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WITandWISDOM(tm) - December 15, 2004 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: "The Lord gave us two ends to use; one to think with, the other to sit on. Which one we use will determine how well we do in life. In other words, heads you win, tails you lose." Source: Heart Touchers, http://www.hearttouchers.com ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: When I was a boy, I spent hundreds of hours reading Sears, Roebuck catalogs. I wanted almost everything, and if I didn't know what something was, I'd learn enough about it to want that, too. I especially loved the holiday issue. I still recall the smell of the ink in those catalogs. I associated the smell with the pastel-colored chocolates advertised near the front. I once had a student named Atlanta who also loved that Sears holiday catalog. When she was a child she utterly denied the truth of Jesus' saying "It is more blessed to give than to receive." Atlanta didn't want to give - she wanted to get, and she wanted everything. One Christmas morning, she told me, she sneaked downstairs before dawn to enjoy the lights on the Christmas tree. Then she decided to open just one present. Then she opened another. Then she opened all the presents with her name on them. But it wasn't enough, so she began opening the presents meant for her younger brothers and sisters. She ended up opening every present under the Christmas tree! Then her parents entered the room. No, they didn't do what you are thinking they did. Instead, they took the family away for a leisurely Christmas breakfast, leaving Atlanta behind to rewrap the opened presents in colorful newspaper comics scavenged from the garage. Doing this helped her catch a glimpse of the love that leads to giving, and when her family opened their presents later that morning, she felt as if it were she who had given the gifts. She had learned the blessing of giving. By Ed Christian, mailto:christia@kutztown.edu Ed teaches English and biblical literature at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania. Source: Adventist Review, ISSN 0161-1119, (c) December 18, 2003, http://www.adventistreview.org/ Submitted by Mary Thayne ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: When our daughter was 2 years old, she was terrified of our barn cats and 'Hobbes', our black Lab. But she loved to play with our baby pigs," writes Kimberly Link of Cambria, Wisconsin. Our hogs go to market when they're about 5 months old. So instead of giving Jessica one of our pigs to raise, we bought her a baby potbellied pig. Despite its petite size, that little pig had a huge appetite. We named him 'Hoover' because of the way he vacuumed up his food. When potbellied pigs are small, they can jump fairly high. Hoover quickly started jumping out of the cardboard box we put him in. So my husband, Scott, built a pen to serve as Hoover's new home. The sides were 2 feet high, allowing us to easily step over to play with him. But Hoover's steady growth soon enabled him to jump out. Every time Hoover escaped, Scott tacked on another row of boards until eventually the walls were 5 feet high. Every morning, Hoover was in his pen. But every evening, he was on the loose. We knew he wasn't jumping out anymore because potbellied pigs lose their jumping ability as their girth increases. Hoover's shenanigans were causing problems. Scott's parents live next door, and my mother-in-law is very proud of her garden, which Hoover thought was the perfect place to root around. We also received numerous calls from neighbors letting us know our pigs were out. Scott would race home, only to find out it was just Hoover out playing with Hobbes. One Saturday morning, we decided to spy on Hoover to see how he was escaping. It didn't take long before we solved the mystery. Hoover had learned how unlatch the gate with his nose! Scott put a stop to that by moving the latch to the outside of the gate. But a few days later, I came home to find Hoover out again. This continued for several days, and we were dumbfounded. So once again, we spied on Hoover. After about 10 minutes, we saw Hobbes jump into Hoover's pen. Then we watched in amazement as Hoover climbed up on Hobbes’ back and jumped over the pen wall to freedom. Source: Country, April/May 2004, http://www.country-magazine.com/ ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Do you realize that in about 40 years, we'll have thousands of old ladies running around with tattoos? Source: Quotes of the Day, mailto:rheamo@centurytel.net?subject=Subscribe_Quotes_of_the_Day ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: In the 1950s, the average hospital stay for heart attack patients was more than 6 weeks. In 1986, 12 days. Today, it’s 6 days. From: Archives of Internal Medicine Source: Copyright © July 2004, The Reader's Digest Association, Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved., http://www.readersdigest.com/ |