Inspiration Shared By Lady Braids

Holy Holy Holy
Is the Lord God Almighty
Who was and is and is to come
With all creation I sing
Praise to the King of kings
You are my everything
And I will adore You! 

 

 

 

Inspiration On 2/16/12

We, as a society, are still teaching our young women to love backwards.
The message is boldly promoted on the cover of nearly every women's
magazine. There are tools to find love, tricks to catch it and rules to
keep it. The glowing faces of the toothpick models on the covers hold
the promise of great secrets to be revealed on the pages within.

Romantic love is secondary to real love, not the reverse. When there's
an absence of love within, the void cannot be filled by reaching out
and bringing love to you.

Respecting and honoring the person you see in the mirror, is real love.
Genuine care for the lives of every citizen on the planet, is real love.
Gratitude for the things we receive from the earth and concern for
the environment, is real love.

Of course, there are exceptions to the rule: parents who nurture
the spirit of their children and teach them real love. Even more
heartening are the mentors who share their love and wisdom with
children who do not receive that type of nourishment at home.

Not a single one of us is ready for romantic love until we are truly
living in real love. When we love forward, from the inside out, we do
not seek false romance, which is a needy emotion. We seek true
romance, a love that compliments who we are and everything we
want to become.

 -- Living in love and loving life,
     Terri McPherson

Inspiration On 2/14/12

 

The last thing I wanted to do was go out for lunch. Even with my best
friends. Since my husband and I had separated three months before
I didn’t really want to see anyone.

“Come on,” my friend Kristin urged when she called to invite me. “It’ll
do you good to get out and have a few laughs.”

I couldn’t imagine ever laughing again, not the way I was feeling. But
I couldn’t put my friends off any longer. I showed up at the restaurant,
knowing I wouldn’t be very good company.

Everyone looked so sunny and happy, I felt like a black cloud as I
settled into my chair. Please, God, help me have some fun today.
I didn’t want to ruin everyone else’s good time.

My pals passed around the salsa and told jokes. I pasted a smile on
my face and let my eyes drift around the restaurant.

A young girl sat with her parents at a table opposite ours. When her
big eyes met mine I felt like she saw right through me, down to the
sadness inside.

A moment later the girl appeared at our table and dropped something
into my palm: a sticker. A little brown bear hugged a bright red heart.
“Somebody loves me,” it read.

The little girl returned to her table. I stuck the bear on my blouse.
My friends—these dear friends—burst out laughing, and so did I.

Somebody loved me, all right. Enough to send me the perfect message
on a silly sticker.

How could I not take joy in that?

 -- Karen Clanin 

 

 

Inspiration On 2/13/12

 

When you see geese flying in a "V" formation, you might be interested in
knowing what scientists have discovered about why they fly that way. 

 1. FACT As each bird flaps its wings it creates an uplift for the bird
    immediately following. By flying in a "V" formation, the whole flock
    adds at least 71 percent greater flying range than if each bird flew
    on its own. 

    TRUTH People who share a common direction and sense of community can
    get where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling
    on the trust of one another. 

 2. FACT Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the
    drag and resistance of trying to go it alone and quickly gets back
    into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird
    immediately in front. 

    TRUTH There is strength and power and safety in numbers when
    traveling in the same direction with whom we share a common goal. 

 3. FACT When the lead goose gets tired, he rotates back in the wing and
    another goose flies point. 

    TRUTH It pays to take turns doing hard jobs. 

 4. FACT The geese honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up
    their speed. 

    TRUTH We all need to be remembered with active support and praise. 

 5. FACT When a goose gets sick or is wounded and falls out, two geese fall
    out of formation and follow him down to help and protect him. They stay
    with him until the crisis resolves, and then they launch out on their
    own or with another formation to catch up with their group. 

    TRUTH We must stand by each other in times of need.

We are fortunate that there are more geese in life than turkeys. Let's remember
to uphold each other in friendship and give each other a big 'HONK" more often.

 -- Author Unknown 

Inspiration On 2/10/12

There was a very cautious man
Who never laughed or played
He never risked, he never tried
He never sang or prayed
And when he one day passed away
His insurance was denied
For since he never really lived
They claimed he never died.

-- Bits & Pieces, July 20, 1995

Inspiration On 2/8/12

A good barometer to use, when determining how
a big a role you allow someone to play in your life,
is how they treat others - not you.

If a person is kind and caring and compassionate
in their dealings with people, we are not surprised
when they treat us the same way. Yet, if they are
good to us, and mean spirited toward others, we
are shocked and hurt when, somewhere down the
line, they treat us in the same manner.

"But," you say, "He would never do that to ME."

"But," you say, "She would never treat ME like that."

When we care for someone, and we truly believe
they care for us, we tend to overlook certain
things, and we should. None of us are perfect.

But a person who lies... lies. A person who
gossips... gossips. A person who cheats...
cheats. A person who betrays... betrays.

This is a difficult lesson for many people to learn,
myself included. It took a few good-hard-knocks
on the head, before I realized that friendship is
not a safety zone. If I associate myself with
someone who tends to tell lies, I have no logical
reason to be upset when they tell a lie about me.

People show you their true colors all the time.
Simply look at the way they treat others. It's a
pretty reliable indication of who they really are.

Your friendship garden may be small, when your
closest companions are those who treat the
world with the same love and respect that you
do, but their wondrous blossoms will always be
there for you to enjoy.

 -- Living in love and loving life,
     Terri McPherson

Inspiration On 2/6/12

Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow - it has no real substance of its
own, it is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to
disappear by trying to fight it, stomp on it, by railing against it,
or any other form of emotional or physical resistance.

In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.

 -- Shakti Gawain

Inspiration On 2/3/12

After you grow up and realize that in life you may not get
the family and friends you want, the body you want, the home
that you want, the prosperity that you want or the career
that you want...you will either 
have a crisis,
conform,
be content,
learn to cope,
commit to change or
create what you really want.

You always have a choice.

 -- Jewel Diamond Taylor

Inspiration On 2/2/12

The only accurate label, is the one that identifies a dangerous substance.

I am, for the most part, an introvert. I enjoy the setting of my quiet country
life, I keep my own counsel and enjoy my own company. But, if you labeled
me an introvert, your assessment of me would be incorrect.

I love to laugh and converse at social gatherings, and I'm perfectly comfortable
standing at a podium and addressing a room full of people. If you stopped by
the local high school on a Wednesday evening, you'd find me dancing up a storm,
with microphone in hand, and calling out steps to my clogging class. You'd hear
a lot of loud laughter too. (Especially when the dancers are following my lead
and I flub a step.)

The 'quiet' me, is the person I am at my core, but my outgoing characteristics
are an integral part of my makeup.

So... how would you label me? An introvert with extroverted tendencies?

You can't slot me into one specific category.

Labels are inappropriate and misleading when they're place on people.
Often times, they're hurtful or have negative connotations. Vague labels,
used to differentiate the 'us' group from the 'them' group, are one of
the biggest blockades on the road to world harmony.

Save your labels for poison. Don't poison your perceptions with them.

 -- Living in love and loving life,
     Terri McPherson

Inspiration On 1/31/12

Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love,
time is eternity. 

 --  Henry Van Dyke
 

Inspiration On 1/27/12

An Oldie, But Goodie:  A Native American elder once described his
own inner struggles in this manner: "Inside of me there two dogs.
One of the dogs is mean and evil. The other dog is good. The mean
dog fights the good dog all the time." When asked which dog wins,
he reflected for a moment and replied, "The one I feed the most."

 -- Author Unknown