There is a tenacity that he has which could only come from knowing the Almighty God in such a time as this.  He perseveres despite of the pressure that he gets from the fans, the media, team, and his own personal life but yet he has not allowed an ounce of it to deter him from what he believes to be right and good for him. He shows a quality of leadership that is unprecedented and warranted in a young person today.  Many of our youth today depends on stroking, compromising, back patting and a lot of pushing to go forward or accomplish what is needed for their lives. How can you deny the fact that this young man is helping to shape our youth and society, through Christian practices that apparently works?

I truly admire this young man for many reasons, even some adults would have succumbed to the pressure of the masses, the bullying and allowed the negativity to permeate their soul to humiliation and embarrassment, to later quit.  He has come to realize the “power of prayer”, trusting a God who has never failed him, and since being a good soldier who understands enduring hardness and unfairness (2 Tim. 2:3). It is a chose that he made and people must learn to respect a person’s belief, especially if it helps in the wellbeing of the person or our society. Our youth and adults need positive role models and especially those who are consistent and persistent in character of good qualities.

For anyone to condemn Ted for his actions, are those who do not understand commitment, sincerity and the devotion of one’s beliefs or lifestyle.  It is great to know that there is a person who understands those principals, for I truly thought all were lost or obscure in our society. I am not painting Ted as some martyr or great super wonder but one who has taken on a characteristic that definitely clears the air of his weakness in character. He not only believes in his God but he also believes in his team and self.  There is a great demand to believe and to believe in you is a blessing.  I pray that he continues forward on the field, as well as in his life, taking on the challenges ahead with his determination to succeed, while leaving the haters, foolishness, naysayers and negativity where it belongs, behind him or under his feet.

Image via Wikipedia

The first day I walked by myself to Kindergarten was a Sunny Autumn morning. I cried nearly ever step of the way – but I bet Mom really wasn’t too far away and every tear must have hurt her dearly. But she knew there would be a time I would have to step out on my own. As much as she loved me she knew I would have to go on my own eventually – she knew I’d be okay, but it didn’t make it hurt much less.

For some of us, we know that death is not a final ending. We might not all have the same faith and some of us might not believe in an afterlife and do not believe in what that afterlife is even if we believe in it. However when we are faced with mortality, the separation from our loved ones by that veil of death, no matter how firm our faith, there is a feeling of pain and loss. Like a parent sending their child to school. Or like a child going leaving home to live away from home to go to university or college, we know it is happening and it is proper that it happens, but even though we know that we can still love our loved ones who are separate from us – it will never be the same.

Even as that time approaches, even if the brush with mortality is not mortal on that occasion, it foreshadows the eventual separation. We feel the upcoming pain of separation.

I think, I pray not that someone close does not die. I do not know the proper time of their passing. I know it will happen when it is God’s Will – for that is my belief – and so my prayer is for strength and understanding in the time of tears over the separation. I pray for comfort for those around me and the person who is facing mortality. I pray for strength so that I can help comfort those around me who need it an so that I do not become a burden in taking too much energy in personal needs for comfort myself.

I know that knowing and feeling are different things. I feel the pain even though I know the parting is temporary and if and when it happens it is God’s Will and that in truth my beloved one is not that far away – just not so huggable. I cry just thinking of the separation. Like Mom must have when I walked alone at 5 to kindergarten that first day.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?”  Matthew 6:25

When is the last time you stopped long enough to just think about the question – What is “really” important to ME?

Often there doesn’t seem to be enough time to catch your breath in between running from work to home or home to your volunteer activities; work to your children’s school functions or home and back to work again. Pursuing that so-called “balanced life” is a common desire in today’s society. It is a search that often leaves you with a feeling of exasperated frustration. You become the proverbial “hamster on a wheel”. You never catch it!

While you are now taking that momentary break (good for you!) to think about slowing down long enough to ask about taking some time to look inward, I propose that we begin this step by making the task a bit easier. First try shortening the question.

Rather than starting this journey by asking ourselves “What is really important to ME?”, try a more direct question that will hopefully move us closer to something more deeper ….something closer to touching our own faith, our own spirituality, our own conversation with God.

What is really important?

One word, you say to yourself. One word deleted from that sentence is going to make such a difference in my answer? One word is going to bring me to a deeper level?

You are probably asking yourself – Isn’t my focus of importance truly going to be different than my spouse, my neighbor, my co-worker, my parents or my friends?  It depends.

How we define “what” and “importance” are really important parts of this question.  Is the TRUTH really that different for you and your spouse, your neighbor, your friends? Or are there some constants in this universe which are immutable? Is there such as thing as the ultimate and divine TRUTH?

If we are searching (and we all do at some point), are we not all seeking the same TRUTH and not the “what”.

If not, then all the other things which we have focused on in our life as important – which have failed to bring us comfort, peace, serenity and closer to God – would surely have been working. Our current need to be filled and nourished by something other than false hopes and short-lived peace holds a common bond among the needs of all humanity. The desire for what is really important is universal because it is a search for TRUTH. A truth that can only be found when we come to a point where are ready to empty ourselves and enter into a journey with our God.

Answering the question, “What is really important”, means having to become brutally honest with ourselves and the values that we place in people, places and possessions.   It means coming to an understanding of our relationship with God in a greater context than just in the beginning at birth, the end at death and at some random points along the way. It means breaking down the current focus to the very starting point of our creation – the TRUTH. The very TRUTH found only in our relationship, on a daily basis, with God. The TRUTH that is eternal in nature and not subject to individual interpretation. As there is only one God who created all – there is only one source of TRUTH – created in the same way.

Are we ready to continue on our journey? Are we ready to stop the focus on all that has not worked in our life? Are we ready to stop long enough to begin a conversation with God?

Surrender yourself to the relationship which is rightfully yours from your birth….your relationship with God – the source of TRUTH.

 ” We have the choice of letting the storm of life lift you up to the summits of a deeper more abiding faith …or slipping backward being buried under a pile of rubble called despair and self pity.”  Mujana Darian

Personal Journal Reflection

What is your current image of God?

How did you think of God as a young child?

Have you ever felt the desperate need for God? When? Why?

Have you ever felt like you were staring TRUTH in the face?

What is important to you now?

What have you felt should be important but you’ve ignored it?

Church Service on Christmas Day

A typical Christmas day, therefore would effectively begin to happen after the Church service. But it literally starts in the Church, where everybody would dress to their best, if only to show to the rest that they were at least of a well to do background. During the Church service, the smartly dressed peasants would try to undo each other before the local Priest by donating more money to the Church even when the givers have some dirty history as village thieves, adulterers and common criminals.

While the majority of the families are in Church, back home, women are busy cooking at a common place agreed by the villagers. That would be the place all the villagers would converge with all their children to have a Christmas feast. Even the little ones would have at least some shirt on their backs as they accompany their nicely clad mothers and fathers.

The foods the folks Ate

The only dish cooked on Christmas day was Chicken and meat -period! No vegetable would be served on Christmas largely because no Acholi man slaughters his Chicken, goat or cow just to be feasted on like that. Between January and December, if folks ate chicken or meat at all then it was because of the following reasons; there was marriage feast, some communal farming was organized and those who dug a whole acre would be feed for their labor. The other situation which would occasion the eating of cow/goat meat would be if the animal died of accidental strangulation in the kraal. Outside these reasons, no villager would have any reason to eat meat or chicken. The only time a family would enjoy meat would be if the family head was a hunter good at trapping wild game for  home consumption.

Over eating, adultery, murder and divorce

Given this eating pattern of mainly vegetables for most of the year,  folks looked to Christmas as a day for great feasting on meat predominantly. People were allowed to eat to their fill and to drink as much as they could handle. It was largely for this reason that Christmas in my village was such a dangerous affair. The overdrinking and the indulgence engaged in on Christmas day by village folks would make Jesus cry. Once the drinking peaks up, the next dreadful things that would happen would be dancing and singing. But as the night progressed, men would begin to poach on their neighbors wives and this was basically  where Christmas day  would begin to get nasty because those caught in the act of adultery would either be killed by their drunk arresters or sent to jail the following day unless they can pledge to pay a fine to the aggrieved  husband whose was wife was involved. The women caught in the act of adultery would be severely beaten, maimed or even divorced altogether for giving in to adultery.

Boxing Day and the Busy Bodies of the Police

If there was any day that was remembered for subjecting the Police and other law enforcement authorities into busy bodies, then it was Boxing Day. The morning of 26th December was one in which news of serious injuries, killings, divorce, death as result of over eating  and drinking would fill the air. Many of those who only the previous day were very smart in the Church would be spotted with plasters across their foreheads and torn  shirts as a result of the violence they suffered on 25th December. Christmas, as we used to know it was a matter of life and death but the folks loved it all the same with every bit of their lives. 

Of course you have been waiting for me, said the Father. No, who are you?, Said the father.
Pastorpun introduced himself and said, I see empty seats, I thought you already knew that I would come.
Oo, the chair, said the father, “Will you shut the door?” Wondering to myself, Pastorpun shut the door.
I have a secret, no one knows, even a single daughter sayapun not know, said the father. All my life I have never known how to pray. At church I’ve listened to the sermon Pastor about how to pray, but all that go away from the head saya.Semua way I have tried, but always failed, continued the father, until one day, exactly four years ago, a close friend I teach a very simple way to be able to converse with Jesus. He taught me this: Sit in a chair, put an empty chair in front of you, then imagine Jesus sitting on a chair. This is not a ghost you know, because He has promised to always be with you, then talk like you’re used to talking with me today. I then tried the way given my friend, and I became able to enjoy it. Every day I did it until a few hours. Everything that I do in secret, so that my daughter did not think I’m crazy when they see me conversing with empty seats. The priest was deeply moved to be the story that a lot, and gave impetus to the Father to continue the habit of praying. After praying together, and gave him the sacrament of Petroleum, Pastorpun home. Two days later, the girl told Pastor that his father had died that afternoon.
Did he die in peace? asked the priest.
Yes, when I said goodbye to purchase some errands at the store that afternoon, my father called me and said that he loved me, and kissed both my cheeks. An hour later, when I came home from shopping, I found the father was dead. But there is a strange incident when my father died. He died sitting on a bed with his head propped against the empty chair beside the bed. How do Father?

Wiping her tears, Pastorpun said, I hope someday we all may die that way.

 “As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; 

solitude will not be solitude, 

poverty will not be poverty, 

nor weakness weakness.”

~ Henry David Thoreau

When we simplify our life.  What was he saying here….huh?  LOL 

I hear you does he realize that there are only 12 days to Christmas and … and…so much is yet to be done. 

I hear you but truly we live rushed lives.  Many of us take the simplicity of a wonderful giving, loving and sharing time of year and muddle it up with task after task after task ater task.

We all could use a little more simplicity this time of year.

Maybe we put to much emphasis on the event instead of the meaning and good intentions meant for such holiday.

Maybe we don’t need to get all bunched up and stressed over the holiday and just enjoy.

We could all use a little more simplicity and not just at the holidays but we are here so why talk about it.

The gift wrapping, the dinner planning, the travel plans, the guest list, the cookie trays and pastries and then we even think about the calories we are about to partake in.  Stop……..!!!!

Enjoy, keep it simple.

Enjoy the time with family and friends.

Spend the extra minute to relax and express your gratitude this holiday.

Smile a second longer and make contact with someone today that looks so hurried.

Spend a minute longer in prayer and silence today.

Simplicity, Simplicity… That is the word for today.  Keep it simple don’t let the small stuff make you sweat.  Don’t …. 

The holiday for many of us goes quick enough we don’t need to rush it even faster with an overactive list of plans and details.

Enjoy the simplicity of the statement ‘Have a Merry Christmas’

How simple is that?  

The affirmation for this week, here it is:

 I design my life of purpose.  I will use the power of love and mindful words to help in my design and direction of a life of purposeful love.  I will not quit, I am successful in everything that I create as I create with intention to make a difference.  I am a winner, I am loved and I will share in my abundance of love to empower others.

Trust in these words this week,  Say them, repeat them and each day watch the shift in your beliefs.

Words with power, with emotion and words that will help affirm your design of a better you.

Discovery its within each of us right now to make our days a bit simpler.

Smiles as always sent your way.  Today and always.

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On this day in history

1577 – Sir Francis Drake sets out from Plymouth, England, on his round-the-world voyage.

1636 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony organizes three militia regiments to defend the colony against the Pequot Indians. This organization is recognized today as the founding of the United States National Guard.

1769 – Dartmouth College is founded by the Rev. Eleazar Wheelock, with a Royal Charter from King George III, on land donated by Royal Governor John Wentworth.

1809 – Dr. Ephraim McDowell performed the first ovariotomy, removing a 22 pound tumor.

1862 – American Civil War: At the Battle of Fredericksburg, Confederate General Robert E. Lee defeats the Union Major General Ambrose E. Burnside.

1937 – Nanjing Massacre. Japanese troops begin carrying out several weeks of raping and killing of civilians and suspected Chinese resistance after the fall of Nanjing.

1938 – The Holocaust: The Neuengamme concentration camp opens in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, Germany.

1939 – World War II: Battle of the River Plate – Captain Hans Langsdorff of the German Deutschland class cruiser (pocket battleship) Admiral Graf Spee engages with Royal Navy cruisers HMS Exeter, HMS Ajax and HMNZS Achilles.

1941 – World War II: Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States.

1943 – World War II: The Massacre of Kalavryta by German occupying forces in Greece.

1949 – The Knesset votes to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.

1962 – NASA Relay 1 launch, first active repeater communications satellite in orbit.

1968 – Brazilian president Artur da Costa e Silva decrees the AI-5 (or the fifth Institutional Act), which lasts until 1978 and marks the beginning of the hard times of Brazilian military dictatorship.

1972 – Apollo program: Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt begin the third and final Extra-vehicular activity (EVA) or “Moonwalk” of Apollo 17. They were the last humans to set-foot on the Moon in the 20th century.

1974 – Malta becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations

1977 – A DC-3 aircraft chartered from the Indianapolis-based National Jet crashes near Evansville Regional Airport, killing 29, including the University of Evansville basketball team, support staff and boosters of the team.

1981 – General Wojciech Jaruzelski declares martial law in Poland to prevent dismantling of the communist system by Solidarity.

1988 – Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat gives a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in the Swiss city of Geneva after the United States authorities refused to give him a visa to enter New York.

1989 – Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launch an attack on a British Army nonpermanent vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and one badly wounded.

2000 – The “Texas 7″ escape from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas and go on a robbery spree, during which police officer Aubrey Hawkins is shot and killed.

2001 – the Indian Parliament Sansad is attacked by terrorists. 15 people are killed, including all the terrorists.

2002 – Enlargement of the European Union: The European Union announces that Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia will become members from May 1, 2004.

2003 – Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit (see Operation Red Dawn).

2004 – Former Chilean dictator, General Augusto Pinochet is put under house arrest, after being sued under accusations over 9 kidnapping actions and manslaughter. The house arrest is lifted the same day on appeal.

2006 – The Baiji, or Chinese River Dolphin, is announced as extinct.

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My daily recipe for today.  Hope you enjoy : )  From AllRecipes.com

Cocktail Meatballs

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New Feature Only on Thursday  Weekly Sudoku Puzzle 

Sudoku by Sudokuhints.com

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Your Daily Prayer 

Lord, thank you for today!

Thanks for the quiet time I take to give you praise and share in my gratitude.

May I always find this time to speak your name.

Help me to rediscover and be made more aware on the power of simplicity.  On keeping things more attainable and filling this time of year with the simple things of life.

Giving thanks

Showing appreciation

Expressing the real reason for the season.

For the power of words and your words that you placed in the Bible.

For your son and my savior whom we praise and celebrate this time of year.

Thanks for the gift of love may I understand that everything was designed with love and only man and his wrong intentions created hate.

May I do my share to rebuke that.

Help all of us to become better givers of self.

Help us to become the gift that this world needs.

A bit kinder, more gentle, more in tune with the power and influence we really do all have.

To share to be that beacon of light.

To share a simple sincere smile.

To reach out with our hands and arms to help another person get a foot hold once again.

Help me to make a difference with a simple sincere smile, a kind word or even a act of kindness or love. 

I give you praise and the glory for all of that

With humility and gratitude I thank you

Amen

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

Daily Information

A very cool time piece for the web

Sunrise  

Sunset

Next Full Moon

Days till Spring 

Sharing a smile ~  Sending you love ~  Pass it on

: )

brought to you by Make ME Smile Online

written by Victor Yakin copyright protected 2011 

“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in

 comparison to what lies inside of you.”

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

When we truly discover that statement to be true.  We as a nation will find the way to change the things we seek change for.

Better education for all, no matter what school district a child goes to.

The protection of our borders and the need to stop playing the world protector of interests.

When education becomes our first line of defense then we will truly be a super power.

Imagine if we truly discovered that statement on education and the importance of our youth.

Discovery is the start to fixing a social condition.  There are steps after that but that is the first step.

When we discover who we truly can become with just a positive attitude and a Gratitude Attitude what magic can be made in our life and the lives of those we love.

This holiday season is in full swing, perhaps the best gift we can give ourselves is projection of our true values and desires.  Reflection of what we have done right and what could be better for those we love.

A daily quick stop in the mirror to look into and search the understanding and spirit of the reflection.  A pause and a peak into the eyes, the windows to the soul and to take the time to truly discover what possibilities reside within.  That could be a real discovery.  A giant leap for you the spirit and soul seeking a better way, a better day for you and those you care about.

Can we make a difference, truly can we make a difference.  Of course we can but we need to start to discover the difference first lies within ourselves.

Discovery can and will make that first step easier.  Then its all up to us as individuals to carry on.  Move forward,  Set goals and action plans.  Review the results and modify the plan so that the result we intended truly arrives to completion.

It can be done, it must be done if you want to better your life, your family, and growth.

This weeks affirmation fits here…..

 I design my life of purpose.  I will use the power of love and mindful words to help in my design and direction of a life of purposeful love.  I will not quit, I am successful in everything that I create as I create with intention to make a difference.  I am a winner, I am loved and I will share in my abundance of love to empower others.

Trust in these words this week,  Say them, repeat them and each day watch the shift in your beliefs.

Words with power, with emotion and words that will help affirm your design of a better you.

Discovery its within each of us right now.

Smiles as always sent your way.  Today and always.

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On this day in history

1408 – The Order of the Dragon a monarchical chivalric order is created by Sigismund of Luxembourg, then King of Hungary.

1787 – Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the United States Constitution five days after Delaware became the first.

1862 – USS Cairo sinks on the Yazoo River, becoming the first armored ship to be sunk by an electrically detonated mine.

1870 – Joseph H. Rainey of South Carolina becomes the second black U.S. congressman, the first one being Hiram Revels.

1901 – Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio signal at Signal Hill in St John’s, Newfoundland.

1911 – Delhi replaces Calcutta as the capital of India.

1911 – King George V of the United Kingdom and Mary of Teck are enthroned as Emperor and Empress of India.

1917 – In Nebraska, Father Edward J. Flanagan founds Boys Town as a farm village for wayward boys.

1935 – Lebensborn Project, a Nazi reproduction program, is founded by Heinrich Himmler.

1937 – Panay incident: Japanese aircraft bomb and sink US gunboat Panay on the Yangtze River in China.

1939 – HMS Duchess (H64) sinks after a collision with HMS Barham off the coast of Scotland with the loss of 124 men

1941 – World War II: Fifty four Japanese A6M Zero fighters raid Batangas Field, Philippines. Jesús Villamor and four Filipino fighter pilots fend them off; César Basa is killed.

1941 – World War II: USMC F4F “Wildcats” sink the first 4 major Japanese ships off Wake Island.

1941 – World War II: UK declares war on Bulgaria. Hungary and Romania declare war on the United States. India declares war on Japan.

1941 – Adolf Hitler announces extermination of the Jews at a meeting in the Reich Chancellery

1942 – World War II: German troops begin Operation Winter Storm, an attempt to relieve encircled Axis forces during the Battle of Stalingrad.

1942 – A fire in a hostel in St. John’s, Newfoundland kills 100 people.

1946 – A fire at a New York City ice plant spreads to a nearby tenement killing 37 people.

1948 – Malayan Emergency: Batang Kali Massacre – 14 members of the Scots Guards stationed in Malaysia allegedly massacre 24 unarmed civilians and set fire to the village.

1950 – Paula Ackerman, the first woman appointed to perform rabbinical functions in the United States, leads the congregation in her first services.

1956 – Beginning of the Irish Republican Army’s “Border Campaign”.

1958 – Guinea joins the United Nations.

1963 – Kenya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1979 – A major earthquake and tsunami kill 259 people in Colombia.

1982 – Women’s peace protest at Greenham Common – 30,000 women hold hands and form a human chain around the 14.5 kilometres (9.0 mi) perimeter fence.

1985 – Arrow Air Flight 1285 crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland killing 256, including 236 members of the United States Army’s 101st Airborne Division.

1988 – The Clapham Junction rail crash kills thirty-five and injures hundreds after two collisions of three commuter trains – one of the worst train crashes in the United Kingdom.

1991 – Russian Federation gains independence from the USSR.

2000 – The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore

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

My daily recipe for today.  Hope you enjoy : )  From AllRecipes.com

Christmas Brunch Casserole

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

New Feature Only on Thursday  Weekly Sudoku Puzzle 

Sudoku by Sudokuhints.com

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Your Daily Prayer 

Lord, thank you for today!

Thanks for the gift of discovery and the power to reflect and seek change.

For the power of words and your words that you placed in the Bible.

May I use words that inspire not tear down.

May words that help to beautify your creation be used in my daily walk.

Thanks for the gift of love may I understand that everything was designed with love and only man and his wrong intentions created hate.

May I do my share to rebuke that.

Help all of us to become better givers of self.

Help us to become the gift that this world needs.

A bit kinder, more gentle, more in tune with the power and influence we really do all have.

To share to be that beacon of light.

To share a simple sincere smile.

To reach out with our hands and arms to help another person get a foot hold once again.

Help me to make a difference with a simple sincere smile, a kind word or even a act of kindness or love. 

I give you praise and the glory for all of that

With humility and gratitude I thank you

Amen

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

Daily Information

A very cool time piece for the web

Sunrise  

Sunset

Next Full Moon

Days till Spring 

Sharing a smile ~  Sending you love ~  Pass it on

: )

brought to you by Make ME Smile Online

written by Victor Yakin copyright protected 2011 

Hide not your talents. They for use were made. 

What’s a sundial in the shade?”

~ Benjamin Franklin
******************
“In the beginning was the word…” 
- John 1:1

We all know the power of love, of being loved, on giving love it is a wonderful gift when given and received.  It has awesome healing powers.  Love is like spreading of magic.  It can wow almost anyone when given and shared.
The power of love with purpose.  Being filled with purposeful love to walk this earth with that is a gift that we all must start to use and learn.
How is it learned? Like anything with use and mindful attention to the details.
Living each day with spoken gratitude is a start.  Understanding that we have more than enough and anything more is just a bonus but all of this stuff that we have is meant to be shared.  Spoken gratitude that comes from the heart.  That says, I am truly grateful for who I am, for what you have given me and for how you truly make me complete.
The next step is to ‘WATCH’ :
~WATCH your:
WordsActionsThoughtsCharacterHeart~
A quote by Sri Sathya Sai Baba
The power of words.  When we start to embrace words of beauty.
Words like:
Abundance, amaze, allow, beautiful, become, blossom, caring, charged, compassion, delight, determination, excel, energetic, flowering, forgiveness, grateful, gentle, heal, harmonious, inhale, invigorate, joy, jeweled, kissed, kindness, laugh, liberated, moved, meaningful, nurture, natural, open overflowing, passionate, purposeful, quiet, quintessential, radiant, refresh, sincere, simplicity, smiling,tender, thoughtful, thankful, unshakeable, unbelievable, uplifting, vibrant, vivid, warm, welcome, wonderful, Xenia, young, youth, zeal, zest.
Powerful and joyful words.  They can move a spirit and inspire a soul.  The watchful mind will use purposeful focus in choosing words that inspire instead of words that tear down.
Which of course brings me to this weeks affirmation:
 I design my life of purpose.  I will use the power of love and mindful words to help in my design and direction of a life of purposeful love.  I will not quit, I am successful in everything that I create as I create with intention to make a difference.  I am a winner, I am loved and I will share in my abundance of love to empower others.
Sixty nine words that if you trust in to create a better world for yourself and others, you will.
The word ‘I’ used nine times. The word ‘love’ used four times.  The word purpose used twice.
Words with power, with emotion and words that will help affirm your design of a better you.
With purposeful love and intention.
Smiles as always sent your way.  Today and always.

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On this day in history

1789 – The University of North Carolina is chartered by the North Carolina General Assembly.

1815 – the U.S. Senate created a select committee on finance and a uniform national currency, predecessor of the United States Senate Committee on Finance.

1816 – Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.

1907 – The New Zealand Parliament Buildings are almost completely destroyed by fire.

1917 – British General Edmund Allenby enters Jerusalem on foot and declares martial law.

1934 – Bill Wilson, co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, takes his last drink and enters treatment for the last time.

1941 – World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States, following the Americans’ declaration of war on Japan in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States, in turn, declares war on Germany and Italy.

1946 – The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.

1962 – Arthur Lucas, convicted of murder, is the last person to be executed in Canada.

1968 – The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus

1972 – Apollo 17 becomes the sixth and last Apollo mission to land on the Moon.

1993 – Forty-eight people are killed when a block of the Highland Towers collapses near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

1994 – First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.

1994 – A bomb explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, en route from Manila to Tokyo, killing one. The captain is able to safely land the plane.

1998 – Thai Airways Flight 261 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101. The pilot flying the Thai Airways Airbus A310-300 is thought to have suffered spatial disorientation.

2001 – The People’s Republic of China joins the World Trade Organization.

2005 – The Buncefield Oil Depot catches fire in Hemel Hempstead, England.

2007 – Two car bombs explode at the Constitutional Court building in Algiers and the United Nations office. An estimated 45 people are killed in the bombings.

2008 – Bernard Madoff is arrested and charged with securities fraud in a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

2010 – Two explosions occur in a busy shopping district of Stockholm, Sweden, killing one and injuring two others. Officials say the incident is being treated as a terrorist attack.

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

My daily recipe for today.  Hope you enjoy : )  From AllRecipes.com

Best Ever Popcorn Balls

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

New Feature Only on Thursday  Weekly Suduko Puzzle 

Sudoku by Sudokuhints.com

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

Your Daily Prayer 

Lord, thank you for today!

Thanks for the gift of words, and language may I use it with love and purpose.

May I use words that inspire not tear down.

May words that help to beautify your creation be used in my daily walk.

Thanks for the gift of love may I understand that everything was designed with love and only man and his wrong intentions created hate.

May I do my share to rebuke that.

Help all of us to become better givers of self.

Help us to become the gift that this world needs.

A bit kinder, more gentle, more in tune with the power and influence we really do all have.

To share to be that beacon of light.

To share a simple sincere smile.

To reach out with our hands and arms to help another person get a foot hold once again.

May gratitude always have authority in my life.

Help me to make a difference with a simple sincere smile, a kind word or even a act of kindness or love. 

I give you praise and the glory for all of that

With humility and gratitude I thank you

Amen

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

Daily Information

A very cool time piece for the web

Sunrise  

Sunset

Next Full Moon

Days till Spring 

Sharing a smile ~  Sending you love ~  Pass it on

: )

brought to you by Make ME Smile Online

written by Victor Yakin copyright protected 2011 

We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant.

 You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or 

just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. 

You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.

~ John Lennon

Is it the gift of life that is so precious?  Is it the Gift of the promise in our spirituality? Maybe the gift of a healthy mind and body?  

The above mentioned quote refers to the gift of love and how this gift needs to be nurtured and looked after as you would a plant. How true that statement is, to nurture, to improve upon to allow to grow freely.

But do we really allow that to be front of mind?

What have we allowed the gift to become?  A wrapped box under a tree?  A stocking bulging with stuff?  What have we allowed this word gift to become.

The Gift is so much more than a box.

The Gift is you.  The whole essence of you.  What you can do is unlimited.  What you can give is unlimited as well.  

We have the same amount of time in each day.  We have the knowledge that we use less than 10% of our mind and most of the minds power and usage is automatic.  Instincts that take cover as we often run on automatic pilot.

Many of us have become automatic cycles, awake, get ready for work, get to work, work, eat lunch, socialize, leave work, get home, run an errand or two, make dinner or go out to dinner, drive back home, watch the television and get ready for bed, sleep,  just to run the same cycle minus a step or two and do it all over again.

That is the gift most of us utilize, but I would say that is just a cycle that your running over and over again.  

So whats the rub in all of that, its ok right, doing the same thing its safe, no danger, no risk and hmmmm no chance of being nurtured much either.

What are you growing with that cycle?  What are you becoming what the mainstream marketing departments want you to become?  A well oiled machine to work and spend money on what they wish or want you to spend it on.

We have become so excited to fast forward through commercials on our DVR’s at home so we don’t have to be conditioned.  Yet we still have lots of advertisements that cloud our attention.  We are more than our conditioning.

We are the gift and we can become more.

More to ourselves, more to society, more to our governing, more to our family, and we can make a difference.  We are not robots, we are free will and we need to start taking some of that will back.

One step and one thought at a time.

Yes we have to sleep.

Yes we have to eat.

Yes we have to work.

Yes I understand that, but we can become more.

We can be happier along the journey we partake in each day.

We can be more productive to each other as we step out and pass by each other on the way to our next destination.

We can become more for each other.  Be kinder, be more gentle.  Less angry as we drive about, we see others get so angry in the car at times don’t we.  Why?  Whats your response?

This world is full of hurt and fear right now. We don’t need to compound it or agitate it any more we need to give the gift of ourselves.

Plant the seed of love and concern, nurture the seed and allow it to bring forth more good than even we could imagine.

Yes the gift is you.  You have the power to make things change.

The weekly affirmation fits nicely right here: 

I am a perfect creation and I have everything I need to obtain my dreams and goals.  I have the time and I will find the time to make a difference today for myself and those I love.  I am able to ask better questions and I will start today.

A few times to be said each day.  

Smiles sent to you all this day and everyday : )

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

On this day in history

1531 – The Virgin of Guadalupe first appears to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico City.

1775 – American Revolutionary War: British troops lose the Battle of Great Bridge, and leave Virginia soon afterward.

1793 – New York City’s first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster.

1835 – The Texan Army captures San Antonio, Texas.

1851 – The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.

1861 – American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress.

1872 – In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first serving African-American governor of a U.S. state.

1875 – The Massachusetts Rifle Association, “America’s Oldest Active Gun Club”, is founded.

1888 – Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States War Department.

1905 – In France, the law separating church and state is passed.

1911 – A mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee, kills 84 miners in spite of a well-organized rescue effort led by the United States Bureau of Mines.

1917 – World War I: In Palestine, Field Marshal Edmund Allenby captures Jerusalem.

1922 – Gabriel Narutowicz is announced the first president of Poland.

1935 – Walter Liggett, American newspaper editor and muckraker, is killed in gangland murder.

1940 – World War II: Operation Compass – British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O’Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt.

1941 – World War II: The Republic of China, Cuba, Guatemala, the Republic of Korea, and the Philippine Commonwealth, declare war on Germany and Japan.

1946 – The “Subsequent Nuremberg Trials” begin with the “Doctors’ Trial”, prosecuting doctors alleged to be involved in human experimentation.

1950 – Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

1953 – Red Scare: General Electric announces that all communist employees will be discharged from the company.

1956 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, a Canadair North Star, crashes near Hope, British Columbia, Canada, killing all 62 people on board.

1958 – The John Birch Society is founded in the United States.

1960 – The first episode of the world’s longest-running television soap opera Coronation Street is broadcast in the United Kingdom.

1961 – The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Israel ends with verdicts of guilty on 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.

1962 – The Petrified Forest National Park is established in Arizona.

1965 – The Kecksburg UFO incident: a fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; witnesses report something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh. In 2005 NASA admits that it examined the object.

1966 – Barbados joins the United Nations.

1968 – NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco.

1969 – United States Secretary of State William P. Rogers proposes his plan for a ceasefire in the War of Attrition; Egypt and Jordan accept it over the objections of the PLO, which leads to civil war in Jordan in September 1970.

1971 – The United Arab Emirates join the United Nations.

1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.

1981 – Philadelphia Police Department officer Daniel Faulkner is killed during a routine traffic stop; Mumia Abu-Jamal is later convicted for it and he goes on to become “perhaps the world’s best known death-row inmate” before his sentence is commuted to life without parole in December 2011.

2000 – The Supreme Court of the United States stays the sixth Florida recount.

2003 – A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds several more.

2008 – The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for a number of alleged crimes including attempting to sell the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama’s election to the Presidency.

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

My daily recipe for today.  Hope you enjoy : )  From Simply Recipes.com

Chicken Cacciatore (Hunter Style Chicken)

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

New Feature Only on Thursday  Weekly Suduko Puzzle 

Sudoku by Sudokuhints.com

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

Your Daily Prayer 

Lord, thank you for today!

Thanks for the gift of understanding and the love that you have instilled in us at birth.

Help all of us to become better givers of self.

Help us to become the gift that this world needs.

A bit kinder, more gentle, more in tune with the power and influence we really do all have.

To share to be that beacon of light.

To share a simple sincere smile.

To reach out with our hands and arms to help another person get a foot hold once again.

Help us all to understand the importance of time and resources for our children and our youth.  Help all of us treat all children with respect, value and love.  No matter their status of color or from what neighborhood they live in.

May gratitude always have authority in my life.

Help me to make a difference with a simple sincere smile, a kind word or even a act of kindness or love. 

May we become filled with kindness and gratitude that overflows.

I give you praise and the glory for all of that

With humility and gratitude I thank you

Amen

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

Daily Information

A very cool time piece for the web

Sunrise  

Sunset

Next Full Moon

Days till Spring 

Sharing a smile ~  Sending you love ~  Pass it on

: )

brought to you by Make ME Smile Online

written by Victor Yakin copyright protected 2011 

We’ve got this gift of love, but love is like a precious plant.

 You can’t just accept it and leave it in the cupboard or 

just think it’s going to get on by itself. You’ve got to keep watering it. 

You’ve got to really look after it and nurture it.

~ John Lennon

Is it the gift of life that is so precious?  Is it the Gift of the promise in our spirituality? Maybe the gift of a healthy mind and body?  

The above mentioned quote refers to the gift of love and how this gift needs to be nurtured and looked after as you would a plant. How true that statement is, to nurture, to improve upon to allow to grow freely.

But do we really allow that to be front of mind?

What have we allowed the gift to become?  A wrapped box under a tree?  A stocking bulging with stuff?  What have we allowed this word gift to become.

The Gift is so much more than a box.

The Gift is you.  The whole essence of you.  What you can do is unlimited.  What you can give is unlimited as well.  

We have the same amount of time in each day.  We have the knowledge that we use less than 10% of our mind and most of the minds power and usage is automatic.  Instincts that take cover as we often run on automatic pilot.

Many of us have become automatic cycles, awake, get ready for work, get to work, work, eat lunch, socialize, leave work, get home, run an errand or two, make dinner or go out to dinner, drive back home, watch the television and get ready for bed, sleep,  just to run the same cycle minus a step or two and do it all over again.

That is the gift most of us utilize, but I would say that is just a cycle that your running over and over again.  

So whats the rub in all of that, its ok right, doing the same thing its safe, no danger, no risk and hmmmm no chance of being nurtured much either.

What are you growing with that cycle?  What are you becoming what the mainstream marketing departments want you to become?  A well oiled machine to work and spend money on what they wish or want you to spend it on.

We have become so excited to fast forward through commercials on our DVR’s at home so we don’t have to be conditioned.  Yet we still have lots of advertisements that cloud our attention.  We are more than our conditioning.

We are the gift and we can become more.

More to ourselves, more to society, more to our governing, more to our family, and we can make a difference.  We are not robots, we are free will and we need to start taking some of that will back.

One step and one thought at a time.

Yes we have to sleep.

Yes we have to eat.

Yes we have to work.

Yes I understand that, but we can become more.

We can be happier along the journey we partake in each day.

We can be more productive to each other as we step out and pass by each other on the way to our next destination.

We can become more for each other.  Be kinder, be more gentle.  Less angry as we drive about, we see others get so angry in the car at times don’t we.  Why?  Whats your response?

This world is full of hurt and fear right now. We don’t need to compound it or agitate it any more we need to give the gift of ourselves.

Plant the seed of love and concern, nurture the seed and allow it to bring forth more good than even we could imagine.

Yes the gift is you.  You have the power to make things change.

The weekly affirmation fits nicely right here: 

I am a perfect creation and I have everything I need to obtain my dreams and goals.  I have the time and I will find the time to make a difference today for myself and those I love.  I am able to ask better questions and I will start today.

A few times to be said each day.  

Smiles sent to you all this day and everyday : )

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

On this day in history

1531 – The Virgin of Guadalupe first appears to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, Mexico City.

1775 – American Revolutionary War: British troops lose the Battle of Great Bridge, and leave Virginia soon afterward.

1793 – New York City’s first daily newspaper, the American Minerva, is established by Noah Webster.

1835 – The Texan Army captures San Antonio, Texas.

1851 – The first YMCA in North America is established in Montreal, Quebec.

1861 – American Civil War: The Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War is established by the U.S. Congress.

1872 – In Louisiana, P. B. S. Pinchback becomes the first serving African-American governor of a U.S. state.

1875 – The Massachusetts Rifle Association, “America’s Oldest Active Gun Club”, is founded.

1888 – Statistician Herman Hollerith installs his computing device at the United States War Department.

1905 – In France, the law separating church and state is passed.

1911 – A mine explosion near Briceville, Tennessee, kills 84 miners in spite of a well-organized rescue effort led by the United States Bureau of Mines.

1917 – World War I: In Palestine, Field Marshal Edmund Allenby captures Jerusalem.

1922 – Gabriel Narutowicz is announced the first president of Poland.

1935 – Walter Liggett, American newspaper editor and muckraker, is killed in gangland murder.

1940 – World War II: Operation Compass – British and Indian troops under the command of Major-General Richard O’Connor attack Italian forces near Sidi Barrani in Egypt.

1941 – World War II: The Republic of China, Cuba, Guatemala, the Republic of Korea, and the Philippine Commonwealth, declare war on Germany and Japan.

1946 – The “Subsequent Nuremberg Trials” begin with the “Doctors’ Trial”, prosecuting doctors alleged to be involved in human experimentation.

1950 – Harry Gold is sentenced to 30 years in jail for helping Klaus Fuchs pass information about the Manhattan Project to the Soviet Union. His testimony is later instrumental in the prosecution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

1953 – Red Scare: General Electric announces that all communist employees will be discharged from the company.

1956 – Trans-Canada Air Lines Flight 810, a Canadair North Star, crashes near Hope, British Columbia, Canada, killing all 62 people on board.

1958 – The John Birch Society is founded in the United States.

1960 – The first episode of the world’s longest-running television soap opera Coronation Street is broadcast in the United Kingdom.

1961 – The trial of Nazi Adolf Eichmann in Israel ends with verdicts of guilty on 15 criminal charges, including charges of crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and membership of an outlawed organization.

1962 – The Petrified Forest National Park is established in Arizona.

1965 – The Kecksburg UFO incident: a fireball is seen from Michigan to Pennsylvania; witnesses report something crashing in the woods near Pittsburgh. In 2005 NASA admits that it examined the object.

1966 – Barbados joins the United Nations.

1968 – NLS (a system for which hypertext and the computer mouse were developed) is publicly demonstrated for the first time in San Francisco.

1969 – United States Secretary of State William P. Rogers proposes his plan for a ceasefire in the War of Attrition; Egypt and Jordan accept it over the objections of the PLO, which leads to civil war in Jordan in September 1970.

1971 – The United Arab Emirates join the United Nations.

1979 – The eradication of the smallpox virus is certified, making smallpox the first and to date only human disease driven to extinction.

1981 – Philadelphia Police Department officer Daniel Faulkner is killed during a routine traffic stop; Mumia Abu-Jamal is later convicted for it and he goes on to become “perhaps the world’s best known death-row inmate” before his sentence is commuted to life without parole in December 2011.

2000 – The Supreme Court of the United States stays the sixth Florida recount.

2003 – A blast in the center of Moscow kills six people and wounds several more.

2008 – The Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, is arrested by federal officials for a number of alleged crimes including attempting to sell the United States Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama’s election to the Presidency.

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

My daily recipe for today.  Hope you enjoy : )  From Simply Recipes.com

Chicken Cacciatore (Hunter Style Chicken)

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

New Feature Only on Thursday  Weekly Suduko Puzzle 

Sudoku by Sudokuhints.com

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

Your Daily Prayer 

Lord, thank you for today!

Thanks for the gift of understanding and the love that you have instilled in us at birth.

Help all of us to become better givers of self.

Help us to become the gift that this world needs.

A bit kinder, more gentle, more in tune with the power and influence we really do all have.

To share to be that beacon of light.

To share a simple sincere smile.

To reach out with our hands and arms to help another person get a foot hold once again.

Help us all to understand the importance of time and resources for our children and our youth.  Help all of us treat all children with respect, value and love.  No matter their status of color or from what neighborhood they live in.

May gratitude always have authority in my life.

Help me to make a difference with a simple sincere smile, a kind word or even a act of kindness or love. 

May we become filled with kindness and gratitude that overflows.

I give you praise and the glory for all of that

With humility and gratitude I thank you

Amen

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

Daily Information

A very cool time piece for the web

Sunrise  

Sunset

Next Full Moon

Days till Spring 

Sharing a smile ~  Sending you love ~  Pass it on

: )

brought to you by Make ME Smile Online

written by Victor Yakin copyright protected 2011