Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Bring me flowers

I would rather have one small rose
From the garden of a friend
Than to have the choicest flowers
When my stay on Earth must end.

I would rather have one pleasant word
In kindness said to me
Than flattery when my heart is still
And my life on Earth has ceased to be.

I would rather have a loving smile
From friends I know are true
Than tears shed round my casket
When this world I've bid Adieu.

Bring me all your flowers today
Whether pink, white or red:
I'd rather have one blossom now
Than a truckload when I'm dead.

Sunday, September 11, 2011

9/11 ~ why never forget? by Maribeth Jordan

10 years later and some say why do we need to remember? Sure it is a painful memory that stirs many negative emotions but with pain and sorrow comes new life. Look at it this way...

A mother goes through pain to give new life.
 Jesus died so that we may have eternal (new) life.
With every death a memory is born and forever lives in our hearts.
Trees and plants give seeds of life each season until death... those seeds grow into trees/plants that continue the beauty life cycle.  With every year that passes we continue to plant our own "seeds" in this world by who we are and the way we live... we pass it on to our children, grandchildren and the cycle continues. I like to call them seeds of character, love, hate, compassion, etc... whatever it is you plant most so will that grow.

We as a nation bonded that day and stood as one. We cried over the hurt and lost, and mourned over the deceased. A national tragedy that nobody saw coming or did we? That tragedy changed us in many ways... tighter security, personal and financial loss, fear, rage, forgiveness, compassion, love, etc... to experience any emotion on a high level changes us to some degree. Regardless of the circumstance we were created with the capacity to remember for the sole purpose of growth.

We remember because we honor... that was someones father, mother, brother, wife, husband, child, friend, sister or brother. Their lives were taken selfishly derived from hatred and we know that people who hate are people who fear. But we must make their death about sacrifice for a greater united front - together we stand... there is strength in numbers. We must remember the ones who died in this terrible event left behind much. They will forever become a part of history that changed a nation. What this day signifies is love... life is short, say goodbye, forgive and share your time with someone who needs it. You never know what a day will bring so for all who died September 11, 2001 you are my hero's for teaching me a lesson on love. A strong reminder from the bible..

1 Corinthians 13

 1 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
 4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
 8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Never forget....