PONDERISMS (adapted)

If you agree that a mind is a terrible thing to waste, why not ruminate on a few of these for a while.  You may find yourself using brain cells you didn’t even know you had.  On the other hand, I hope nothing seizes up on you…

I used to eat a lot of natural foods until I learned that most people die of natural causes.

Gardening Rule:  When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

How is it that one careless match can start a forest fire, 

but it takes a whole box to start a campfire?

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll squeeze these dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that Acme stuff, 

why didn't he just buy dinner?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, 

then what is baby oil made from?

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, 

but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Now you have to admit, if you spend a lot of time pondering these things, you either are taking life way too seriously or you are just of a superior intellect, and most of us can’t relate on your level. But either way, because this ministry is trying to be a “safe place” for all types, we’re going to keep you.  Now that’s something to really ponder.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             tad  

Memorial Day 2015 - A tribute in praise of the fallen

He cried at the grave of one he loved.  Fully God, and yet as a man, Jesus chose not to bypass the valley of grief which we all experience at the loss of one dear to us.  And how much more profound is the loss (and love) when that one has chosen to sacrifice his own life for others...specifically for us.  Jesus said it best:

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.  - John 15:13

This weekend, our nation pauses, if ever so briefly, to honor just such persons. In America, much of what we have come to appreciate about “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” has come at the expense of others far nobler than ourselves.  These heroes, even in death, stand head and shoulders above the rest of us.  The rest of us, whose main instinct is self-preservation, often live for that which benefits us, for that so-called American dream which can be viscerally experienced right now. It is the rare few who choose cause over comfort, the greater good over self-gratification.  It is for those we pause and offer praise and thanks this weekend.

Countless words of wisdom have been penned to give voice to the dignity of such giants and the nature of their task.  Here are but a few:

On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes 

of a mighty nation.

Thomas William Parsons

This nation will remain the land of the free only so 

long as it is the home of the brave. 

Elmer Davis

Courage is contagious. When a brave man takes a stand, 

the spines of others are often stiffened. 

Billy Graham

A hero is someone who has given his or her life to 

something bigger than oneself. 

Joseph Campbell

A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, 

but he is brave five minutes longer. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Who kept the faith and fought the fight; 

the glory theirs, the duty ours.

Wallace Bruce

Aspire rather to be a hero than merely appear one. 

Baltasar Gracian

So as you go into battle, remember your ancestors 

and remember your descendants.

 Publius Cornelius Tacitus

If our country is worth dying for in time of war, 

let us resolve that it is truly worth living for in time of peace. 

Hamilton Fish

It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero

 to be one of those men who goes into battle. 

Norman Schwarzkopf

The brave die never, though they sleep in dust: 

their courage nerves a thousand living men.

Minot J. Savage

Peace to each manly soul that sleepeth; 

rest to each faithful eye that weepeth... 

Thomas Moore

The patriot's blood is the seed of Freedom's tree.

 Thomas Campbell

Cover them over with beautiful flowers, 

Deck them with garlands, those brothers of ours, 

Lying so silent by night and by day 

Sleeping the years of their manhood away. 

Give them the mead they have won in the past; 

Give them the honors their future forecast; 

Give them the chaplets they won in the strife; 

Give them the laurels they lost with their life.

Will Carleton

They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.

 Henry Ward Beecher

We come, not to mourn our dead soldiers, but to praise them. 

Francis A. Walker

Scripture teaches us that as bad as war is, and as great its distortion of God’s original intent for humankind, there is a time for it.  A wise king once wrote in Ecclesiastes 3:

There is a time for everything, 

and a season for every activity under the heavens: 

a time to be born and a time to die, 

a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal, 

a time to tear down and a time to build, 

a time to weep and a time to laugh, 

a time to mourn and a time to dance, 

a time to tear and a time to mend, 

a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

a time to love and a time to hate, 

a time for war and a time for peace. 

I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 

He has made everything beautiful in its time. 

King Solomon

In fact, there are things worth fighting for…worth dying for.  It is no accident that Jesus led the greatest battle ever fought against the dominion of darkness, sin and death, and willingly laid down his own life so that we could be truly free.  Sometimes battles must be fought, wars must be waged, and, yes, lives laid down.  This weekend, as we remember those who gave their lives up for us, let us resolve to not let their sacrifice be in vain.  And let us be reminded that as costly a price as Jesus paid for our liberty, it is trampled afoot if we choose not to accept His grace and follow our truest Hero.       

tad  

The Power of Words (quotes from this article adapted from other sources)

A wise king once wrote: “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” It seems a direct contradiction to a perhaps more familiar proverb which says, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”  Oh, really?  Words don’t hurt?  Try telling that to the families of children who have been bullied into isolation, depression, even suicide.  In fact, words are very powerful and carry with them the potential to render great harm or good to the recipient. 

I once had the misfortune of squandering an entire semester in an English Lit class, simply because of poor choices to procrastinate and avoid reading the material. The result: failing a college English course in my sophomore year—and English was my minor!  As a junior, I transferred to a new school, retook the course I had failed, and met a new teacher.  Personally, I struggled with whether or not I was really as unintelligent as getting an F would normally suggest. You can imagine the shock when I got back my first paper in my new class with a big red A atop the page and this simple comment from my new prof:  “Your superior talent is quite evident.”  In six simple words, I shed my shame of being a loser to really believing something was working upstairs after all.  I never forgot it, aced the class, and went on to teach English for ten years upon graduating from college.

Do words matter?  Consider the thoughts of greater minds than mine…

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. -Jesus

Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it. -Robert Frost

There are two types who say very little: the quiet type and the gabby type. -Unknown

Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something.

 -Plato

Do not be quick with your mouth; do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.  As a dream comes when there are many cares, so the speech of a fool when there are many words. Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God. -King Solomon

Most conversations are simply monologues delivered in the presence of a witness. -Margaret Millar

Women speak because they wish to speak, whereas a man speaks only when driven to speech by something outside himself; like, for instance, he can't find any clean socks. -Jean Kerr

After all is said and done, more is said than done. -Unknown

The words we say will teach if we practice what we preach. -Unknown

When you are arguing with a fool, make sure he isn't doing the same thing. -Unknown

If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind - give it more thought. -Dennis Roth

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug. -Mark Twain

Don't speak unless you can improve on the silence. -Spanish Proverb

Never miss a good chance to shut up. -Will Rogers

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. -C.S. Lewis

Man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them. 

-Adlai Stevenson

One half the troubles in this life can be traced to saying yes too quickly and not saying no soon enough. -Josh Billings

If you think little of a person, you ought to say as little as you think. -Benjamin Franklin

The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone. 

-Harriet Beecher Stowe

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. -Colossians 4:6

May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. -Ps. 19:14

Couldn’t have said it better myself.  Speak life into those around you today.  You never know when it just might be a lifeline. 

tad