Prior Date

Archive Index

Next Date

WITandWISDOM(tm) - December 26, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that discipline - training - is about. - James Clavell, in his novel "Shogun" Source: Molly's Quotes of the Day, mailto:molly.rhea@gmail.com?subject=Subscribe_Quotes_of_the_Day ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: At the Fancy Gap, Virginia, Mountain Resort where I sold property, my manager asked me to run an urgent errand. "A couple from Charlotte bought one of our lots," he told me. "The husband just called. He wrote a check on the wrong account. Could you take the check to him and exchange it for a new one?" He gave me directions and the check, which I tucked under the visor inside my car. Air-conditioning bothers my sinuses, so I rolled down the window. Traffic, though heavy, moved at a good clip. I was going through Charlotte, not far from my house, when disaster struck. The wind blew the check from the visor. It flew right out the window. I pulled over. Papers in yards and bushes and the road, but no check. If I don't find it, the whole deal could fall apart. I drove home to get my wife and mother-in-law to help me look. I took them to the scene. We split up and searched both sides of the road, a couple of blocks in both directions. Nothing. And dusk was coming on. "I'll never be able to get a new check without turning over the old one," I said. "How will I explain this to my manager?" We went back to the car. After driving about three blocks I had a strange sense that I should let up on the gas pedal. The car slowed. My eyes were drawn to the left, where a church sat atop a big grassy hill. I turned into the driveway. "What are you doing?" my wife asked. "The check couldn't have flown all the way up here." I didn't answer. I couldn't I just knew I had to get up to that church. I parked, got out of the car and felt myself drawn to the lawn. Lying on the grass about 40 feet away was a rectangular piece of paper. I ran over and picked it up. The check! Carefully, I folded it and put it into my pocket. As I headed back to the car, I glanced at the sign in front of the church. I didn't know whether to burst out laughing or fall to my knees in grateful prayer. Underneath the church's name and the pastor's name was a Bible verse: "Seek and ye shall find." By Robert K. Williams, Garner, North Carolina Source: Guideposts, Copyright (c) October 2005, http://www.guideposts.org ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: There is the Law of Gravity - And then, there is the Law of Parenthood A child's behavior will improve in proportion to the distance she is away from the parent. Two is equal to two, except when referring to time. Two minutes of tantrum lasts 20 times as long as two minutes of quiet time. The choice of a preschooler's best friend corresponds directly to the distance the friend lives from your house. A child's enjoyment of a popular entertainment will be inversely proportionate to the parent's enjoyment. The chance of a surprise visit by your parents-in-law is directly proportional to the size of the mess in your home. A child will always eat exactly what she has loved for the past year---unless it is the only food in the fridge. The ease with which a toddler acquires the ability to say a word increases with its likelihood to embarrass a sailor. Source: Smile a Day Newsletter (c), http://www.net153.com/best.htm ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Alyssa is a 4-year-old dark-haired, dark-eyed girl. While Alyssa was in the check-out line at the grocery store with her mother, the cashier looked at Alyssa and said, "You must be Italian." Alyssa replied, "No, I'm vegetarian!" By Fay McPherson, Auburn, Washington ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: (Ananova 9-27-06) An ageing lobster with a rare case of the blues has had a lucky escape from the dinner pot. The animal - nicknamed Bluey - was caught by fisherman Egon Robson off Redcar, reports the BBC. It was a prize candidate for the dinner plate - but Mr Robson was so surprised at his catch he donated him to the Blue Reef Aquarium in Tynemouth. Experts say the giant lobster, thought to be about 40-years-old, had recently moulted and acquired the new brightly-coloured shell. Zahra d'Aronville, from Blue Reef, said: "Bluey is quite an unusual lobster. Scientists say that only one in every three to five million is this colour. "He has been very lucky to survive because being so blue he is quite easy to spot by predators. "Lobsters this colour usually get eaten when they are much younger and smaller so it is very unusual to see a lobster of this colour so big." Source: Ananova http://www.ananova.com