“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” Melody Beattie

Earth Teach Me to Remember

by John Yellow Lark

Earth teach me stillness

as the grasses are stilled with light.

Earth teach me suffering

as old stones suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility

as blossoms are humble with beginning.

Earth Teach me caring

as the mother who secures her young.

Earth teach me courage

as the tree which stands alone.

Earth teach me limitation

as the ant which crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom

as the eagle which soars in the sky.

Earth teach me resignation

as the leaves which die in the fall.

Earth teach me regeneration

as the seed which rises in the spring.

Earth teach me to forget myself

as melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness

as dry fields weep in the rain.

Ute, North American

read at: http://www.cherieburton.com/blog-entry/45/2011-03-14/mother-earth-is-shifting/

"...when all things go wrong to us, we must believe that God is doing the very best."
Stowe, Harriet Beecher. Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life among the lowly pg 63

By confronting our failures, we come closer to reaching perfection.

The Power of Teamwork click on the "Watch The DVD Movie" link.

Invictus

OUT of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

I look forward to the movie...http://invictusmovie.warnerbros.com/

Most people go to their graves with their music still inside them. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Our calling is where our deepest gladness and the world's hunger meet.
--Frederick Buecher

"No plan. No objective. No goal. The road to anywhere is the road to nowhere, and the road to nowhere leads to dreams sacrificed, opportunities squandered, and a life unfulfilled."

Thomas S. Monson

"We become what we think about all day long. The question is, what do you think about?" Dr. Wayne Dyer

"Most people don't know there are angels whose only job is to make sure you don't get too comfortable and fall asleep and miss your life." Brian Andreas

In Place of a Curse

by John Ciardi

At the next vacancy for God, if I am elected,
I shall forgive last the delicately wounded
who, having been slugged no harder than anyone else,
never got up again, neither to fight back,
not to finger their jaws in painful admiration.

They who are wholly broken, and they in whom
mercy is understanding, I shall embrace at once
and lead to pillows in heaven. But they who are
the meek by trade, baiting the best of their betters
with extortions of a mock-helplessness

I shall take last to love, and never wholly.
Let them all into heaven – I abolish Hell -
but let it be read over them as they enter:
“Beware the calculations of the meek, who gambled
nothing, gave nothing, and could never receive enough.”

Walk Forward

I found this on a blog of a friends, friend. I don't really know much about the group, but I like the video.

First Cuddle...

This evening for a very casual gathering prior to Christmas we watched Christmas movies for FHE. Toby was excited about all the new people to meet. In the group who gathered was a young man who recently returned from his mission.

For those of you who are not aware LDS missionaries are suppose to maintain an arms length distance (two foot boundaries) at all times. They are also expected to have limited interactions with individuals of similar age in the opposite sex.

After the movies while we were trying to decide what to do next Toby was playing with this young man. At one point Toby was very excited. The young man picked up Toby and sat with him in the chair. And his comment was..."My first cuddle in two years."

Complements

A while back my boss introduced mee to a visitor at work. He told her I was weird because I am a teacher who thinks like a therapist.
Last week I had a visitor at work. A supervisor was giving her a tour of the facility.  When he was introducing her to mee (yeah, she was my visitor shoulder shrug) he told her that I was the Special Education teacher, but work with all of the boys and am an integral part of what goes on there.
While talking to a friend about church one day he mentioned to mee that a couple of people where discussing a question they had about the scriptures. One of them said "we should ask Malinda, she'll probable know."
Still, one of the best complements is to know that people know my first name. I have been Sister Glasgow, Miss G, or Ms Glasgow for so long it isn't often I hear people out side of my family call mee Malinda. I like to hear it.