There Is No Death
In one sense there is no death. The life of a soul on earth lasts beyond their departure. You will always feel that life touching yours, that voice speaking to you, that spirit looking out of other eyes, talking to you in the familiar things they touched, worked with, loved as familiar friends. They live on in your life and in the lives of all others that knew them.
God has called our mother
Away from a world of strife,
To shine among the angels
In a fairer brighter life.
Safe from all grief and sin,
Forever and forever
Where all is pure within.
Our hearts are full of sorrow,
And tears have dimmed our eyes
But we shall meet her once again,
In the home beyond the skies.
What would we give her hand to clasp,
Her patient face to see,
To hear her voice, to see her smile
As in the days that used to be,
But some sweet day we’ll meet again
Beyond the toil and strife,
And clasp each other’s hand once more
In Heaven, that happy life.
What is home without a mother?
All things this world may send
But when I lost my mother
I lost my dearest friend.
Rules For a Happy Home
Always be honest
Proverbs 12:22
Count your blessings
Psalms 34:1-3
Bear each other’s burdens
Galatians 6:2
Forgive and forget
Micah 7:18
Be kind and tender hearted
Ephesians 4:32
Comfort one another
1 Thessalonians 4:18
Keep your promises
Romans 4:21
Be proud of each other
Acts 20:35
Be true to each other
Revelations 15:3
Treat each other as you would treat your friends
Matthew 7:12
But most important …
Love One Another deeply from the heart
1 Peter 1:22
He is not dead – this friend – not dead,
But in the path we mortals tread
Got some trifling steps ahead,
And nearer to the end;
So that you, too, once past the bend
Shall meet again, as face to face, this friend
You fancy dead.
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Perhaps you sent a lovely card,
Or sat quietly in a chair;
Perhaps you sent a floral piece,
If so we saw it there;
Perhaps you spoke the kindest words,
As any friend could say;
Perhaps you were not there at all,
Just thought of us that day;
Whatever you did to console our hearts,
We thank you so much, whatever the part.
…Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.
I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.
~ H. Murray
We think of our dad as a down to earth guy,
Just plain, like the sea, the wind and the sky.
We think, and we know he has gone from our side,
But we think of our dad with the utmost of pride.
The World Would Be A Nicer Place
If We Traveled At A Slower Pace
Amid stresses and strains
much too many to mention,
And pressure packed days
filled with turmoil and tension,
We seldom have time
to be “Friendly or Kind”
For we’re harassed and hurried
and always behind –
And while we’ve more “gadgets”
and “buttons to press”
Making leisure hours greater
and labouring hours less,
And our standards of living
they claim have improved
And “repressed inhibitions”
have been freed and removed
It seems all this Progress
and Growth are for naught,
For daily we see
a World More Distraught –
So what does it matter
if man reaches his goal
“And gains the whole world
but loses his soul” –
For what have we won
if in gaining this end
We’ve been much too busy
to be Kind To A Friend,
And what is there left
to make the heart sing
When life is a Cold
and Mechanical Thing
And we are but puppets
of controlled automation
Instead of “joint heirs”
to “God’s Gift Of Creation”.
HELEN STEINER RICE
SOW a thought, reap an action
sow an action, reap a habit,
sow a habit, reap a character,
sow a character, reap an eternal destiny
A man and his wife saw a well-matched team of horses pulling together to extricate a wagon from a muddy hole in the road. He remarked: “Why can’t we work together like that?” And she replied: “We could, if we only had one tongue between us.”
