Graditude

"If you want to find happiness, find gratitude."  Stever Maraboli, author, speaker and behavioral scientist

Part of finding gratitude is living for today as this is our opportunity to start over again, to renew ourselves one day at a time.  Living in the moment helps us appreciate what we have, what we are feeling, and we can thank God for our families, friends, neighbors, co-workers and our relationship to the world. 

"Don't let yesterday take up too much of today."  Sign on an Instagram page of the Old Try design company

What happened yesterday is history. We can learn from history but we can never relive it. Today is the beginning of our future.  We can decide to let go of the past and invest in our future to create an atmosphere of love, trust and forgiveness for ourselves and others.

 "The way I look at it, everyday that I'm moving forward is a day that I'm not moving backward."  radio show host Bobby Bones from his book, Bare Bones: I'm Not Lonely If You're Reading This Book

We can choose how to live each day, because each day is a new beginning. 

"At the end of your time here, the world will either be more or less kind, compassionate, generous, funny, creative and loving because of your presence in it--and you alone get to choose."  John Pavlovitz, pastor and author of Hope and Other Superpowers, A Life-Affirming, Love-Defending, Butt-Kicking, World-saving Manifesto

I have always been amazed at the things people remember from years ago.  Whenever we are in a crisis, if someone provides love, understanding, compassion, listening and comfort, even for a very brief time, it is cherished by the receiver. The giver often has no memory of their kindness. The receiver cradles the moments in their heart because their need was great, and the love was a blanket of hope. If we live in the moment and look around we can find opportunities to be the answer to a prayer for someone else! 

Check out the book, e book, and audio book, "The Dying Teach Us How to Live" and Pat's art gallery

Dr Martin Luther King Jr

"Everything that is done in this world is done by hope."  Martin Luther King, Jr

Sometimes when we listen to the news, we can become very discouraged because of all of the disruption in the government and the world.  On the other hand we can find stories of incredible kindness and selflessness that reminds us of hope. 

"You have as much laughter as you have faith."  Martin Luther King, Jr

I came home to see my neighbor with a snow blower clearing my driveway of about 6 inches of snow.  I was surprised when I spoke with him that in fact he was not my neighbor.  He was his twin brother whom I had only met one time.  He brought his snowblower on a truck to clear his brother's driveway and then did mine.  I offered to pay him money but he refused as he promised to clear my snow whenever he could. This was a huge gift to me and I am so grateful to know the kindness of a man who apparently spends his life bringing hope to others.  He brought light into my life and a huge smile as I accepted this gift that is far more than removing snow.  He was adding hope! 

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree." Martin Luther King Jr 

Martin Luther King Jr planted many trees that still flourish today.  Even though the world is chaotic, there are many beautiful signs of his philosophy of forgiveness, non-violent acts of civil disobedience to right wrongs, encouragement for making positive change and to pave the road for justice.  He gave his life for a purpose.

"Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream....True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of Justice."
Dr Martin Luther King Jr

Check out my book, e book and audio book for "The Dying Teach Us How to Live" and my art gallery and artwork for sale   illuminangels.com

Hope Just to Live

Today I am thinking about the refugees in the world and keep them in my prayers.

" We see so many human beings around the world dying like Jesus Christ. ...But in spite of so much sin, so much death, so much suffering, there is something in our history which gives us hope....How is it possible there is hope?....Hope for what? Just to live....For those of us who take life for granted, life cannot be an object of hope....In the presence of death, life itself makes sense. It is good to live."

"Clarence learned that reconciliation at the lunch table, where black and white shared together, was as scandalous as to his neighbors as reconciliation on the cross.  He spoke about fear as 'the polio of the soul which prevents our walking by faith.'

"In a story that has been quoted many times, Clarence again showed the courage and quick wit that became his trademark.  A group of men came to the farm.  Their spokesman said to Clarence, 'We're from the Ku Klux Klan and we don't allow the sun to set on people who eat with niggers,'

Clarence glanced over the western sky and noticed that the sun was creeping low.  He thought a bit, swallowed a few times, and suddenly reached out, grabbed the man's hand, and started pumping away, saying, 'Why, I just graduated from Southern Baptist Seminary, and they told us about folks who had power over the sun, but I never hoped to meet one here in Sumter County.'
They all laughed, and nobody noticed that the sun had slipped down below the horizon.'

"A blade of wheat, dried with age, lay on Clarence's desk (after his death)....It seem appropriate to find it there.  I can think of no better symbol for Clarence's life.  'Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.'

Isolated quotes of Clarence Jordan, Theologian in Overalls, by Joyce Hollyday in Cloud of Witnesses

I hope for each of you that your life bears much fruit and that you have touched the lives of many others with compassion in a way that fosters hope and peace.

Please check out my new website with my art gallery, vinyl prints for sale, press kit, book, e book and audio book "The Dying Teach Us How to Live     https//illuminangels.com

Live Phone Interview

I will be having a live phone interview about my book, "The Dying Teach Us How to Live" on nbrfm.com Live Broadcast Studio 3 out of New York. It is an internet based radio station that interviews new authors about their books.  It will be about 10 minutes long.

I will talk about my book, E book and Audio book and my art gallery.  All of this information is on my new website  illuminangels.com   

Thank you for your interest!  Pat

Priceless Lesson

"The priceless lesson in the New Year is that endings birth beginnings and beginnings birth endings. And in the elegantly choreographed dance of life, neither ever finds the end in the other."  Craig D. Lounsbrough

"What good is life unless you give it away?--unless you can give it for a better world, even if you never see the world but have only carried your grain of sand to the building site.  Then you are fulfilled as a person."  Penny Lernoux quoted a Guatemalan peasant woman a few months before she was killed by the Guatemalan military

I wish you many beginnings and endings in 2019 as we grow physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

I hope you dance and become fulfilled as a person!!!

New Year's Resolutions:
*My New Years resolution is to stop hanging out with people who ask me about my New year's resolutions
*What is a New Year's resolution? Something that goes in one year and out the other.
*My wife (or husband) still hasn't told me what my New Year's resolutions are.
*Youth is when you're allowed to stay up for New Year.  Middle age is when you're forced to.
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