Search Results for: gifts

Returning Warriors

I was thinking of veterans, coming back from the horror they have experienced in combat and trying to reconstruct their lives, and this poem came together . . .

There’s a man emerging without the adornment of position, entourage or credentials. How daunting to stand tall, naked of the uniform that defined you for years. What courage it takes to make the declaration of emergence, knowing that people will watch and judge.

The man sees the valley beyond and it has people who offer to make him feel welcome and comfortable and there is a hand outstretched. He stands tentatively, having climbed to his present spot of unsure footing and wonders what is next.

He sees himself in the clear mountain stream. He is whole, sturdy, ready for the rest of the trip. He is not undefiled. He has dents and welts and scars, but he is strong and able.

He looks up at what it will take to get to the next step. The valley looks so inviting, bathed in warmth and the light of friendship, solace and understanding. It represent the rest of his life . . . and it provides the opportunity to reach out and touch the face of God.

Welcome home, soldier.

[Show #501]

Sharing Something of Value

The Chinese have a saying – “When someone shares with you something of value, you have an obligation to share it with others.” You could apply that to many things – knowledge, money, gratitude, even smiles.

Imagine considering it an obligation to smile at someone else, every time someone smiles at you. The question is whether a smile is something of value. What do you think?

I remember hearing that a smile is an instant face lift. And indeed, a smiling face is so much more attractive than one with a frown drawn on it.

Watch attractive elderly women. They know the secret of the face-lifting smile. You will rarely see them without a smile on their lips. And you can’t help thinking how lovely they are.

What else do you receive of value that should be shared?

We Americans are generous with sharing our wealth; from donations to the Red Cross and Salvation Army, to funding of Wounded Warrior to individual help provided anonymously when we hear there is a need. To those who receive much, much is expected.

We seem to have learned the Chinese lesson well, although it never hurts to be reminded.

[Show #450]

Making Time

An email arrived from a friend. It was an unusually long one. I realized immediately that my friend was getting something off her chest. So I printed out the message and curled up in an easy chair to see what was on her mind.

Seems she had just lost a close friend – suddenly, unexpectedly. He was someone she planned to spend more time with. She talked about how she intended to invite him and his family over for Thanksgiving, but time got away from her. She surely expected to see him during the Christmas holidays, but that didn’t happen. The following year had gone by so quickly and there was so much happening in her life . . . Well, you get the picture.

He was the friend she intended to keep up with but did not. And now the pain in her message was sharp. She felt she had failed him. And now there were no more chances to make up.

It’s so easy to get carried away with minutia each day. It is so tempting to have your day’s priorities include the business of living, but not the business of loving. Don’t let it happen to you.

If you make a to do list for each day, add an item reminding you to call a friend, or send an email. Reach out to them on Facebook or invite them to lunch. It will be worth it.

[Show #344]

Empty Bowl Supper

During a time when the economy is stagnant and unemployment high, charity is not at the forefront of many people’s priorities. But some organizations have fund raisers that work for them consistently.

One of them, in the Shenandoah Valley, is the Alliance for Shelter. For some 20 years, they have sponsored the annual Empty Bowl Supper, with the help and cooperation of lots of other groups.

Potters throughout the valley create hundreds of bowls. Your ticket to the event buys you a bowl of soup and a couple of cookies. It’s a reminder that this is a typical dinner for far too many folks. The catch is – you get to keep the hand-made bowl. Over the years, bowls have become real collectors’ items of intrinsic value to local residents.

High school students and scouts bake the cookies for the event. Ladies bake luscious home-made cakes that are bid on, in a live auction. Local restaurants provide dozens of gallons of soup of different kinds. Local craftsmen, stores and business people provide items for a silent auction. There is music and laughter and people don’t even mind the waits for a table.

The Alliance has created an event that is unique and appealing to city folks and country residents alike. And to think – it raises money besides.

Show #378

24th ANNUAL SOUP SUPPER AND SILENT AUCTION

Friday, Nov. 20, 2015 from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM : Benefit dinner and silent auction at Central High School in Woodstock, VA

Bowls are created and donated by local craftspeople, and the bowl you choose is yours to keep!

Admission:
Adults $35.00 ($36 if purchased online)
Students (6 to 17) $20.00 ($21 is purchased online)

Tickets are available for the first time this year, online by visiting the website at www.allianceforshelter.org and clicking Empty Bowl Soup Supper.

Tickets can also be purchased at Woodstock Café in Woodstock, Sager Real Estate in Strasburg, Edinburg Mill in Edinburg, and Community Store in Basye, or reserve your tickets by calling Shenandoah Alliance for Shelter at 540-459-3212 or 540-459-8395. Tickets are limited to 300, so reserve your tickets early.

Tickets go on sale October 1, 2015.

American Hoarding

Is it a sign of our times that one of the television networks has a series based on hoarding – the compulsive retention of things that clutter the house even to the point of causing safety concerns?

It is amazing to see hoarding – in reality or on the TV screen. Piles of junk and what we would consider trash, flowing off table tops and bureaus and even sleeping places. Thank goodness most of us don’t get to the state where parting with old magazines causes an emotional melt-down.

But if we look around, chance are there are things we have not used for years . . . clothes that don’t fit . . . . gadgets we don’t use . . . things that no longer match our lifestyle.

What so many of us do is arrange more space to accommodate these cast-offs. Box them and put them in the attic. Build more shelves or bookcases. Rent a storage locker and pay monthly for the privilege of keeping our STUFF.

Maybe it’s time to look at things a different way. How about parting with this stuff? Ask your adult kids if they want any of it. When they turn you down, have a yard sale. Call a charity. Many will even come and pick it up.

Adopt a mindset of parting with what you don’t need, instead of keeping it or worse still, treasuring it. They say it’s freeing to give it up. Are you ready to try?

[Show #506]

Toy Library

Have you ever counted the toys your kids have? A well-known parenting guru suggests that the overabundance of toys possessed by kids today is not a blessing. He claims that an average American child has 150 toys. Think what that means in a family with 3 or 4 kids.

Overstimulation from the media, video games and noisy toys are creating chaos. The way out is to weed out your kids’ stuff.

Reduce the chaos and introduce calm. Give away outgrown toys: discard broken ones and pack a lot of the rest away.

There are coaches who get paid to come into a home and reduce the abundance. They remove as much as 75% of the children’s clothes and toys. You can do the same thing. That will reduce the clutter.

Then introduce the calm. Set up a schedule for watching TV or playing video games, rather than having both run 24/7 at will. Get rid of noisy, flashing toys. They actually do the playing for the child. Instead, provide toys that challenge the child’s imagination.

Create a veritable library of toys, to be checked out, played with In those periods of calm you created, and returned. Sounds like quite an improvement.

[Show #346]

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