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.
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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