Albert Einstein

“A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.”

Well, it seems that we are on the verge of ending this year with a bang perhaps or rather quietly depending on your new year plans.  I wish you a Blessed and Happy New Year no matter where you are!  Remember that time is the one thing you will never get back so make the most of it.  

  

Winter Wild Lights

A Light Display

Psalm

14:1

"The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God."

Did you know where that was written originally?  I remember reading this in an Archie comic years ago.  This verse makes you think because our world is filled with atheists and agnostics today.  This makes me think of the movie, God's Not Dead because the main character in the movie was an atheist.   

Nick Vujicic

Love Without Limits

What is real love like?  I'll bet you'd like to know, what with all the divorcing going around these days.  Some people think that love is being selfish.  It's not.  Love is being selfless.  Also true love is not about passion.  Passion without love is being selfish.  There are differences between eros, agape and philia.  Love is caring for someone more than you love yourself.  Nick Vujicic with his wife Kanae tell the story of how they fell in love in their book, Love Without Limits.

I love reading love stories.  It's always interesting to me to find out how people meet each other.  Each story is unique and timeless.  I have some love stories of my own:  Some not with happy endings but you do learn from each relationship you experience.  I guess it's true that what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger.  I do feel that I've become stronger as a result.  

For Children

Dear Mr Jesus 

Dear Mr. Jesus
I just had to write to you
something really scared me when I saw it on the news
a story bout a little girl
beaten black and blue
Jesus thought I'd send this right to you
dear Mr. Jesus
I don't understand
why they took her mom and dad away
I know that they don't mean to hit
with wild and angry hands
show them just how big they are I pray

This song was all over the campus back when I was in college my first go around.  Think about all the kids that get abused and that have no one to stand up for them.  Unfortunately not everyone has a happy childhood.  If you are one of the lucky ones that actually got good parents then feel fortunate.  I do.

 

 

Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir

Happy Birthday Jesus

Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday to You
Happy Birthday, dear Jesus
Happy Birthday to You

Happy birthday, Jesus
I'm so glad it's Christmas
All the tinsel and lights
And the presents are nice
But the real gift is You

This is another favorite Christmas song of mine.  Kids have the kind of voice that you enjoy listening to.  Really!  Where would we be without kids?  We were all kids once ourselves.  Sometimes I think I still haven't grown up.  

Luke

2:11-14

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.  And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."

These verses are my reason for believing in Christmas because on a certain night a long time ago a baby was born that changed everything in our world.  What do you believe and why do you believe?  Is it easier to believe that you were created by God or that you came from monkeys?  Do you see any monkeys turning into humans today?

Cloverton

A Christmas Hallelujah

I've heard about this baby boy
Who's come to earth to bring us joy
And I just want to sing this song to you
It goes like this, the fourth, the fifth
The minor fall, the major lift
With every breath I'm singing Hallelujah
Hallelujah

A couple came to Bethlehem
Expecting child, they searched the inn
To find a place for You were coming soon
There was no room for them to stay
So in a manger filled with hay
God's only Son was born, oh Hallelujah
Hallelujah

This is another favorite song of mine.  I love the lyrics by Cloverton as well as the instrumental.  There's a haunting quality to this music when you listen to it.  Leonard Cohen is the composer of the original Hallelujah!

Adolphe C Adam

O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of the dear Saviour’s birth;
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
'Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs.  I always think of a snowy night with twinkling shiny stars all over the night sky!  

Sue Lynch

Make New Friends

Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.

Silver is precious, 

Gold is too.
I am precious,
and so are you.

You help me, 
and I'll help you 

and together
we will see it through.

Do you remember this song?  I do...  I used to be a girl scout and before that a brownie!  I remember going to campfires and staying overnight in tents.  I love singing around a campfire.  And I love eating hobo pizza.  There are days when I miss being a kid!

Insider Peek

Flowers in Winter!  Brrr...

Ronald Reagan

A Time of Choosing

"You and I know and do not believe that life is so dear and peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery. If nothing in life is worth dying for, when did this begin—just in the face of this enemy? Or should Moses have told the children of Israel to live in slavery under the pharaohs? Should Christ have refused the cross? Should the patriots at Concord Bridge have thrown down their guns and refused to fire the shot heard 'round the world? The martyrs of history were not fools, and our honored dead who gave their lives to stop the advance of the Nazis didn't die in vain. Where, then, is the road to peace? Well it's a simple answer after all.

You and I have the courage to say to our enemies, "There is a price we will not pay." "There is a point beyond which they must not advance." And this—this is the meaning in the phrase of Barry Goldwater's "peace through strength." Winston Churchill said, "The destiny of man is not measured by material computations. When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we're spirits—not animals." And he said, "There's something going on in time and space, and beyond time and space, which, whether we like it or not, spells duty."

You and I have a rendezvous with destiny.

We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness.

We will keep in mind and remember that Barry Goldwater has faith in us. He has faith that you and I have the ability and the dignity and the right to make our own decisions and determine our own destiny." 

This quote was taken from Ronald Reagan's speech:  A Time of Choosing.  Do you sometimes wonder at the events of our day?  What in the world is going on?  Our country was based on freedom:  Freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom, freedom, freedom, freedom...  Are we still free?  

Donna VanLiere

The Christmas Shoes

What does Christmas mean to you?  What does your Christmas Spirit say about you?  Then read this insightful Christmas story and see what Christmas is all about!  Go put on your Christmas Shoes today!  There is also a song about this book.  

A Winter's Drive

Out on the Town

Secrets

Something Hidden

Inside a writer
resides a fountain
of words
just waiting to be red...

Read!  Not red.
From a deep, 
deep well
inside a writer.  

The something inside
that wants to get out.
A sharing of feelings
and thoughts.  

Because writing
is cathartic.
And brings out
the emotions.

Hidden inside.

@JoSH Poetic Popcorn Poetry

Everyone has secrets:  Some good, some bad, some exciting, some sad.  What are your secrets?  Everyone has them.  My secrets are hidden but some of them are shared.  Who did you share your secrets with today?

Charles M Schulz

“What's the good of living if you don't try a few things?” 

I like this quote by Charles M. Schulz, because it's true, what is the point of living if you don't get to live your life?  Poor Charlie Brown and his faithful friends.  Even though things seem to go wrong for him, he still seems to come out right.  Don't you think?

Disaster Recovery

@JoSH Poetic Popcorn Poetry

Don't you wonder sometimes what all is going on in our world today?  How does an airplane go missing with all of our modern technology?  How does a ferry capsize killing our youth?  

A Watery Dream...

Remember this past summer? 

 

Wake Up Feet

@JoSH Poetic Popcorn Poetry

Don't you hate when this happens?  You are busy doing stuff and don't realize your feet have fallen asleep.  Then you try to walk on them.  And "Yowza!"  You feel your nerve endings come to life.

Life is Going Fast!

@JoSH Poetic Popcorn Poetry

I wrote this poem because time is valuable and yet we waste it.  Like the sands of time through an hourglass:  In our busy world with our busy lives and our personal issues...  Take time to slow down and smell the flowers.  Time should be savored and not skimmed.