It is what it is was one of the catch phrases of 2022. What more could be said? The year was so bazaar in so many ways that “It is what it is” seemed to cover everything unexplainable and unacceptable.
And now as we enter into a new year may we look forward to all that is acceptable and pleasing, and never have to use that phrase again.
Instead we shall go forth in anticipation of all good things to come as we shout the old year out with…It was what it was!
Happy New Year!
This morning there was an outdoor sound that imitated horse hooves on pavement. It took me back to the clip-clop days of horse and wagon deliveries of my childhood. It was always a treat to see a horse doing its job except when the tail went up and you knew that anything but a treat was about to land on the road. I always wondered how the horse knew to lift its tail out of the way. Back then there were milk wagons, bread wagons, ice cream wagons and even ice wagons. Iceboxes were still the norm for storing perishables in some homes in the forties.
I couldn’t identify the sound I heard today but enjoyed the memory it invoked. I hope your weekend includes some sounds of old. Happy Saturday.
I’ve posted some humor in the past so please forgive me if you catch some repeats. Just consider them as old jokes made new again.
The fattest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.
I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.
She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.
No matter how much you push the envelope it will still be stationery.
A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption.
A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.
Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.
A hole was found in a nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.
Venison for dinner again? Oh deer!
A cartoonist was found dead in his home. Details are sketchy.
Until tomorrow….
We are never too young or too old to pray. I was four years old when I learned to pray and am now eighty-three and still praying. Our world needs more people praying, young, old, and in between. Happy Tuesday.
How often in our lifetime do we encounter people who suffer from narcissism or visions of grandeur or even the ‘holier than thou’ syndrome. This has been said of me because of my complete surrendering of my life to God.
Then there are those who constantly think of others with care and compassion; who put the needs and feelings of others before their own; whose very existence is spent in the service of others.
The thing is, our world is in the grip of a virus that is striking people down mercilessly not stopping to differentiate between royalty and the commoner, the rich and the poor, the young and the old; the homeless and the mansion dwellers; or people like the above .
We, the world, are in what is being called a silent war, and we are in it together. Altogether. All together.
This virus has been named many things by many people but someone recently dubbed it ‘the great equalizer‘ I hope and pray that we will never again have to be reminded to think of our world as one, no matter our life status, creed, or culture. Our world.
Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. John 13:16
In this age of intelligent technology it is prudent to know that it is not a modern day thing but a replica of the past, reminding us that everything old is new again. Happy Saturday.
When we think of surrendering do we think of giving up or giving in? Do we think of positive or negative?
I like to think of surrendering in a positive way…as in quitting a bad habit. Instead of surrendering to the idea that I could never quit smoking, I surrendered to the thought that it was bad for my health and detrimental to the loved ones in closest proximity to me. With that thought in mind the surrendered state became a reality. It has been twenty-one years since smoking has been part of my life.
Likewise, when disagreements occur and cause friction in friendships, families, and relationships, the thought of trying to end the conflict could be seen as giving in or surrendering to those who we think are the cause of such disruptions. But if our thoughts are of only making things better even at the risk of further alienation, then surrendering to those thoughts instead of to the grudge can, in the end, lead to peace of mind, knowing that all attempts were made to remedy a situation even if it is not remedied.
The greatest surrender of all is surrendering to God’s plan for our life, no matter what our belief. With that surrender everything else falls into place. It may not always be to our liking or to the way we expect it should be, but we can know that it is always for our best even though that may not appear evident at the time.
As this is being written, an old year is being surrendered to a new year. There is nothing we can do about that…it just is…and in surrendering old thoughts for new, bad habits for better, bitterness for understanding, hatred for love…we will be giving in to the act of surrendering.
Happy New Year.
Getting The Most Out of Life. A selection of personally helpful articles from past issues of The Readers Digest is the sub-title of this book, published in 1955. It belonged to my mother and has been in my possession since her death in 1972.
Because I love to learn life lessons every day, books like this keep me on the right track. Among its many chapters is one written by A. Cressy Morrison (1864-1951) an American chemist and one time president of the New York Academy of Sciences. The thought provoking chapter is called Seven Reasons Why A Scientist Believes In God and is condensed from his book “Man Does Not Stand Alone”. Morrison makes a compelling case. “By unwavering mathematical law we can prove that our universe was designed and executed by a great engineering Intelligence.”
Other chapters include:
When It’s Best to Forget…W.E.Sangster “No man should hope to forget the wrong things he’s done till he has done also whatever he can to put them right.”
Stop Worrying…A.J.Cronin “For worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow; it only saps today of its strength”.
On Being A Real Person…Harry Emerson Fosdick, D.D. “The central business of every human being is to be a real person.”
Three Steps to Personal Peace…Norman Vincent Peale, D.D. “As Thomas Carlyle said; ‘Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves.'”
Your Mind Can Keep You Young…George Lawton “At 80 you can be just as productive mentally as you were at 30–and you should know a lot more. Older people frequently suffer some loss of memory, but creative imagination is ageless…take an interest in the world around you and make a point of learning at least one new thing every day.”
I have gleaned a lot from this book over the years and, believe it or not, it is still available. I saw it on Amazon for various prices depending on its condition. It really is an oldie but goodie.
Each year has its own peculiar ups and downs, blessings and blunders, things to remember and things sooner forgotten.
Saying hello to the future while waving the past a final goodbye is like tossing out a calendar chock full of old agendas and looking forward to a brand new start of appointments, birthdays, celebrations, events, and a new year of life in general.
There are already two events on my new calendar: a new baby joining our wonderful family in July and another family wedding towards the end of summer.
While we pray that the world will be a better place and do our part to make it so, it is God who knows the beginning from the end, as it is written in Deuteronomy 11:12…It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.
With that comforting thought in mind, my wish for humankind is peace and prosperity, health and happiness, more love and less violence from beginning to end in 2016.
Happy New Year, World!
My Precious Life 