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~~~~~~~ WITandWISDOM™ - May 28, 1999 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: You can tell more about a person by what he says about others than you can by what others say about him. - Leo Aikman (E-zine: INSPIRE http://www.infoadvn.com/inspire/) ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree. The last class I had to take was Sociology. The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with. Her last project of the term was called "Smile." The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reaction. I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say, hello anyway. . . so, I thought, this would be a piece of cake literally. Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonalds, one crisp March morning. It was just our way of sharing special play time with our son. We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then even my husband did. I did not move an inch. . .an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved. As I turned around I smelled a horrible "dirty body" smell. . . and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men. As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was "smiling". . .his beautiful eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance. He said, "Good day" as he counted the few coins he had been clutching. The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally deficient and the beautiful eyed gentle man was his salvation. I held my tears. . .as I stood there with them. The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted. He said, "Coffee is all Miss" because that was all they could afford (to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. . .they just wanted to be warm). Then I really felt it. . .the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the beautiful eyes. That is when I noticed all eyes in the restaurant were set on me. . . judging my every action. I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray. I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the beautiful eyed gentleman's cold hand. He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, "Thank you." I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, "I did not do this for you. . .God is here working through me to give you hope." I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, "That is why God gave you to me honey. . .to give me hope." We held hands for a moment and at that time we knew that only because of the Grace were we able to give. We are not church goers but we are believers. That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love. I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand. I turned in "my project" and the instructor read it. . .then she looked up at me and said, "Can I share this?" I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class. She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings (part of God) share this need to heal. In my own way I had touched the people at McDonalds, my husband, son, instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student. I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn. . .unconditional acceptance. . .after all. . .we are here to learn! - Author Unknown (Larry Reed, Carol Blum) ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: THE PRODIGAL SON Francis the Foolish felt a filial fondness for his flawless, fastidious father, Ferdinand the Fourth. Following one February fortnight, Francis, feeling footloose and frisky, forced his fond father to fork over five hundred forty five farthings, then fled his fathers fertile fief. Fleeing to foreign fields, Francis finally frittered away his fortune on fickle females, firkins of foaming ale, freeloading friends, and feasting. Fleeced by those fiendish fellows of the fleshpots, and facing fateful failure and famine, Francis finally found himself flinging foul feed to the swine in a filthy farmyard as a forlorn farmhand. Footsore and famished, he fain would have filled his flaccid frame with filched food but found it fit for only a footman. "Fie!" flared Francis, "My Father's flunkies fare far finer." Fortunately the frazzled fugitive finally faced the facts. Frustrated from failure and fulfilled foreboding, he fled forthwith to his faraway family. Falling fatigued at his father's feet, Francis feebly phrased his feelings: "Father," he fumbled, "I've flunked - and fruitlessly forfeited family favor . . . forgive me." The far-sighted father, forestalling future family fissures flagged his flunkies. "Fetch a fatling from the flock and fix a feast for Francis. Forthwith. Fall to! Faster!" Frederic the Feculent, Francis' feisty, fault-finding brother, frowned upon his father's forgiveness of Francis' former philandering. "Flog the Flounder!" he fumed. But the faithful felt that Francis' former foibles should be freely forgiven. "Filial fidelity is what fathers are for, Frederick," said Ferdinand with feelings flowing. "Forsooth, the fugitive is found, so what forbids festivity? Fly the flags freely, amid fifes, fiddles and fanfares . . .FLING A FEAST!" Francis, face flushed, foreswore frippery forevermore by forcing his frame into a friar's frock. (Stanley Baldwin) ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: A Dutchman was explaining the red, white, and blue Netherlands flag to an American. "Our flag is symbolic of our taxes. We get red when we talk about them, white when we get our tax bills, and blue after we pay them." The American nodded. "It's the same in the USA only we see stars too!" -TIME TO SMILE http://www.zondervan.com (Jenny Rosema) ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: The oldest bit of writing in the world is said to be a piece of papyrus in the Istanbul museum. On it is written: "Alas, times are not what they used to be! Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone wants to write a book." By L. J. Burgess, Signs of the Times, September 2, 1941 (Dale Galusha |