Inspirational

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ONE.
Give people more than they expect and do it cheerfully.

TWO.
Marry a man/woman you love to talk to. As you get older, their
conversational skills will be as important as any other.

THREE.
Don't believe all you hear, spend all you have or sleep all you want.

FOUR.
When you say, "I love you", mean it.

FIVE.
When you say, "I'm sorry", look the person in the eye.

SIX.
Be engaged at least six months before you get married.

SEVEN.
Believe in love at first sight.

EIGHT.
Never laugh at anyone's dreams. People who
don't have dreams don't have much.

NINE.
Love deeply and passionately. You might get hurt
but it's the only way to live life completely.

TEN.
In disagreements, fight fairly. Please, no name calling.

ELEVEN.
Don't judge people by their relatives.

TWELVE..
Talk slowly but think quickly.

THIRTEEN.
When someone asks you a question you don't want
to answer, smile and ask, "Why do you want to know?"

FOURTEEN.
Remember that great love and great
achievements involve great risk....

FIFTEEN.
Say "bless you" when you hear someone sneeze.

SIXTEEN.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson.

SEVENTEEN.
Remember the three R's:
Respect for self;
Respect for others;
Responsibility for all your actions.

EIGHTEEN.
Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.

NINETEEN.
When you realize you've made a mistake,
take immediate steps to correct it.

TWENTY.
Smile when picking up the phone.
The caller will hear it in your voice.

TWENTY ONE.
Spend some time alone.

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As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. 
 
Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around." 
His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." 
His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken." 
Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class." 
 
By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long to say, " Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to."
 
After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets." 
 
A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. 
Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. 
Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life. 
Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... the letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD. 
 
The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference." Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you." 
 
Warm someone's heart today. . . pass this along. I love this story so very much, I cry every time I read it. Just try to make a difference in someone's life today? tomorrow? Just "do it". Random acts of kindness, I think they call it?

 

God Made Teachers
 
God understood our thirst for knowledge, and our need to be led by someone wiser;  He needed a heart of compassion, of encouragement and patience;  Someone who would accept the challenge regardless of the opposition;  Someone who could see potential and believe the best in others...So He made Teachers.

 

MOMENTS IN LIFE
 
There are moments in life when you miss someone
so much that you just want to pick them from
your dreams and hug them for real!
 
When the door of happiness closes, another opens;
but often times we look so long at the
closed door that we don't see the one
which has been opened for us.
 
Don't go for looks; they can deceive.
Don't go for wealth; even that fades away.
Go for someone who makes you smile,
because it takes only a smile to
make a dark day seem bright.
Find the one that makes your heart smile.
 
Dream what you want to dream;
go where you want to go;
be what you want to be;
because you have only one life
and one chance to do all the things
you want to do.
 
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet,
enough trials to make you strong,
enough sorrow to keep you human and
enough hope to make you happy.
 
The happiest of people don't necessarily
have the best of everything;
they just make the most of
everything that comes along their way.
 
The brightest future will always
be based on a forgotten past;
you can't go forward in life until
you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
 
When you were born, you were crying
and everyone around you was smiling.
Live your life so at the end,
you're the one who is smiling
and everyone around you is crying.
 
Don't count the years-count the memories............
 
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take;
but by the moments that take our breath away!
 
 
 

Below is a story that was shared with me that I thought you, too, would enjoy:

 

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived:  Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all the others, including Love.

  One day it was announced to all of the feelings that the island was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean.  So all the feelings prepared their boats to leave.

  Love was the only one that stayed.  She wanted to preserve the island paradise until the last possible moment.

  When the island was almost totally under water, Love decided it was time to leave.  She began looking for someone to ask for help.  Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat.  Love asked, “Richness, May I come with you on your boat?”

  Richness answered, “I’m sorry, but there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat, and there would be no room for you anywhere.”

  Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help, who was passing in a beautiful vessel.  Love cried out, “Vanity, help me, please.”

  “I can’t help you,” Vanity said, “You are all wet and will damage my beautiful boat.”

  Next, Love saw Sadness passing by.  Love said, “Sadness, please let me go with you.”

  Sadness answered, “Love, I’m sorry, but I just need to be alone right now.”

  Then Love saw Happiness.  Love cried out, “Happiness, please take me with you.”

  But Happiness was so overjoyed that he didn’t hear Love calling to him.

  Love began to cry.  Then she heard a voice say, “Come, Love, I will take you with me.”  It was an elder.  Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arrived on land, the elder went on his way.  Love realized how much she owed the elder.

  Love then found Knowledge and asked, “Who was it that helped me?”

  “It was Time,” Knowledge answered.

  “But why did time help me when no one else would?” Love asked.

  Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity answered, “Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is.”

 

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Throw out nonessential numbers.
This includes age, weight and height.
Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends.
The grouches pull you down. (Keep this In mind if you are one of those grouches;)
                                   
3. Keep learning:
Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening,
whatever. Never let the brain get idle.
"An idle mind is the devil's workshop."
And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and  Lots of time with HIM/HER.

6. The tears happen:
Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourself.
LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love:
Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.
Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health:
If it is good, preserve it.
If it is unstable, improve it.
If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.
Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

"Love all, trust a few.  Do wrong to none."

--William Shakespeare

 

Happiness keeps You Sweet,

Trials keep You Strong,

Sorrows keep You Human,

Failures keeps You Humble,

Success keeps You Glowing,

But Only God keeps You Going!

Think about them one at a time BEFORE going on to the next one...

IT DOES MAKE YOU FEEL GOOD, especially the thought at the end.

1. Falling in love.

2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.

3. A hot shower.

4. No lines at the supermarket.

5. A special glance.

6. Getting mail.

7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.

8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.

9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.

10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.

11. Chocolate milkshake. (or vanilla or strawberry!)

12. A bubble bath.

13. Giggling.

14. A good conversation.

15. The beach.

16. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.

17. Laughing at yourself.

19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.

20. Running through sprinklers.

21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.

22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.

23. Laughing at an inside joke.

24. Friends.

25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.

26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.

27. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).

28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.

29. Playing with a new puppy.

30. Having someone play with your hair.

31. Sweet dreams.

32. Hot chocolate.

33. Road trips with friends.

34. Swinging on swings.

35. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.

36. Making chocolate chip cookies.

37. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.

38. Holding hands with someone you care about.

39. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.

40. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.

41. Watching the sunrise.

42. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.

43. Knowing that somebody misses you.

44. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.

45. Knowing you've done the right! thing, no matter what other people think.

Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.

***************

Interesting...see link for info about the author:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Geoffrey_Vickers.

 "Every contact which you make with a human being… is an experiment, and
a dangerous and therefore important experiment.  It is dangerous because
it can never be repeated…that chance will never come again.

Human contacts are dangerous, too, because they matter so much, and no
one knows how much they matter.  Even the most trivial meeting makes a
difference, slight but lasting to one or both.  Intimate contacts make
heaven and hell, they can heal and tear, kill and raise from the dead.

These contacts are the fields in which we succeed or fail.  I believe
that they matter far more than anything else in life.  What we are is
written on the people we have met and known, touched, loved, hated and
passed by.  It is the lives of others that testify for or against us,
not our own."

Sir Geoffrey Vickers
A Letter to his son

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Despite all this email has against it, as can be seen at http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/medical/slowdance.asp, you should at least read the poem if you haven't yet -- it really is good.  I've taken out as much as I can of what Snopes said is false and left only the poem.

 

SLOW DANCE



Have you ever watched kids


On a merry-go-round?


Or listened to the rain


Slapping on the ground?


Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?

 

Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?


You better slow down


Don't dance so fast.


Time is short.


The music won't last.



Do you run through each day


On the fly?


When you ask How are you?


Do you hear the reply?


When the day is done

!


Do you lie in your bed


With the next hundred chores


Running through your head?


You'd better slow down


Don't dance so fast.


Time is short.


The music won't last.



Ever told your child,


We'll do it tomorrow?


And in your haste,


Not see his sorrow?


Ever lost touch,


Let a good friendship die


Cause you never had time


To call and say,"Hi"


You'd better slow down.


Don't dance so fast.


Time is short.


The music won't last.


When you run so fast to get somewhere


You miss half the fun of getting there.


When you worry and hurry through your day,


It is like an unopened gift...


Thrown away.


Life is not a race.


Do take it slower


Hear the music


Before the song is over.

******************

This is even more incredible to me because of what I found here:  http://www.snopes.com/glurge/daniel.asp.  Please enjoy and God bless!

 TO MEET SUCH A MAN...

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying, a well-worn sign that read, "I will work for  food." My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind.  We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them.  I glanced toward the town square,looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at  a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me:

"Don't go back to the office until you've at least driven once more around the square."

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square's third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the store front church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked; feeling both compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town's newest visitor.

"Looking for the pastor?" I asked.

"Not really," he replied, "just resting."

"Have you eaten today?"

"Oh, I ate something early this morning."

"Would you like to have lunch with me?"

"Do you have some work I could do for you?"

"No work," I replied. "I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch."

"Sure," he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions.

Where you headed?"

" St. Louis ."

"Where you from?"

"Oh, all over; mostly Florida ."

"How long you been walking?"

"Fourteen years," came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling.  He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, "Jesus is The Never Ending Story."

Then Daniel's story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life.  He'd made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences.

Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona.  He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment.  A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God

"Nothing's been the same since," he said, "I felt the Lord telling me to  keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now."

"Ever think of stopping?" I asked.

"Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me   But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles . That's what's in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads."

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless.   He was on a mission and lived this way by choice.  The question burned inside for a moment and  then I asked: "What's it like?"

"What?"

"To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?"

"Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn't make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people's concepts of other folks like me."

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and said,

"Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I've prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in."

I felt as if we were on holy ground. "Could you use another Bible?" I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite.  "I've read through it 14 times," he said.

"I'm not sure we've got one of those, but let's stop by our church and see"  I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

"Where are you headed from here?" I asked.

"Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon."

"Are you hoping to hire on there for awhile?"

"No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right  there needs a Bible, so that's where I'm going next."

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his  mission. I drove him back to the town-square where we'd met two hours earlier, and as  we drove, it started raining.  We parked and unloaded his things.

"Would you sign my autograph book?" he asked. "I like to keep messages from folks I meet."

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong.  And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, "I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope."

"Thanks, man," he said. "I know we just met and we're really just strangers, but I love you."

"I know," I said, "I love you, too." "The Lord is good!"

"Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?" I asked.

A long time," he replied

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, "See you in the New Jerusalem."

"I'll be there!" was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, "When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for  me?"

"You bet," I shouted back, "God bless."

"God bless." And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them... a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words:  "If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?"

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry.

"See you in the New Jerusalem," he said.  Yes, Daniel, I know I will...

"I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again."

Literature Lagoon