DAILY GRATITUDE MEANING OF WEALTH

 

I am grateful for learning early the meaning of wealth…

and grateful more people are learning this everyday….

How wealth is not measured by what and how much we have to keep…

but by what and how much we are willing to give away

BE THERE

May we be blessed to have this as our calling:

to do our best to keep our friends, our family 

and everyone we meet…

from falling…

To be considerate, accepting, kind, 

compassionate, 

forgiving too…

and help them pick up the pieces..

when and if they ever do.

 

A SIMPLE ACT OF KINDNESS

 

The new girl tentatively entered the classroom…

excited to be there while at the same time feeling the need to run away

afraid of what her classmates might think..

afraid of what they might say.

Her teacher gave her a hug.

“This is our new student.” She said as she held her near.

“I’d like you all to join me…in welcoming Angela here.”

When Angela entered the classroom she was frightened…

unsure what to do

but when she saw her teacher and classmates smiling at her…

she began to smile too.

 

At the end of the day Angela stopped by her teacher’s desk

feeling more confident and strong…

“I want to thank you.” She said with a smile. 

for making me feel like I belong.”

After sharing a smile together

she ran to catch up with her new friends.

Feeling the effects of this ripple of kindness

that, hopefully, never ends.

How beautiful how…in a world filled with uncertainty and strife…

one simple act of kindness can effect a person’s life.

When living in an increasingly cruel world

Where people who look, think or act differently are called treasonous…

It’s good to remember the solution to this cruelty

lies inside each one of us.

We have the power to help all people feel confident and strong….

to let them know in the world we live in…everyone belongs.

Fighting prejudice will always be a difficult uphill climb

But, perhaps, the best way to attack this problem is:

one person

one student

one classroom 

at a time.

DAILY GRATITUDE GENEROSITY

 

I am grateful through the years

for all those who have shown me generosity…

Those still living…and those already gone…

For allowing me to experience 

the wonderful feeling when receiving their generosity

as well as the pleasure of passing it on.

GENEROSITY

 

Perhaps it’s time the words of Khalil Gibran

we read…digest and heed:

Generosity is giving more than you can

and pride is taking less than you need.

ORGAN DONATION

 

We have been blessed with good health…Both my wife, Deborah, and me…

which is why we both have DONOR listed on our drivers license/ID.

But now that we’ve grown older we are pretty sure…

Doctors might not want our old organs anymore.

So, if we can’t be organ donors…

Before we move away…the two of us agreed…

To donate some of the furniture…we no longer need. 

Because unlike our old body parts…the two of us conceded

our old furniture, though old, is still wanted and still needed.

We loved our old furniture…and rather than sell or simply lose it

It’s nice to know it now resides with families who can use it.

Our couch, rocking chair and day bed…

now live in our neighbors growing family’s safe keeping.

They can sit on our couch, rock their baby in the chair

and the day bed is where their daughter will be sleeping.

Some bookshelves and a nice long table…now complete

a work station for the newlyweds who live across the street.

Our old roll top desk, Hawaiian chair and file cabinet…Have found a way to blend

into the house of two older newlyweds…who have become dear friends.

Our love seat and IKEA shelving unit… were quite heavy 

so with a few grunts and groans…

they now sit in the first apartment of 3 young men…

starting to live out on their own.

Some of Deborah’s Fiesta ware…in all those bright colors we love to see

have found their way into the houses of friends and family.

We are happy knowing our furnishings…

will live in other houses where friends and family dwell…

and we sat around in our ever-emptying house…we wished we had an organ

so we could have donated it as well

DAILY GRATITUDE LAUGH, SING, LOVE

 

I am grateful for all the people I’ve met…

Who have helped me with these three principles 

to keep in touch…

How you can never laugh too hard

never sing too loudly

and never love too much.

LIFE AND LOVE

 

May we be blessed to understand the beauty of love…

How even when a person we love is gone

Though their life has indeed ended

our love for them lives on.

THE LIGHT THEY LEFT BEHIND

 

How do we deal with the loss of someone we hold dear…

a family member, a partner, a husband or a wife…

a person who we can’t remember a time

when they weren’t important in our life?

We tend to curse time at these moment…

forgetting she can be our enemy…and our friend.

For she helps mark the joys of each new beginning

as well as the sorrow of each end.

How many joyous moments have we experienced 

when we wished time would move ahead slow?

Where the happiness of that moment 

makes us sad to see that moment go.

How many sorrowful moments have we looked for time to blame?

We curse the arrival of these moments and wish they never came.

But living in moments that are ephemeral and swift

makes me stop and wonder if…perhaps…that is time’s gift.

Perhaps time does not intend to vex, to aggravate and annoy

Perhaps she is only seeking balance between our sorrow and our joy.

Perhaps that’s why our yesterdays quickly become todays

and our todays just as quickly become tomorrows

to give our joy more opportunities to overtake our sorrows.

This ability to look into the futures as well as back into our past

Is how time helps to soothe our heart and ease our mind…

Showing us one way to climb out of our darkness

is to follow the light they behind.

DAILY GRATITUDE FEELING OF HOME

I am grateful wherever I have lived

how within me the feeling of home is strong…

It’s the place I love and I am loved…

It’s where I know that I belong.

 

HOME

 

When we move from one place to another

may we be blessed to find…

home is all we’re taking with us

Not…what we leave behind.

OUR OLD HOUSE

 We’ve lived in our house for many years…

It’s been the subject of many a poem… 

We often wonder when was the exact moment

our house became our home…

We have loved living here

we’ve been blessed…this we know

It’s where we built our life together

where we watched our children and grand-children grow.

And as we prepare to move away

to a place where the mountains meet the sky

we feel blessed to have a few weeks alone

in our home to say goodbye.

To remember and relive all the fun we’ve had…

as we’re about to turn another page…

To marvel at how even though our house has grown older over the years

and our home has improved with age.

So we are savoring these last few weeks together

before a new family within these walls roams…

and we’re hoping it doesn’t take too long 

for this house to become their home.

DEBORAH'S ROCKING CHAIR

 

After finding an old rocking horse in our attic…I was so excited

then I became aware… 

on the other side of the attic

sat a dusty little rocking chair.

When I showed the chair to Deborah…

She was a little bit surprised…

“That’s my old rocking chair!” She said

as tears welled in her eyes.

She said, “Be extra careful while you move it.”

“I sat in that rocking chair when I was small 

and I have the photo to prove it.”

With her chair in hand she ran off

and behold…

returned with a photo of her in that chair

when she was 3 or 4 years old.

In the photo she is sitting next to her sister, Pris

and it was easy for me to see…

how one little old rocking chair

brought back two cherished memories.

A memory of a young girl…and her childhood rocking chair…

And the memory of her sister…who is no longer sitting there…

I imagine the makers of this rocking chair

could not have guessed…would have never suspected

all the joy this chair would give…all the memories it collected.

I imagine they’d be overjoyed…If they were here to share

the look on Deborah’s face…

when she was reunited with her chair.