hating another person because of color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.–Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom
All of your life, you will be faced with a choice. You can choose love or hate…I choose love. - Johnny Cash
Point to Ponder: To err is human, to forgive Divine. But then someone said: To err is human, isn’t that Divine?
Reflection: George Bush Sr. was not the only President who had a Vice President who used to goof.......
Vice President Dan Quayle (1988-1992) in his various speeches:
One word probably sums up the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is ‘to be prepared’.
I believe we are on an irreversible trend toward more freedom and democracy but that could change.
El Salvador is a democracy so it’s not surprising that there are many voices to be heard hear. Yet in my conversations with Salvadorans…I have heard a single voice.
We expect them (Salvadorian Officials) to work toward the elimination of human rights.
If we do not succeed, then we run the risk of failure.
Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here. –in his visit to Hawaii in September 1989
What a terrible thing to have lost one’s mind, or not to have one at all.
Ronald Reagan had one too.
Source: San Jose Mercury News or Parade Magazine in 1980s. I have Saved it in my collectibles since then.
Story Line: Last week’s Friday Reflection titled No Man is a Failure who has Friends had an error in the spelling of the word Failure in the title. It was spelled Faillure. Thanks to Sharon for letting me know and My apology for the mistake. Trying to make the change in the title would have changed the link to the article that was sent out worldwide. So a footnote was placed in the article explaining the situation. My 92 years old mom witnessing my face tried to soothe my pain by reminding me of some stories I had told her a few decades ago. Thinking of those made me laugh and I am sharing some of those with the readers.
