Forward Ever Forward

1) Prayer is not a “spare wheel” that you pull out when in trouble; it is a “steering wheel” that directs us in the right path throughout life.

2) Do you know why a car’s windshield is so large & the rear view mirror is so small? Because our past is not as important as our future. So, look ahead and move on.

3) Friendship is like a book. It takes a few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.

4) All things in life are temporary. If going well enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong don’t worry, they can’t last long either.

5) Old friends are like gold! New friends are diamonds! If you get a diamond, don’t forget the gold! Because to hold a diamond, you always need a base of gold!

6) Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, God smiles from above and says, “Relax, it’s just a bend, not the end!

7) When God solves your problems, you have faith in His abilities; when God doesn’t solve your problems He has faith in your abilities.

A blind person asked St. Anthony: “Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?” He replied: “Yes, losing your vision.”

9) When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them; and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.

10) Worrying does not take away tomorrow’s troubles; it takes away today’s peace.

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Drop a pebble in the water: just a splash, and it is gone;
But there’s half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,
Spreading, spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea.
And there is no way of telling where the end is going to be.

Drop a pebble in the water: in a minute you forget,
But there’s little waves a-flowing, and there’s ripples circling yet,
And those little waves a-flowing to a great big wave have grown;
You’ve disturbed a mighty river just by dropping in a stone.

Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute it is gone;
But there’s half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on.
They keep spreading, spreading, spreading from the center as they go,
And there is no way to stop them, once you’ve started them to flow.

Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute you forget;
But there’s little waves a-flowing, and there’s ripples circling yet,
And perhaps in some sad heart a mighty wave of tears you’ve stirred,
And disturbed a life was happy ere you dropped that unkind word.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness: just a flash and it is gone;
But there’s half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,
Bearing hope and joy and comfort on each splashing, dashing wave
Till you wouldn’t believe the volume of the one kind word you gave.

Drop a word of cheer and kindness: in a minute you forget;
But there’s gladness still a-swelling, and there’s joy circling yet,
And you’ve rolled a wave of comfort whose sweet music can be heard
Over miles and miles of water just by dropping one kind word.

Author James W. Foley

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Just One Person
(the closer from the musical “Snoopy!”)

If just one person believes in you,
Deep enough, and strong enough, believes in you…
Hard enough, and long enough,
It stands to reason, that someone else will think
“If he can do it, I can do it.”

Making it: two whole people, who believe in you
Deep enough, and strong enough,
Believe in you.
Hard enough and long enough
There’s bound to be some other person who
Believes in making it a threesome,
Making it three…..
People you can say: believe in me…..
And if three whole people,
Why not — four?
And if four whole people,
Why not–more, and
more, and

more….
(keychange)
And when all those people,
Believe in you,
Deep enough, and strong enough,
Believe in you…
Hard enough, and long enough

It stands to reason that you yourself will
Start to see what everybody sees in
You…

And maybe even you,
Can believe in you… too!

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1. A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues. ~Cicero
2. Ah! on Thanksgiving day/ When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more, / And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before. / What moistens the lips and what brightens the eye? / What calls back the past, like the rich pumpkin pie? ~John Greenleaf Whittier
3. All that we behold is full of blessings. ~William Wordsworth
4. An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. ~Irv Kupcinet
5. And though I ebb in worth, I’ll flow in thanks. ~John Taylor
6. As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy
7. As we pause to thank Him for the blessings of the past year, we must not forget to thank Him for the lessons we have learned through our difficult times. We are not to be thankful for just the pleasant, easy things, but ALL things. ~Millie Stamm
8. But see, in our open clearings, how golden the melons lie; / Enrich them with sweets and spices, and give us the pumpkin-pie! ~Margaret Junkin Preston
9. But whether we have less or more, / Always thank we God therefor. ~Author Unknown
10. Coexistence: what the farmer does with the turkey – until Thanksgiving. ~Mike Connolly
11. Dear Lord; we beg but one boon more: / Peace in the hearts of all men living, / peace in the whole world this Thanksgiving. ~Joseph Auslander
12. Do not fancy, as too many do, that thou canst praise God by singing hymns to Him in church once a week, and disobeying Him all the week long. He asks of thee works as well as words; and more, he asks of thee works first and words after. ~Charles Kingsley
13. Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it. ~William Arthur Ward
14. For a Christian thanksgiving, we must give thanks. ~Unknown
15. For each new morning with its light, / For rest and shelter of the night, / For health and food, for love and friends, /For everything Thy goodness sends. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
16. For flowers that bloom about our feet; / For tender grass, so fresh, so sweet; / For song of bird, and hum of bee; / For all things fair we hear or see, / Father in heaven, we thank Thee! ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
17. For hearts that are kindly, with virtue and peace, and not seeking blindly a hoard to increase; for those who are grieving o’er life’s sordid plan; for souls still believing in heaven and man; for homes that are lowly with love at the board; for things that are holy, I thank thee, O Lord! ~Walt Mason
18. For what I give, not what I take, / For battle, not for victory, / My prayer of thanks I make. ~Odell Shepard
19. For, after all, put it as we may to ourselves, we are all of us from birth to death guests at a table which we did not spread. The sun, the earth, love, friends, our very breath are parts of the banquet…. Shall we think of the day as a chance to come nearer to our Host, and to find out something of Him who has fed us so long? ~Rebecca Harding Davis
20. Give thanks for unknown blessings already on their way. ~Native American Saying
21. Gluttony and surfeiting are no proper occasions for thanksgiving. ~Charles Lamb
22. God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say ‘thank you?’ ~William A. Ward
23. God has two dwellings; one in heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart. ~Izaak Walton
24. Got no check books, got no banks. Still I’d like to express my thanks – I got the sun in the morning and the moon at night. ~Irving Berlin
25. Grace isn’t a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It’s a way to live. ~Jacqueline Winspear
26. Gratitude is born in hearts that take time to count up past mercies. ~Charles E. Jefferson
27. Gratitude is the least of the virtues, but ingratitude is the worst of vices. ~Thomas Fuller
28. Gratitude is the sign of noble souls. ~Aesop
29. 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
30. Happy We-Stole-Your-Land-and-Killed-Your-People Day! ~Thanksgiving toast, from the movie Sweet November
31. He who receives a good turn should never forget it; he who does one should never remember it. ~Charron
32. He who thanks but with the lips / Thanks but in part; / The full, the true Thanksgiving / Comes from the heart. ~J.A. Shedd
33. Heap high the board with plenteous cheer and gather to the feast, / And toast the sturdy Pilgrim band whose courage never ceased. ~Alice W. Brotherton
34. Hem your blessings with thankfulness so they don’t unravel. ~Author Unknown
35. How wonderful it would be if we could help our children and grandchildren to learn thanksgiving at an early age. Thanksgiving opens the doors. It changes a child’s personality, thankful children want to give, they radiate happiness, they draw people. ~Sir John Templeton
36. I hate ingratitude more in man than lying, vainness, drunkenness or any taint of vice, whose strong corruption inhibits our frail blood. ~William Shakespeare
37. I have strong doubts that the first Thanksgiving even remotely resembled the ‘history’ I was told in second grade. But considering that (when it comes to holidays) mainstream America’s traditions tend to be over-eating, shopping, or getting drunk, I suppose it’s a miracle that the concept of giving thanks even surfaces at all. ~Ellen Orleans
38. I love Thanksgiving turkey. It’s the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts. ~Arnold Schwarzenegger
39. If a fellow isn’t thankful for what he’s got, he isn’t likely to be thankful for what he’s going to get. ~Frank A. Clark
40. If I have enjoyed the hospitality of the Host of this universe, Who daily spreads a table in my sight, surely I cannot do less than acknowledge my dependence. ~G.A. Johnston Ross
41. If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, thank you, that would suffice. ~Meister Eckhart
42. If we meet someone who owes us thanks, we right away remember that. But how often do we meet someone to whom we owe thanks without remembering that? ~Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
43. If you count all your assets, you always show a profit. ~Robert Quillen
44. In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer
45. It has been an unchallengeable American doctrine that cranberry sauce, a pink goo with overtones of sugared tomatoes, is a delectable necessity of the Thanksgiving board and that turkey is uneatable without it. ~Alistair Cooke
46. It is literally true, as the thankless say, that they have nothing to be thankful for. He who sits by the fire, thankless for the fire, is just as if he had no fire. Nothing is possessed save in appreciation, of which thankfulness is the indispensable ingredient. But a thankful heart hath a continual feast. ~W.J. Cameron
47. Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds. ~Theodore Roosevelt
48. Life without thankfulness is devoid of love and passion. Hope without thankfulness is lacking in fine perception. Faith without thankfulness lacks strength and fortitude. Every virtue divorced from thankfulness is maimed and limps along the spiritual road. ~John Henry Jowett
49. Lord, ’tis Thy plenty-dropping hand / That soils my land, / And giv’st me for my bushel sowne / Twice ten for one. / All this, and better, Thou dost send / Me, to this end, / That I should render, for my part, / A thankful heart. ~Robert Herrick
50. May your stuffing be tasty / May your turkey plump, / May your potatoes and gravy Have nary a lump. / May your yams be delicious / And your pies take the prize, / And may your Thanksgiving dinner / Stay off your thighs! ~Author Unknown

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1. No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks. ~Ambrose of Milan
2.  No longer forward nor behind / I look in hope or fear; / But, grateful, take the good I find, / The best of now and here. ~John Greenleaf Whittier
3.  None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy. ~Fred De Witt Van Amburgh
4.  Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving. ~W.T. Purkiser
5.  Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart. ~Seneca
6.  O Lord that lends me life, / Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness. ~William Shakespeare
7.  On Thanksgiving Day we acknowledge our dependence. ~William Jennings Bryan
8.  On Thanksgiving Day, all over America, families sit down to dinner at the same moment – halftime. ~Author Unknown
9.  One distinguishing mark of an unregenerate man is ingratitude. ~E. J. Conrad
10.  Our rural ancestors, with little blest, / Patient of labour when the end was rest,/Indulged the day that housed their annual grain, / With feasts, and off’rings, and a thankful strain. ~Alexander Pope
11.  Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings than for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now. ~A.W. Tozer
12.  Praise is the best auxiliary to prayer; and he who most bears in mind what has been done for him by God will be most emboldened to supplicate fresh gifts from above. ~Henry Melville
13.  Pride slays thanksgiving, but a humble mind is the soil of which thanks naturally grow. A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets much as he deserves. ~Henry Ward Beecher
14.  Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many–not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some. ~Charles Dickens
15.  Remember God’s bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light! Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude! ~Henry Ward Beecher
16.  Small cheer and great welcome makes a merry feast. ~William Shakespeare
17.  So once in every year we throng/Upon a day apart,/To praise the Lord with feast and song/In thankfulness of heart. ~Arthur Guiterman
18.  Stand up, on this Thanksgiving Day, stand upon your feet. Believe in man. Soberly and with clear eyes, believe in your own time and place. There is not, and there never has been a better time, or a better place to live in. ~Phillips Brooks
19.  Thanksgiving comes to us out of the prehistoric dimness, universal to all ages and all faiths. At whatever straws we must grasp, there is always a time for gratitude and new beginnings. ~J. Robert Moskin
20.  Thanksgiving Day is a jewel, to set in the hearts of honest men; but be careful that you do not take the day, and leave out the gratitude. ~E.P. Powell
21.  Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for – annually, not oftener – if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians. Thanksgiving Day became a habit, for the reason that in the course of time, as the years drifted on, it was perceived that the exterminating had ceased to be mutual and was all on the white man’s side, consequently on the Lord’s side; hence it was proper to thank the Lord for it and extend the usual annual compliments. ~Mark Twain
22.  Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence. ~Erma Bombeck
23.  Thanksgiving is America’s national chow-down feast, the one occasion each year when gluttony becomes a patriotic duty. ~Michael Dresser
24.  Thanksgiving is an emotional holiday. People travel thousands of miles to be with people they only see once a year. And then discover once a year is way too often. ~Johnny Carson
25.  Thanksgiving is possible only for those who take time to remember; no one can give thanks who has a short memory. ~Author Unknown
26.  Thanksgiving is so called because we are all so thankful that it only comes once a year. ~P. J. O’Rourke
27.  Thanksgiving is the holiday of peace, the celebration of work and the simple life… a true folk-festival that speaks the poetry of the turn of the seasons, the beauty of seed time and harvest, the ripe product of the year, and the deep, deep connection of all these things with God. ~Ray Stannard Baker
28.  Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day. ~Robert Caspar Lintner
29.  Thanksgiving, after all, is a word of action. ~W.J. Cameron
30.  Thanksgiving-day, I fear, / If one the solemn truth must touch, / Is celebrated, not so much / To thank the Lord for blessing o’er, / As for the sake of getting more! ~Will Carleton
31.  The Pilgrims made seven times more graves than huts. No Americans have been more impoverished than these who, nevertheless, set aside a day of thanksgiving. ~H.U. Westermayer
32.  The thing I’m most thankful for right now is elastic waistbands. ~Author Unknown
33.  The unthankful heart discovers no mercies; but let the thankful heart sweep through the day and, as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find, in every hour, some heavenly blessings! ~Henry Ward Beecher
34.  The very fact that a man is thankful implies Someone to be thankful to. ~John Baillie
35.  There is one day that is ours. There is one day when all we Americans who are not self-made go back to the old home to eat saleratus biscuits and marvel how much nearer to the porch the old pump looks than it used to. Thanksgiving Day is the one day that is purely American. ~O. Henry
36.  This is the finest measure of thanksgiving: a thankfulness that springs from love. ~William C. Skeath
37.  Thou hast given so much to me, / Give one thing more, – a grateful heart; / Not thankful when it pleaseth me, / As if Thy blessings had spare days, / But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise. ~George Herbert
38.  To hear someone say ‘Happy Turkey Day’ makes me sad because they have nothing to be thankful for and no one to whom to be thankful. ~Robert Flatt
39.  To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven. ~Johannes A. Gaertner
40.  True thanksgiving means that we need to thank God for what He has done for us, and not to tell Him what we have done for Him. ~George R. Hendrick
41.  Turkey: A large bird whose flesh, when eaten on certain religious anniversaries has the peculiar property of attesting piety and gratitude. ~Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary
42.  We are so taken up with the affairs of the present that we don’t have time to give thanks for blessings of the past. ~John A. Broadus
43.  We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning. ~Albert Barnes
44.  We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures. ~Thornton Wilder
45.  We never approach God without cause for gratitude. Thankfulness, a duty and delight greatly prominent in the Bible, is the declarative mood of gratitude – a bright fire in a master force in soul-building, the greatest tonic faith has. Be ye thankful. ~Robert G. Leethe 
46.  We would worry less if we praised more. Thanksgiving is the enemy of discontent and dissatisfaction. ~Harry A. Ironside
47.  What a person praises is perhaps a surer standard, even than what he condemns, of his own character, information and abilities. ~Hare
48.  What we’re really talking about is a wonderful day set aside on the fourth Thursday of November when no one diets. I mean, why else would they call it Thanksgiving? ~Erma Bombeck
49.  When our perils are past, shall our gratitude sleep? ~George Canning
50.  You say, ‘If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.’ You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled. ~Charles Haddon Spurgeon

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1. Heck is where people go who don’t believe in gosh. ~Anonymous
2. He who hesitates is not only lost, but miles from the next exit. ~Anonymous
3. You know there is a problem with the education system when you realize that out of the 3 Rs (reading, writing, and arithmetic), only one begins with an R. ~Dennis Miller
4. Where’s the “Any” key? ~Homer Simpson
5. If we’re not supposed to eat animals, why are they made of meat? ~Anonymous
6. If it weren’t for Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of television, we’d still be eating frozen radio dinners. ~Johnny Carson
7. A dislexic agnostic insomniac lies awake at night wondering if there’s a dog. ~Anonymous
8. Sometimes my mind wanders; other times it leaves completely. ~Anonymous
9. The first time I see a jogger smiling, I’ll consider it. ~Joan Rivers
10. Seize the moment. Remember all those women on the “Titanic” who waved off the dessert cart. ~Erma Louise Bombeck
11. My Mom said she learned how to swim when someone took her out in the lake and threw her off the boat. I said, ‘Mom, they weren’t trying to teach you how to swim. ~Paula Poundstone
12. I saw a large woman wearing a sweatshirt with ‘Guess’ on it. I said, ‘Thyroid problem? ~Arnold Schwarzenegger
13. The town where I grew up has a zip code of E-I-E-I-O. ~Martin Mull
14. Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing. ~Redd Foxx
15. There are two kinds of people in the world, those who believe there are two kinds of people in the world and those who don’t. ~Robert Benchley
16. Cheese—milk’s leap toward immortality. ~Clifton Fadiman
17. What if the hokey pokey really is what it’s all about? ~Anonymous
18. Before you can win a game, you have to not lose it. ~Chuck Noll
19. If you make every game a life and death proposition, you’re going to have problems. For one thing, you’ll be dead a lot. ~Dean Smith
20. There is something wrong when you wait in line thirty minutes to get a hamburger that was cooked for ninety seconds an hour ago. ~Lewis Grizzard
21. Inside me lives a skinny woman crying to get out. But I can usually shut her up with cookies. ~Helen Hayes
22. My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first being, hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint. ~Erma Bombeck
23. If you can’t be a good example ~then you’ll just have to be a horrible warning. ~Catherine
24. The point of quotations is that one can use another’s words to be insulting. ~Amanda Cross
25. The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage. ~Mark Russell
26. I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me. ~Anonymous
27. I understand the inventor of the bagpipes was inspired when he saw a man carrying an indignant, asthmatic pig under his arm. Unfortunately, the manmade sound never equaled the purity of the sound achieved by the pig. ~Alfred Hitchcock
28. Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they aren’t after you. ~Anonymous
29. I was the kid next door’s imaginary friend. ~Emo Phillips
30. The entire economy of the Western world is built on things that cause cancer. ~From the 1985 movie Bliss
31. Fish is the only food that is considered spoiled once it smells like what it is. ~P. J. O’Rourke
32. There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it. ~Mary Wilson Little  
33. What’s a synonym for Thesaurus? ~Anonymous
34. He who laughs last, thinks slowest. ~Anonymous
35. Veni, Vidi, VISA: I came, I saw, I did a little shopping. ~Anonymous
36. Procrastinate later. ~Anonymous
37. Don’t hate me because I’m beautiful. Hate me because your man thinks so. ~Anonymous
38. I’m going to memorize your name and throw my head away. ~Oscar Levant
39. It is true that I was born in Iowa, but I can’t speak for my twin sister. ~Abigail Van Buren
40. Today you can go to a gas station and find the cash register open and the toilets locked. They must think toilet paper is worth more than money. ~Joey Bishop
41. If all the cars in the United States were placed end to end, it would probably be Labor Day Weekend. ~Doug Larson
42. A gentleman is a man who can play the accordion but doesn’t. ~Anonymous
43. If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. ~Robert X. Cringely
44. If all the world’s a stage, I want to operate the trap door. ~Paul Beatty
45. I have the heart of a child. I keep it in a jar on my shelf. ~Robert Bloch
46. If you drink, don’t drive. Don’t even putt. ~Dean Martin
47. Don’t knock the weather. If it didn’t change once in a while, nine out of ten people couldn’t start a conversation. ~Kin Hubbard
48. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. ~Lisa Grossman
49. Let not the sands of time get in your lunch. ~National Lampoon
50. Money talks…but all mine ever says is good-bye. ~Anonymous

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When I got sober my sponsor told me that I had to be willing to change everything about my life—everything. So, I wore blue jeans and switched to slacks. I wore western shirts and switched to T-shirts. But the one thing I just couldn’t give up was my cowboy boots.

I went to my sponsor and said, “Surely I won’t get drunk over a silly pair of cowboy boots. I’m willing to change a lot of things, and if needed I could even give up those boots, but it seems so silly.”

My sponsor said, “I don’t know how silly it is, or if you’ll get drunk over those cowboy boots, but I can tell that you are not ‘entirely’ willing, though.”

“Okay, okay,” I said. “I’ll prove it to you. I’ll give up the boots for 30 days just to demonstrate my willingness to God.”

So, I bought a pair of tennis shoes, and after 30 days of not wearing my cowboy boots, wearing tennis shoes instead, the strangest thing happened — my feet stopped hurting.

That’s how it was getting sober and giving up the high life. I never stopped to think that the boots were causing my feet to hurt, or the booze was causing my life to hurt. I got willing to give up the stuff, one day at a time, for 30 days, then 60 days, then 90 days … and my life stopped hurting.

And everyday I do something different, some change in some small way. Maybe I just put my socks on different, or drive to work a new way. Everyday, I try to do Little Things in a Big Way so that when Big Things happen I can handle them in a Little Way.

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On Monday there were people fighting against praying in schools.

On Tuesday you would have been hard pressed to find a school where someone was not praying.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday there were people who were trying to separate each other by race, sex, color and creed.

On Tuesday they were all holding hands.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday we thought that we were secure.

On Tuesday we learned better.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday we were talking about heroes as being athletes.

On Tuesday we re-learned what hero meant.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday people went to work at the world trade centers as usual.

On Tuesday they died.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday people were fighting the 10 commandments on government property.

On Tuesday the same people all said ‘God help us all’ while thinking ‘Thou shall not kill.’

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday people argued with their kids about picking up their room.

On Tuesday the same people could not get home fast enough to hug their kids.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday people picked up McDonalds for dinner.

On Tuesday they stayed home.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday people were upset that their dry cleaning was not ready on time.

On Tuesday they were lining up to give blood for the dying.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday politicians argued about budget surpluses.

On Tuesday grief-stricken they sang ‘God Bless America.’

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday we worried about the traffic and getting to work late.

On Tuesday we worried about a plane crashing into your house or place of business.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday we were irritated that our rebate checks had not arrived.

On Tuesday we saw people celebrating people dying in the USA.

—————————————————————————————————————-

On Monday some children had solid families.

On Tuesday they were orphans.

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On Monday the president was going to Florida to read to children.

On Tuesday he returned to Washington to protect our children.

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On Monday we emailed jokes.

On Tuesday we did not.

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It is sadly ironic how it takes horrific events to place things into perspective, but it has. The lessons learned this week, the things we have taken for granted, the things that have been forgotten or overlooked, hopefully will never be forgotten again.

On Monday – pray and be thankful
On Tuesday – pray and be thankful
On Wednesday – pray and be thankful
On Thursday – pray and be thankful
On Friday – pray and be thankful
On Saturday – pray and be thankful
On Sunday – pray and be thankful

Author Unknown

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In September of 1862, the civil war tilted decisively in favor of the south. The morale of the northern army dipped to its lowest point of the war. Large numbers of Union troops were in full retreat in Virginia. Northern leaders began to fear the worst. They saw no way to reverse the situation and turn the beaten, exhausted troops into a useful army again.

There was only one general with the ability to work such a miracle. That was General George McClellan. He had trained the men for combat and they admired him. But neither the war department nor the rest of the cabinet members saw this connection. Only president Abraham Lincoln recognized Gen. McLellan’s leadership skills.

Fortunately, Lincoln ignored the protests of his advisors and reinstated McClellan back in command. He told the general to go down to Virginia and give those soldiers something no other man on earth could give them: enthusiasm, strength and hope. McClellan accepted the command. He mounted his great black horse and cantered down the dusty Virginia roads.

What happened next is hard to describe. Northern leaders couldn’t explain it. Union soldiers couldn’t explain it either. Even McClellan couldn’t quite explain what happened. Gen. McClellan met the retreating Union columns, waved his cap in the air and shouted words of encouragement. When the worn out men saw their beloved teacher and leader, they began to take heart once again. They were moved with an unshakable feeling that now things could be different, that finally things would be all right again.

Bruce Catton, the great civil war historian, describes this excitement that grew when word spread that McClellan was back in command. “Down mile after mile of Virginia roads the stumbling column came alive. Men threw their caps and knapsacks into the air, and yelled until they could yell no more. . . because they saw this dapper little rider outlined against the purple starlight.

“And this, in a way, was the turning point of the war. No one could ever quite explain how it happened. But whatever it was, it gave President Lincoln and the north what was needed. And history was forever changed because of it.”

The story of Gen. McClellan illustrates dramatically the impact a leader can have on the human spirit.

Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R.
Sower’s Seeds

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