inspiration
Life Is About Living
I love this…a message that touches all of us.
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Life Is Like A Train Ride
This is one of those things that was passed around via email a long time ago. I have no idea where it originated but it touched me so deeply that I kept it and like to share it with those who may also appreciate it. I hope it has special meaning for you too.
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Choices
Yesterday I was spending some time with the man I visit in an area nursing home. He was reading to me from a large print Readers Digest. One of the pages he found had this on it:
‘Can a poor person really learn to be as optimistic as a millionaire?’
Answer – ‘Absolutely. Try this simple exercise: For the next three days, notice and write down five good things happening in your world. It might be that the trees are especially beautiful this spring day, or that your child’s teacher told you that your kid has really nice manners. After three days, you’ll see that good things are part of a pattern in your life. You’ll notice more good things, and that perpetuates the pattern. This will make you more optimistic.
Simple, but profound. It was a great segway to begin an important brief conversation with him. The circumstances we’re presented aren’t what make us who we are or what direction we travel. It’s the choices we make and how we choose to live our lives. Yesterday my friend in the nursing home chose to tell me how much he enjoyed time with his son. He chose to look out his window and notice the squirrel hanging upside down from his bird feeder.
Today I’m choosing to smile at people I meet, to appreciate what I have and all those who make my world special. I’m choosing to have a super duper great day! I hope you do too!
My Valentine Gift
On Valentine’s Day, I thought I’d share a special gift that was given to me by a little girl who lives around the corner.
One day Kristina and a friend happened to be walking behind my fence as I was working in the garden. They were real inquisitive, wanting to know what I was doing, why I liked to garden and what type of plants I had. I was planting pansies at the time. Surely, it wouldn’t make much difference if my yard had two less flowers so I offered them each one. It wasn’t even a decision that required any thought on my part but I always remember the smiles on their faces as they accepted their gift and scurried away, only to return moments later. Kristina and her friend played in my grass that afternoon while I finished what I had to do.
Since that day, their visits became frequent and sometimes Kristina would come by herself. No matter what I was doing, they always wanted to help. But I think they really just wanted to be involved in whatever I was doing. And I’ve never run out of finding things to have them help me with, reinforcing their acts of kindness by letting them know how very much they are appreciated for what they do.
Let’s see, Kristina has helped me pull weeds (well, okay, she really was just able to get the leaves off the big ones), water the plants, and sand my back door before I painted it. Oh, and helped me clean bird cages – and of course, her favorite, feeding the birds. All the while we talk and we share. Sometimes we laugh together and sometimes I just listen. She doesn’t come over very often any more, but when she does, I try to make time.
My doorbell rang again the other day. Kristina wanted to visit the birds, then she wanted to draw. I brought out the paper and crayons. The heart is what she made for me. She asked me as she drew what I do when I visit the nursing home. I told her about how the man who I visit shares her love for art. She wanted to come with me. Her mom later told me she had been talking about it every day until that Sunday. What a wonderful day that was.
I love Kristina’s heart. It’s now displayed on my refrigerator above what she wrote for me on the meaning of friends. Isn’t that what Valentine’s Day is all about?
A Lesson In Giving Back
When it comes to making a difference, every little bit helps. Thus was a valuable lesson kids, ages 6 to 12, in the Gamble-Nippert YMCA’s homeschool program learned recently.
For three months they’d been asking their parents to come a little early so they could complete laps around the gym, all on their own initiative. They walked and skipped and hopped, sometimes as much as 10 times around before they started the day’s lesson.
However, this project wasn’t just about getting in shape and having fun, it was about doing something good for other people. For each lap the kids counted, their friends and family pledged them a penny, or contributed a non-perishable food item. Step-by-step, coin-by-coin, the donations added up. By the end, they had collectively raised 10,300 pennies (and 75 pounds of food).
Judy Haverkos, co-coordinator for the Gamble-Nippert YMCA program, said the students chose to give their earnings to Santa Maria Community Services. The food went to the Manna Food Pantry. H.A. Musser, Jr., Santa Maria president explained to the group why their efforts were so important.
Did the kids understand they were doing a good thing? Absolutely! “I like helping people,” said Aiden.
“Community service helps teach them character values and teamwork. Coupling that with having fun while being active is really a great teaching tool,” said Cindy Klopp, the other co-coordinator.
The coin project was just one of many enrichment activities for children in YMCA homeschool programs. Haverkos said their group is studying artists, helping the branch ‘go green’, and learning American Sign Language.
Pictured are kids who helped raise money – Victoria Freudiger; Hannah Musser; Oscar Allen; Aiden Bezdek; Samuel Musser; Nathan DeVoe. David and Rose Homelle; Adriana and Alexandria Norton; Mary Nerswick; and Joe Dupont also helped fund raise but weren’t available for the photo.
