DAILY GRATITUDE CHRONOS AND PHILOTES

 

I am grateful to Chronos and Philotes…

the Gods of time and affection in Greek myth

Chronos for reminding me 

that time is precious 

And Philotes for reminding me 

that even more precious than time

is who we choose to spend time with.

PRICE OF A MEMORY

 

May we be blessed in life to have the insight…

the wisdom 

the enlightenment 

to see

how we can never truly estimate the value of time…

or put a price on a memory

TIMES ARE CHANGING

 

 We recently came face to face in this life we are arranging

how, whether we like it or not, the times they are a changing.

For more years than I can count…Deborah and, I acting like two stalkers,

prowled up and down the sidelines…

watching our children and grandchildren play soccer.

In all the years we watched them… all the goals we’ve seen missed and  made 

we’ve kept the same list of all the fields on which our children and grandchildren played.

With our youngest grandchild off to college…I came across that list the other day 

and even though there are no more soccer games to watch…

I didn’t have the heart…to throw that list away.

As I put the list in our chest…where it now becomes a treasured keepsake 

I came across this photo Deborah took of a family birthday cake.

For years at the end of August…our family found a way

to celebrated eight summer birthdays…all on the same day…

It was a wonderful celebration….one Deborah and I held dear

and one our entire family looked forward to each year.

But our family is more scattered this year…

and, knowing much of them could not attend,

meant one of our favorite celebrations…has now come…to an end.

It is true what they say… 

sometimes we are so captivated in the moment we are living in…

the one we’re concentrating on…

that we don’t think about how much we’ll miss it……until that moment’s gone.

It reminds us to enjoy each moment…each soccer game…each family celebration

and store that memory in our mind…

because we never know when it will be the last one of its kind.

If we’re lucky once they’re gone…

we’ll have a way to awaken those special moments in life we make…

perhaps something as simple as an old list of soccer fields…

or a photo of a family birthday cake.

DAILY GRATITUDE SO MANY FRIENDS

 

I never thought I’d be blessed with so many friends

who make me smile…

who I’ve been blessed to know…

but my plan is…now that I have them…

to never let them go.

FRIENDS

 

May we all be blessed with friends

who know our joys

our hopes

our sorrows

and our fears

The kind of friends who not only can bring a smile to our face

but are there to help wipe away our tears.

THE FRIENDSHIP SECRET

 

We had dinner with good friends and their children the other night.

We hadn’t seen them in a while

and as we sat together around the table in the restaurant 

I thought about our friendship and it immediately made me smile.

 

How we met the mom and dad before they were a mom and dad

when we were strangers right off the street…

Which, if you stop to think about it, is how most strangers meet.

There is a kind of miracle with friendships…

the moment when being strangers ends…

a moment when, we all feel it, strangers become friends.

A friendship that is strengthened by sharing laughter, hopes and dreams…

by holding onto one another as we ride through life’s extremes.

I thought about how life can be unpredictable…

how we don’t always know what’s coming down the pike…

which means there are some friends we don’t get to see as often as we’d like.

How days, weeks, months and sometimes years slip by until we meet again…

how that long awaited meeting is sweet and tender-hearted.

how it's as if no time has passed…as is if we never parted.

Which brings me back to the table that evening…

where we experienced one of life’s wonders…shared only among friends…

how a friendship has no expiration date…how a true friendship never ends.

As we visited with their family…I was happy to know the secret…

I hope one day all friends will learn….

how a friendship never says goodbye…but waits patiently for its return.

How nothing can weaken a friendship…when it’s a true friendship you create…

and how no matter how long it takes to bring that friendship back together…

it is always worth the wait.

IF EVERYTHING IS A MIRACLE

 

I am grateful for being able to see 

how everything on this planet is a miracle to me…

And I think we should spend more time enjoying each miracle 

wherever on Earth when we find them…

And less time arguing and fighting 

about which God may have designed them.