The sun is not shining, but...
It's raining outside!
(yeah!!)
~~~^j^~~~
Have a great day
and
Thanks Be to God!!!
An occasional bit of wit 'n' wisdom as gleaned from the wise and learned. Family fun and times to share.
Caritas prima sibi
("Charity is first to itself.")
John Wycliffe
~~~Where does love begin?
The Scriptures offers the answer, simple and profound: "God is love" (1John 4:8).
God is the source of love. God's love surrounds us from our beginnings, offering us an embrace we are free to accept or reject, filling us with a peace we are free to keep for ourselves and to share.
And what then? God loves us, so whom must we love?
It's not enough to love in general or to profess love for people we never meet. We're called to love people, as they are unique and specific brothers and sisters.
The only place to begin, then is with those around us, as the common translation of this saying instructs: "Charity begins at home."
As with every other virtue, love takes practice. We learn how to love by taking small steps of kindness and sacrifice right where we are, with those closest to us. At home we develop this habit of love, so when we walk out the door into the business of our daily live, we bring God's love wherever we are and to whomever we chance to meet that day.
I'm back home from the wedding festivities and what a grand time we all had. There is nothing to compare with the gathering of family and friends on such an occasion. The sharing of love and hugs is the best gift one can receive.
I'm going to take some time to recuperate and gather my thoughts, but in the meantime I am offering these pictures that were sent to me as a gift. Enjoy!
Canadian Fall
FALL AT BUTCHART GARDENS , VICTORIA , B. C.,
CANADA
IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE ANYTHING
COULD
BE THIS BEAUTIFUL..
A sliced carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and yes, science now shows carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.
A tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart has four chambers and is red. All of the research shows tomatoes are loaded with lycopine and are indeed pure heart and blood food.
Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart. Each grape looks like a blood cell and all the research today show grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.
A Walnut look like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles and folds on the nut are just like the neo-cortex. We now know walnuts help develop more that three (3) dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
Kidney beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and, yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.
Celery, bok choy, rhubarb and many more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet, the body pulls it from the bones, thus making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.
Avacadoes, eggplant, and pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female--they look just like these organs. Today's research show that when a woman eats one avacado a week it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight, and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound. It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avacado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are 14,000 photolitic chemical constituents of nutritionin each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and name about 141 of them).
Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the mobility of male sperm and increse the numbers of sperm as well to overcome male sterility.
Sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the gylcemic index of diabetics.
Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.
Oranges, grapefurits and other Citurs furits look just like the breast and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.
Onlions look like the body's cells. Todays research shows onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells. They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes. A working companion, Garlic also helps eliminate waste materials and dangerous free radicals from the body.
The Book of Wit 'n' Wisdom is a Keller Family tradition based on the willingness of the Iris to always have advise to give, tales to tell or memories to share by family and friends for every occasion or celebration. The Keller Clan wishes [happiness to all in life's Adventure] full of tales with just enough Blarney to make them worth telling.
Yesterday Ron and I went to a friend's dad's house to pick apples. The trees were so over burdened with the apples that some of the branches were bowed and even broken. They weren't big apples or "store" pretty apples, but tasty they were. The bees were buzzing and humming over the ones on the ground, but do not fear. We thanked God for their presence.
When we were done. We loaded up the ladder and gathered the bags and went right down to Mother Theresa's Treasures and the Newburgh Food Pantry. Kathy was there to receive these tasty morsels and we were grateful that we could offer them. Ron and I had the opportunity to give of time, talent and the treasure of God's creation. And to give credit where credit is due. This was a wonderful idea, Ron had. For me, it was one of those Christ moments. He was there in our midst!!
Nothing Missing
Father John Dominic Corbel, OP"May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lor be with all of you."
~2Thessalonians 3:16~Sunday afternoons in the fall were my father's favorite time. They were set aside for the Cleveland Browns. In those years the Browns had Fran Ryan, Paul Warfield, Leroy Kelly, and of course, the Great Jimmy Brown taking care of business. These afternoons were peaceful times for me. Not because there wasn't excitement or suspense or the occasional disappointment. There was plenty of that. But no matter how tight the game became I always knew that between the Browns and my father there was nothing missing. Everything necessary was in place to bring us victory.
Could you compare a Sunday afternoon's football game with the peace of the Lord? Sunday is the Sabbath. It is the day the Lord looked out on the world he had made and said that it was very good. There was nothing missing.
When the Apostle prays that the Lord of peace may give us his peace, he is praying that the Lord who is complete goodness in whom there is nothing missing who lacks for nothing, may communicate to us that same security and completion.
This prayer that the Lord may give us peace at all times and in every way can't be granted to us in this life if we mean by peace the actual experience of the invulnerable serenity and infinite perfection that belongs to God as God. But all the same, we know in faith that there is nothing missing. The Lord is with us and so, even if we are hungry or thirsty, if we are in trouble, or even if our favorite football team is losing again, or if we face hunger or nakedness or the sword, still there is nothing missing. We have what we need to win eternal life. Everything. The Lord is with us. There is nothing missingLord Jesus, our lives are often full of stress and it is often hard to
feel your presence with us. Help us to know that you have given us
everything we need to be joyful with you for ever.
Jesus said, "Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." -Mt 19:14
Even a little child can scatter flowers, to scent the throne room with their fragrance; even a little child can sing in its shrill treble, the great canticle of Love. That will be my life: to scatter flowers~~to miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word, always doing the tiniest things right and doing it for love.~~ St. Therese of Lisieux~
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing from which I sent it. (Isaiah 56: 10-11)
On my arrival home here at A Bit of the Blarney I find that I have been given the I Love Your Blog Award. So it is with gratitude that I accept this from Autumnrose at Christ's Rose and Kimberly and Our God Is An Awesome God. Thank you both so much. You are both dear and I do so love to visit with you
For the I Love your blog award there are rules. Here they are…you have to answer the following questions with one word answers and one word only! Then I must pass it on to seven others!
The Christian mysteries are an indivisible
whole. If we become immersed in one, we are led
to all the others. Thus the way from Bethlehem
leads inevitably to Golgotha, from the crib to the
cross. When the blessed virgin brought the child
to the temple, Simeon prophesied that her soul
would be pierced by a sword, that this child was
set for the fall and resurrection of many, for
a sign that would be contradicted. His prophecy
announced the passion, the fight between light
and darkness that already showed itself before
the crib.
~Edith Stein~
+ Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross+
PEACE BEGINS AT HOME
by
Sister Genevieve Glen, O.S. B.
"Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, the peace into which
you were also called in only body [...] be thankful. Let the
word of Christ dwell in your richly, as in all wisdom you teach and
admonish one another, singing, psalms, hymns, and spiritual
songs with gratitude in your hearts to God."
(Colossians 3: 15-16)"Please go away and leave me in peace!" pleasds the weary mother beset by a gorde of toddlers, all clammoring for her attnetion. She echoes the cry of all those who seek relief from demands they cannot meet from attentions they do nto want, from hostility they cannont withstand. In fact, all of us tend to imagine peace as the cessation of something--demand, disturbance,suffering. However, peace is not an absence but a presence. Real and lasting peace is the gruit of disorder put fight. The peace of Christ is the gruit of the cross throught which Christ righted the order of a sorld gond mad in sin. To enter into Christ's peace, we must seek out that right order. Saint Paul tess us here to seek it by allowing Christ's word to dwell in us richly. Taught by those entrusted with the ministry of the Word, admonished by one another as we share in one another's wisdom, formed by worship--"singing psalms, hyms, and spiritual songs"--, shaped by the Eucharist, whose name means "thanksgiving," our hearts will gradually abandon all the sources of disorder that tear us apart, and will grow into right order of the Gospel. as the peace of Christ, born of a life of selfles strengthen the bonds that unite us to one another as members o Christ's Body. Thus individuals and Body confirm one antoher mutually in a growing peace which can spread outward to embrace family, neighborhood, workplace, and world. The work is slow. The disorder is deep. Individually, and together we will fall out of peace again and again as we struggle. But god is faithful, the promise is sure, and one day Christ's peace will prevail. Our task in the meantime is simple and humble: "Let the word of Christ dwell in you."
God of all peace, you have called me to live Christ's peace in a troubled world. Strengthen your peace within me and in those with whom I share my faith, worship, and life, so that I may be a living sign of hope amid violence and despair.
God of peace, bring your peace to our violent world:
peace in the hearts of all men and women
and peace among the nations of the earth.
Turn to your way of love
those whose hearts and minds
are consumed with hatred.
God of understanding,
overwhelmed by the magnitude of this tragedy,
we seek your light and guidance
as we confront such terrible events.
Grant that those whose lives were spared
may live so that the lives lost. . .
may not have been lost in vain.
Comfort and console us,
strengthen us in hope, and give us the wisdom and courage
to work tirelessly for a world
where true peace and love reign
among nations and in the hearts of all.
~Pope Benedict XVI~
Prayer service at Ground Zero
April 20, 2008
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 51: 10-12Change me,
God Please change me.
Though I cringe
Kick
Resist and resent
Pay no attention to me whatever.
When I run to hide
Drag me out of my safe little shelter.
Change me totally
Whatever it takes
However long You must work at the job.
Change me--and save me
From spiritual self-destruction
Ruth Harms CalkinPrayer is not simply getting things from God, that is a most initial form of prayer; prayer is getting into perfect communion with God.
Oswald Chambers
We were actually at this one...had to miss last years shows but NOT this year. It is a really wonderful opportunity to see the work of the gifted and talented. So we're off tomorrow for INDY and the Penrod Arts Fair, as well as, celebrating Wes' 36th birthday. You all have a grand weekend! We will!
For some time I have been noticing the styles of clothing for women and saying to myself, "I had a blouse like that when the kids were little...Should have saved it."
Well, I went shopping by myself and tried on some of the "new" styles and found out two things about myself.
1. If I had saved them they wouldn't have have fit me today.
2. Today, I am too "mature" to wear them. (I'm not "old"!)
So, in spite of the fact that "The Times They Are-a-changin'" just want you all to know "You've Got a Friend!"
~~~*^*^*~~~
Thanks be to God!
"Woe to you...hypocrites. You cleanse the outside of cup and dish,
but inside [you] are full of plunder and self-indulgence...Cleanse
first the inside of the cup, so that the outside also may be clean."
(Matthew 23)
A mom was concerned about her kindergarten son walking to school. He didn't want his mother to walk with him.
She wanted to give him the feeling that he had some independence but yet know that he was safe. So she had an idea of how to handle it. She asked a neighbor if she would please follow him to school in the mornings, staying at a distance, so he probably wouldn't notice her.
She said that since she was up early with her toddler anyway, it would be a good way for them to get some exercise as well, so she agreed.
The next school day, the neighbor and her little girl set out following behind Timmy as he walked to school with an other neighbor girl he knew. She did this for the whole we ek.
As t he two walked and chatted, kicking stones and twigs, Timmy's little friend noticed the same lady was following them as she seemed to do every day all week. Finally she said to Timmy, 'Have you noticed that lady following us to school all week?
Do you know her?'
Timmy nonchalantly replied, 'Yeah, I know who she is.'
The little girl said, 'Well, who is she?'
'That's just Shirley Goodnest,' Timmy replied, 'and her daughter Marcy.'
'Shirley Goodnest? Who the heck is she and why is she following us? '
'Well,' Timmy explained, 'every night my Mom makes me say the 23rd Psalm with my prayers, 'cuz she worries about me so much. And in the Psalm, it says, 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy shall follow me all the d ays of my life', so I guess I'll just have to get used to it!'
The Lord b less you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift His countenance upon you, and give you peace.
May Shirley Goodnest and Marcy be with you today and always.~~~^j^~~~
Thanks be to God!!!
Si Deus pronobis, quis contra nos?
("If God is for us, who can be against us?")
St. Paul ( Romans 8:31)
~~~+~~~God has revealed His love for us in the person of Jesus Christ. St. Paul tells us that "neither death, nor life, nor angels, not principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38, 39)
Suffering could be added to the list. God does not promise freedom from suffering for His friends. In fact, there's no doubt we will suffer, as Jesus Himself did. "The Cross is the gift I give to my friends," is what the Lord told St. Terese of Avila.
Although that which is difficult will be regularly ours, God's sustaining power enables us to conquer in His name, which means through His presence within us.
So here's where our hope lies: If God is with us--and the difficulty is a sign that He is--we can endure and overcome. No enemy has a chance if he is opposing God, and if God is with us, no enemy has a chance to conquer us. +