Friendship

Prayer for Friendship

You have blessed us, O God,
with the gift of friendship,
the bonding of persons
in a circle of love.
We thank you for such a blessing:
for friends who love us,
who share our sorrows,
who laugh with us in celebration,
who bear our pain,
who need us as we need them,
who weep as we weep,
who hold us when words fail,
and who give us the freedom
to be ourselves.
Bless our friends with health,
wholeness, life, and love.
Amen.
- Vienna Cobb Anderson

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life

Today's Quote

If you don't run your own life, someone else will.

-John Atkinson   How true, how true, don't you think?
Merry

Fall

If you haven't lived in the midwest, you may not have to ask this question.  We have "skipped" or "fast-forwarded" fall many years in the past.  But we always hope we will have it a longer time, rather than skip it.  Our weather in Mason City is in the 40's for highs.  By this weekend we might even get snow flurries with our rain showers. 

I was hoping winter would stay away until after my birthday, which is Nov. 8.  But at least we don't have tropical storms or hurricanes here!  I hope you enjoy the fall if you still have it.
Love, Merry  

Funny things!

 My sister sent me these!  They are SO true, too!  I had to send them on! If they don't seem "funny" to you, you didn't grow up in Minnesota!  :) Merry

JEFF FOXWORTHY ON MINNESOTA

>If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through l8
>inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim
>by,you might live in Minnesota.
>
>If you're proud that your state makes the national news 96 nights each
>Year, because International Falls is the coldest spot in the nation, you
>might live in Minnesota.

>If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might
>live in Minnesota,
>
>If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, You
>might live in Minnesota,
>
>If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in
>Minnesota.
>
>If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in
>Minnesota.
>
>If you know how to say Wayzata, Mahtomedi, Edina, Shakopee ,Winton and Ely,
>you might live in Minnesota.
>
>If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live in
>Minnesota.
>
>"Vacation" means going up north past Virginia (Minnestora)  for the weekend,
>
>You measure distance in hours,
>
>You know several people who have hit deer more than once,
>
>You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again,
>
>You see people wearing hunting clothes at social events,
>
>You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both
>unlocked,
>
>You think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and venison,
>
>You carry jumper cables in your car and you wouln't hesitate to ask some "nice guy" to jump your car for you.
>
>There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Zups Grocery Store at
>any given time,
>
>You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit,
>
>Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow,
>
>You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road
>
>construction,
>
>You can identify a southern or eastern accent, >

>
>Down South to you means Iowa,
>
>A brat is something you eat,
>
>You go out to fish fry every Friday,
>

>You actually understand these jokes, You might live in Minnesota.

    merry1621@aol.com


Some people succeed because they are destined to, but most people succeed because they are determined to.

- Anonymous

Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door.

- Emily Dickinson

Hindu Wisdom

Hindu Wisdom (Beliefnet)

Know God and all fetters will fall away.
No longer identifying yourself
With the body, go beyond birth and death.
All your desires will be fulfilled in him
Who is One without a second.

Know him to be enshrined in your heart
always.
Truly there is nothing more in life to know.
Meditate and realize this world
Is filled with the presence of God.

-Shvetashvatara Upanishad

Merry

merry1621@aol.com

 

The Ring

Today's Inspirational Story  (I think this is true!)

 

 The Ring
My mother's wedding band may not have been fancy or expensive, but to me, it was a priceless jewel.
By Esther Bonilla Read When I was growing up, my mother had a ring she never took off. It was the only ring I ever saw her wear during my childhood. It was made of a shiny silvery metal with an oblong penny-brown metallic piece upon which two hearts were attached in the center.

She wore it when she swept, when she mopped, when she made her large mound of golden flour tortillas, when she sewed on her treadle Singer sewing machine and when she washed clothes on the rubboard.

She didn't really have any other jewelry, and, in fact, I remember my father saying that he didn't even buy her a ring when they were married. He hadn't thought about it, and during the ceremony, they had borrowed her brother Charlie's ring.

The years passed. My father, who had come from Mexico in the 1920s to try to earn a living, worked long, long hours at the service station he operated. And my mother, who was also from Mexico, toiled at home, keeping house for her husband and eight youngsters. With his hard work and her thriftiness, they sent their first son off to college, then another child and then another. The older children helped with the expenses of the younger ones.

Just as the last two children were graduating from college, my father died suddenly of a heart attack, but my mother lived on for another twenty-three years. Their children had become lawyers, businessmen and teachers. In the last years of her life, my mother was finally able to enjoy the luxuries that had always been denied her. She was even able to buy some jewelry, which, I was surprised to learn, she really loved.

A few years before she died, she told me that she wanted her jewelry to go to her granddaughters. And when she died, it was done. A diamond ring to this one, a pearl ring to that one, an opal ring to another, and so it went.

Then I discovered it: her first ring. Now I could identify the metal. The ring was a thin, fragile thing by now, a small strip of stainless steel attached to two small hearts on either side of an oblong-shaped piece of copper. It had been worn so long that the copper had become unattached to the circle. Its value was naught.

I took the ring, polished it with a cloth and carried it to the bank to place in a safety-deposit box. To me, it was a gem that symbolized the sacrifices my mother had made for us and the values that she lived. How many years had she worn it? How many times had she denied herself so that we might succeed? Why did she save this ring when it seemed worthless? Was it a symbol to her, too?

The rest of my family doesn't quite understand this, but when I look at that ring, I see the priceless jewel of my mother's strength and the brilliance of the love that she showed us every day of her life.

PS Had to share with you,

Love,

Merry

merry1621@aol.com

You can easily judge the character of a man by how he treats those who can do nothing for him.
James D. Miles