| Prior Date | Archive Index | Next Date |
|
WITandWISDOM(tm) - January 29, 2003 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: Exercise and recreation... are as necessary as reading. I will rather say more necessary, because health is worth more than learning. - Thomas Jefferson Source: Inspire, http://www.inspirelist.com/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: It was a lovely spring day, so my husband, Jack, and I decided to have lunch on the patio of our favorite restaurant. After we were seated, I noticed a beautiful young woman sitting across from us. She projected class and money. When her lunch was delivered to her, Jack and I both thought it looked so good, Jack leaned over and asked her what it was. She laughingly told him, "Fajita salad." While we were waiting for our salad, the conviction came over me, "Comfort her. She has lost a child." I pushed the thought down, telling myself, "How ridiculous!" Again came the message, "Comfort her. She has lost a child." The message disturbed me. So, instead of obeying, I argued. "I can't comfort her. There is no reason to think she has lost a child. Look at her; she's smiling at something Jack said." Again, "Comfort her. She has lost a child." By now I was really getting upset. Mentally, I said, "If I go up to her and tell her I know she has lost a child, she will call the waiter to have me removed for bothering her." "Go comfort her. She has lost a child." My angel's voice was unrelenting, and I was miserable all through my meal. How could I get up in front of complete strangers, approach another stranger, and tell her I know she lost a child? I squirmed. I resisted. I argued. I pleaded. But my angel's instruction remained the same: "Go comfort her. She has lost a child." I thought, Jack will think I've lost it. I can't do this! Again my angel spoke: "Go comfort her. She has lost a child." Jack paid our bill and headed out the door. And I started out after him. My angel whispered, "You will always be sorry if you don't obey me." Then louder, "Go comfort her." This time it was not a little thought crossing my mind, but a compelling, demanding voice. I turned around and hesitantly approached the woman. When she looked up with a smile, I started, "God has told me you have lost a child." She appeared startled and, I thought, looked at me as if I were demented. But I struggled on, "I don't know if it was a boy or girl, just that you are grieving and that God feels you have grieved long enough. You are making yourself ill. He wants you to know He loves you with all His heart. You are very special to Him." She arose, threw herself into my arms, and started crying with deep, wrenching sobs. I held her and stroked her as if she were my precious daughter. She told me between sobs, "My child was a boy. I thought God had forsaken me and didn't love me anymore." I soothed her and told her God wanted her to know that if she were faithful to Him, she would hold her baby again. She would raise him in heaven where no sickness or vileness could ever harm him. I said, "God feels your grief, and He hurts for you. He wants you to get ready for His soon coming so He can place your son in your arms." She sobbed and said, "I needed this so much. I needed to know that God still loves me. I was getting desperate." When she had herself under control I kissed her goodbye and told her, "Never again doubt God's love for you." When I got into the car with Jack, he asked me what took so long. I sighed and said, "You'll never believe what I just did. I still can hardly believe it myself." By Mona West Barnes, West Sacramento, California Source: Signs of the Times, Copyright (c) August 2001, Pacific Press, http://www.signstimes.com ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Thoughts About Life . . . Triangular sandwiches taste better than square ones. Sharpening a pencil with a knife makes you feel really manly. Your never quite sure whether it's against the law or not to have a fire in your back garden. Nobody ever dares make cup a soup in a bowl. Its impossible to describe the smell of a wet cat. Rummaging in an overgrown garden will always turn up a bouncy ball. One of the most embarrassing things you can do as schoolchild is to call your teacher mum or dad. Old women and women with mobile phones look wrong! Its impossible to look cool whilst picking up a Frisbee. Driving through a tunnel makes you feel excited. There's no panic like the panic you momentarily feel when you've got your hand or head stuck in something. The most painful household incident is wearing socks and stepping on an upturned plug. You've turned into your dad the day you put aside a thin piece of wood specifically to stir paint with. Everyone had an uncle who tried to steal their nose. Source: Arizona Humor, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arizona_humor/ ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: In the cafeteria on the first day of spring semester at Kent State University, I saw three students hard at work on their calculators. Surprised that they had received such an obviously tough problem so early in the semester, I asked them what their assignment was. One girl looked at me and replied, "We're figuring out how many days until spring break." Source: Dave's Daily Chuckle, http://www.Daily-Chuckle.com ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: The most massive living thing on planet Earth is the General Sherman, a giant sequoia found in central California's Sequoia National Park on the western slope of the Sierra Nevadas. This tree stands at nearly 274.9 feet and has a girth of 102.6 feet near its base. It is estimated to weigh 2,756 tons. The seeds of the giant sequoia are about the size of an oat flake, and according to the Guinness Book of World Records they weigh only 1/6,000* of an ounce. - By Deryl R. Corbit For a picture and more about the General Sherman tree visit: http://www.nps.gov/seki/shrm_pic.htm Source: Adventist Review, ISSN 0161-1119, (c) January 2003, http://www.adventistreview.org/ Submitted by Nancy Simpson |