Sunday, March 11, 2007

Hang on to your joy

Saying for the day- In the end our joy depends on us and God.

I am going to tell you a secret this morning that may save you from much suffering and grief. Are you ready?
Everybody at one point or another will say something stupid.
Everybody.
You are at a party with old friends and everything is wonderful then suddenly one of them says something which you are sure is a personal insult.
You go home. You think about it. You share it with another friend who agrees with you ( they hardly ever disagree). As you work it through you feel worse and worse. I mean you liked that person and they did this. You are miserable.
Now back to the secret. Instead of getting all upset you understand this was your friend’s turn to say something stupid. No evil intent just stupidity. Therefore no need to get angry , no need to get upset, no need to lose a friend. You continue to be happy.
Now just for the sake of argument let us assume your friend intended to hurt you. If you file it under stupidity he fails and he is the one who ends up feeling bad. Life for you is good either way.
Life is too short for us to let others take away our joy when we don’t have to.

@@@@ News from Pigeon Falls-The little town in my garage where the trains still run, boys talk to rocks, and the Liar’s Club contest goes on.– The first of the entries into the Liar’s Club Contest were read yesterday. The very first was by Lois on the Web:
Lois woke up. It was the middle of the night; everything was so still and quiet. What woke her up? As her eyes focused, she saw the moonlight streaming in the window. Awake now, she decided to look out at the beauty of moonlight upon the snow. It was so gorgeous! The shadows of the old apple trees lay long upon the sparkling, pristine white snow. Nothing, not even a deer, was moving around. WAIT! … that large shape coming down the hill! It couldn’t be a bear; the bear are all hibernating! Maybe it’s just a shadow of a cloud moving across the moon?
A moment of panic, a fleeting thought that “this must be a dream” … Lois decided that she’d just seen that huge rock halfway up the hill … Imagination!
Her brother and Dad were asleep, but she knew that each kept a loaded shotgun handy. Silly to panic or to wake anybody up.
Scolding herself, Lois decided to enjoy the beauty of the moment. The snow sparkled like thousands of diamonds. Dark outlines of the trees and their gnarled branches made a tapestry pattern of black and white. The stark black woods made a background, accentuating drifts of diamonds and pristine white swells of snow. Stars twinkled across the velvet night sky. It was just so beautiful! God’s artistry, undeniably!
No camera could translate this beauty to a piece of paper. The mind’s eye must do; a memory like this could last forever. A “this-is-as-good-as-it-gets moment”. Lois, grateful for having awakened to enjoy this secret moment, absorbed this magnificence of moonlight-on-snow!
NOW … WHAT WAS THAT NOISE? More imagination? … no … Lois was completely awake now … NOT imagination! The noise: like the rush and roar of an old furnace when you’d open the door. Her heart pounding, she could hear it thump. Afraid to move or scream, almost afraid to look, she focused on the dark shadows near the big rock up the hill. Was the rock moving? YES! The rock was to the other side of the old white pine! IMPOSSIBLE! More roaring fire-like noise … a smoky cloud of fire glowed where the rock had been!
NOW … SCREAMING WAS CERTAINLY APPROPRIATE! Lois’s Dad, brother, and mother rushed in. Lois, unable to put anything into words, only pointed towards that spot up the hill.
Her mother hugged her; her Dad and brother, with shotguns, ran out onto the porch.
Nobody found anything unusual … not even by the big rock where she’d told them to look … just some snow panked down by the big rock …. “Must have been some deer laying there in the snow”.
Lois felt foolish, but she knew she had really seen and heard something!
She felt better, though, when her Grandmother, born and raised on this farm, whispered to her, “Lois, when I was your age, I saw that same thing by the big rock. That was exactly 50 years ago! Nobody believed me, either!”

The Liar’s Club is setting up a special website for all entries even those that are too long. There are two and one half weeks left for entries.
******

Today’s Link-Rite Turn Only- Here is something to think of when you have your next hamburger, steak, or glass of milk. Plese leave a Dr. John in the comment.
It was another great day. Betty and I went to church despite the time change. It was good to be back after two Sundays out sick. When I got back I spent time with the son and grandsons. Pat and Curtis, played Alex and I in Canasta. Alex is a good card player and we won. He was over joyed. Then Curtis and Pat played Alex and Pennie . In the middle of the game Pennie got called to the hospital and Betty took her place. Betty and Alex then lost. Late in the afternoon they left and it was so quiet. Betty and Pennie and I played canasta and I won. Like I said it was a good day.My sister Dawn called. Now I'm taking a breathing treatment.
GBYA

12 Comments:

Blogger QUASAR9 said...

Alas so true!
No one gets by without putting their foot in it somewhere along the line.

The funny thing is, whilst we try to be absurd to be funny, we can sometimes make funny seem absurd without trying.

But hey to err is human ...

Here's wishing you a great SunDay!

6:55 AM  
Blogger Janets Planet said...

Say something stupid? Naw. :-)

Grandma needs to share her experience with Lois.

7:07 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I liked Lois' story. Very well done!

Btw -- this post was needed Thursday when I spent a miserbale day and night over something really stupid someone said. All is well now. We talked about it and I decided not to kill him.

7:55 AM  
Blogger Catch said...

Sometimes people say things to be mean, other times they just flub up...either way...best to just ignore. But I think you have to get a few years on you to understand that. I was much more fiesty when I was younger...now I just figure....who cares? lol

9:24 AM  
Blogger Margaret said...

Ahhh, I just double checked on my comment that I left yesterday to make sure it wasn't me.

It happens, often. Sometimes things are taken out of context or we read too much into them, then what they are.

The tongue or word can often be a sword. Sometimes even without meaning to be. Guess we have to handle this "weapon" with great responsibility and care.

11:02 AM  
Blogger Lone Grey Squirrel said...

Good advice cause I'm sure I've been in the place of the friend who said something stupid.

11:23 AM  
Blogger Bill ~ {The Old Fart} said...

A wonderful post Dr John. It is true how some friendships are ruined because someone cannot see that their friend was having a "Brain Fart" at the moment they said something stupid.

A blessed Sunday is wished for you and Betty

11:48 AM  
Blogger Jo said...

Dr. John, I think you just explained the principle of forgiveness so even I could understand it! It's so simple, and I never look at it that way before. Wow!

And we can apply that to ourselves as well, when we say something stupid.

Cheers,
Josie

5:44 PM  
Blogger butterflies said...

I agree..life is too short to let anyone hurt me because of some silly comment..Ive only got to live one day at a time and if someone says something yesterday ..its all gone.
Breathe easy Dr John..

6:41 PM  
Blogger Louisiana said...

beautiful words your post is and true as true gets.

words, pain, misunderstandings, mistakes and big stupid mistakes are part of humanity and our doings for we are not perfect unfortunately. but it is important to say i'm sorry, recognize the wrong doing and make amends and try not to hurt or offend again when we are in the fault..than again, sometimes this instances are just the plain result of bad communication and sometimes low tolerance. relationships of any kind are hard for we all are individuals with our own experiences that dictate how we react to things..and just because we are unique.
but forgiveness and respect and willingness are still the basis for any good relation with another human, and this is what should matter the most and what God asks of us. to love one another, to forgive as we would like to be forgiven.

and besides, it is our joy to hold on to or give away..sometimes..sadly enough.
**********
wow! some people can write..this is good..
*******************
i'm so happy that you had another beautiful day with your family. i'm so happy that you and Betty are surrounded and loved by all of them. God Bless you all and know we are happy for your health and for your friendship. hugs to all.

7:35 PM  
Blogger The Rev. Dr. Kate said...

Love the comments on stupidity. I think a good portion of what is wrong in this world could be fixed by cutting each other a bit of slack and instead of assuming everyone is out to get us, we presumed on their good intentions. We all say things we shouldn't. We should learn to forgive ourselves and each other and stop letting it be so divisive!

5:02 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A big hello Dr.John from RiteTurnOnly! Thanks for the nod.

Great post by the way. I think we have all been guilty of saying something stupid at one time or another. But as you say in many cases there is no malice intended.

The last time I said something stupid I immediately recognized it as such as soon as I spoke the words. I think my face turned a deep shade of red. Actually I'm not sure what embarrassed me more - the thoughtless comment or the awkward momentary silence that followed.

1:10 PM  

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