Giving Thanks

Do you want to be admired? Perhaps garner more respect from your peers? 

It is the bright, cheerful, hopeful, contented man who makes his way, who is respected and admired.
Gloom and depression not only take much out of life, but detract greatly from the chances of winning success. It is the bright and cheerful spirit that wins the final triumph.
  

The following was written around a hundred years ago:
"I see our brother, who has just sat down, lives on Grumbling street," said a keen-witted gentleman from Yorkshire. "I lived there myself for some time, and never enjoyed good health. The air was bad, the house bad, the water bad; the birds never came and sang in the street; and I was gloomy and sad enough. But I 'flitted.' I got into Thanksgiving avenue; and ever since then I have had good health, and so have all my family. The air is pure, the house good; the sun shines on it all day; the birds are always singing; and I am happy as I can live. Now, I recommend our brother to 'flit.' There are plenty of houses to let on Thanksgiving avenue; and he will find himself a new man if he will only come; and I shall be right glad to have him for a neighbor."

The most contented man in Boston does not live on Commonwealth avenue or do business on State street: he is poor and blind, and he peddles needles and thread, buttons and sewing-room supplies, about the streets of Boston from house to house. Dr. Minot J. Savage used to pity this man very much, and once in venturing to talk with him about his condition, he was utterly amazed to find that the man was perfectly happy. He said that he had a faithful wife, and a business by which he earned sufficient for his wants; and, if he were to complain of his lot, he should feel mean and contemptible. Surely, if there are any "solid men" in Boston, he is one.


Content is the magic lamp, which, according to the beautiful picture painted for us by Goethe, transforms the rude fisherman's hut into a palace of silver; the logs, the floors, the roof, the furniture, everything being changed and gleaming with new light.

"My crown is in my heart, not on my head;
Not decked with diamonds and Indian stones,
Nor to be seen; my crown is called content;
A crown it is that seldom kings enjoy.

Blessed

 
  Blessed art thou, O LORD: teach me thy statutes.
 With my lips have I declared all the judgments of thy mouth.
 I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as much as in all riches.
 I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways.
 I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word.
 Deal bountifully with thy servant, that I may live, and keep thy word.
 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.
 I am a stranger in the earth: hide not thy commandments from me.  Psalm 119: 12-19

Divine Will

Morally made in God's image, what is more sane, more wholesome, more fitting, for a man than his rising up promptly, decidedly, to make the Divine Will his own will in all moral action, to take it as the supreme guide to go by? It is the glory of the human will to coincide with the Divine Will. Doing this, a man's Iron Will, instead of being a malignant selfish power, will be useful in uplifting mankind.

God has spoken, or he has not spoken. If he has spoken, the wise will hear.

"We search the world for truth; we cull
The good, the pure, the beautiful,
From graven stone and written scroll,
From all the flower-fields of the soul:
And, weary seekers of the best,
We come back laden from our quest,
To find that all the sages said
Is in the BOOK our mother read."

Whittier.

A BOY'S ESSAY ON GIRLS

"Girls are very stuckup and dignefied in their manner and behaveyour. They think more of dress than anything and like to play with dowls and rags. They cry if they see a cow in afar distance and are afraid of guns. They stay at home all the time and go to Church every Sunday. They are al-ways sick. They are al-ways funy and making fun of boys hands and they say how dirty. They cant play marbles. I pity them poor things.
They make fun of boys and then turn round and love them. I dont beleave they ever kiled a cat or any thing. They look out every nite and say oh ant the moon lovely. Thir is one thing I have not told and that is they al-ways now their lessons bettern boys."

Summer Reading

Prefer knowledge to wealth; for the one is transitory, the other perpetual. —Socrates.

On these hot Summer days - why not take a break from the heat and enjoy a few minutes or so with a good book. Reading has been the road to knowledge for many a successful, happy and wise woman and man. 

"When I get a little money," said Erasmus, "I buy books, and if any is left, I buy food and clothes."

"Reading is to the mind," says Addison, "what exercise is to the body. As by the one health is preserved, strengthened and invigorated, by the other, virtue (which is the health of the mind) is kept alive, cherished and confirmed."

If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. —Franklin.

Humble as a Child

In that hour came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
  And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them,
  and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven.

  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

  And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me:

  But whoso shall cause one of these little ones that believe on me to stumble, it is profitable for him that a great millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depth of the sea.

Matthew 18: 1-6

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler; And whosoever erreth thereby is not wise.
 The terror of a king is as the roaring of a lion: He that provoketh him to anger sinneth against his own life.
 It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; But every fool will be quarrelling.
 The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; Therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.
 Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; But a man of understanding will draw it out.
 Most men will proclaim every one his own kindness; But a faithful man who can find?
 A righteous man that walketh in his integrity, Blessed are his children after him. 

Proverbs 20: 1-7

 

Love

   There are some disciplines that we need to follow as we engage in the dialogue of love.

First, there is the discipline of giving oneself. It is the discipline of keeping oneself responsible for and to one another, responsible in facing issues and in making decisions. The only way to love is to communicate love by word and action. We may learn to use our power of being to speak and act the word of love. We should refuse to withhold it for any reason, including our fear of speaking it. Of course, there is risk in giving ourselves. Our gift of love may not be accepted, may not be appreciated, and may even be exploited. In giving love we may be hurt because of the nature of others’ responses. But we will be stronger for having given it, and others may be called forth by it. Life cannot remain the same when love has been expressed.


Second, there is the discipline of holding ourselves to our own part. This is the discipline of allowing others to speak for themselves; or again, the discipline of refraining from trying to carry on both sides of a dialogue. We are always doing this; that is, we speak to the image we have of the other person. We try to anticipate his response and take away his freedom to respond and speak for himself. We choose our part of the dialogue in response to what we think his reaction will be and thereby rob ourselves of our freedom to be. There can be no communication between the images which two people hold of each other. Communication is possible only between two persons who, out of mutual respect, really address one another.

A third discipline is to accept the demand in love and our obligation to meet that demand. The compulsive element in love is hard for us to accept. But we cannot separate law from love. Law is implicit in love. Our Lord, Who is the incarnation of divine love, warned that He would not remove one bit of the law. He did not destroy the law, but by His love fulfilled it. It is really good that law is a part of love. Our own love relationships benefit from the presence of law in love, because law guides and protects our relationship. When we are “in love,” or in union with one another, we are not conscious of the law, but it is implicitly present. We can be said to be “living above the law.”

The law that is implicit in the relationship between a man and a woman who love each other is that they shall respect and act trustworthily in relation to one another; that they shall care for one another in all the ways that are necessary to their relationship. As long as love prevails, they are not conscious of this law. They do not need it. But if for any reason they should “fall out of” love, then they become conscious of their obligations to each other. Their relationship is now lived under the burden of law, and they will find it harder to observe than they did before. They now are being held together by their obligations, and it may be that while being thus held together they will again find each other in love. When they look back on this period some years later, they may call the whole experience love, because then they will see that the obligations of their relationship are a part of their love. Obviously, this is mature and not infantile love. Love that accepts responsibility and its obligations is love that is not primarily concerned about its privileges, although it gives thanks for whatever privileges it has. It recognizes itself not primarily as an emotion, but as a way of life; and it is more concerned about commitment than sensation.

By the employment of these principles that we have just rehearsed, we can help our children grow in their capacity to love and thereby become more capable of a heroic commitment to one another. This kind of commitment should characterize the members of the Christian fellowship, the men and women in whose lives the Spirit of the Christ is incarnate.

We have seen that we need to be loved in order that we may love others and that we should encourage one another’s love responses. Does this mean that our attempts to express love should be accepted without correction? What should the rose-growing father of the little boy have done? One view is that the father should have accepted the gift with thanks, recognizing only the child’s intention. Certainly, his intentions should be honored and his gift accepted. But the boy also needed help in learning how to express his love to others. Here is something we are always having to learn.

All of us have had the experience of doing or giving something that was intended to be an expression of our love, only to discover that the gift was not appreciated by the one to whom it was given, and we find ourselves saying, “Oh, I didn’t mean it to be that way.” With children and with one another we need to strike a balance between acceptance of the intention and guidance in choosing the means for the expression of love. Loving is an art, and we all need to learn the art and to refine its practice.

"Every day, in every respect, I am getting better and better"

Prosperity and Adversity

Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

  looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

  For consider him that hath endured such gainsaying of sinners against himself, that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls.

  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin:

  and ye have forgotten the exhortation which reasoneth with you as with sons, My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, Nor faint when thou art reproved of him;

  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, And scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

  It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not? Hebrews 12:1-7

Prosperity and Adversity are from the Lord

There is one that toileth, and laboureth, and maketh haste, and is so much the more behind. There is one that is sluggish, and hath need of help, lacking in strength, and that aboundeth in poverty; and the eyes of the Lord looked upon him for good, and he set him up from his low estate, and lifted up his head; and many marvelled at him. Good things and evil, life and death, poverty and riches, are from the Lord. The gift of the Lord remaineth with the godly, and his good pleasure shall prosper for ever. There is that waxeth rich by his wariness and pinching, and this is the portion of his reward: when he saith, I have found rest, and now will I eat of my goods—yet he knoweth not what time shall pass, and he shall leave them to others, and die.

Be stedfast in thy covenant, and be conversant therein, and wax old in thy work. Marvel not at the works of a sinner, but trust the Lord, and abide in thy labour; for it is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord swiftly on the sudden to make a poor man rich.

The blessing of the Lord is in the reward of the godly; and in an hour that cometh swiftly he maketh his blessing to flourish. Say not, What use is there of me? And what from henceforth shall my good things be? Say not, I have sufficient, and from henceforth what harm shall happen unto me? In the day of good things there is a forgetfulness of evil things; and in the day of evil things a man will not remember things that are good. For it is an easy thing in the sight of the Lord to reward a man in the day of death according to his ways. The affliction of an hour causeth forgetfulness of delight; and in the last end of a man is the revelation of his deeds. Call no man blessed before his death; and a man shall be known in his children.

Faith

" Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen." 
Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the condition of all the happiness you can know on earth. Law, order, government, civilization, and family life, depend not upon science, but upon confidence in moral character—upon faith. In its sunshine alone can happiness grow. It is faith sends you out in the morning to your work, nerves your arms through the toils of the day, brings you home in the evening, gathers your wife and your children around your table, inspires the oft-repeated efforts of the little prattler to ascend your knee, clasps his chubby arms around your neck, looks with most confiding innocence in your eye, and puts forth his little hand to catch your bread, and share your cup. Undoubting faith is happiness even here below. Need you marvel, then, that you must be converted from your pride of empty, barren science, and casting yourself with all your powers into the arms of faith, become as a little child before you can enter into the kingdom of heaven?

    Is there any science which can make you happy? which can bestow peace of mind, nerve you to conquer your evil habits, enable you to live a holy and happy life, and to die with a blessed hope of a glorious resurrection? You know there is no science which makes any such offers, or which you would believe if it did.

But the Bible unfolds a science which does, and enables you to believe it too. The facts of religious experience give most convincing evidence of the reality and power of the grace of God. It were as easy to persuade a Christian that he had produced this change of heart and life by the excitement of his own feelings, as that he had kindled the sun with a lucifer match. And the character of the work and the worker assures him that it will not be left unfinished. His faith receives these facts of religious experience as the first installments upon God's bonds, and as pledges for the payment of the remainder of his promises.

The joy and peace which God gives him now, prove most satisfactorily his ability and willingness to give him larger measures of these enjoyments when he is capable of receiving them. Just as we have good reason to believe that he who has made the sun to rise out of darkness will guide him onward in his course to perfect day, have we also good reason to believe that he that hath begun the good work of his grace in us will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. Christ is in us the hope of glory. This eternal life, which is begun in our souls, is so much superior to mere animal vitality, that we can not doubt that he who has given us the greater, will also give us the lesser, and quicken our mortal bodies also, by his Spirit which dwelleth in us. We know that our Redeemer liveth.

"By faith we understand that the worlds have been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen hath not been made out of things which appear."   Hebrews 11:3

Happy 4th

Thank You to all those selfless young women and men who place their life on the line every day so we can call these United States home!

MAY GOD BLESS THIS AIRLINE CAPTAIN:

He  writes: My lead flight attendant came to me and said, "We  have an H.R. on this flight." (H.R. stands for human remains.) "Are they military?" I  asked.

'Yes',  she said.

'Is there an escort?' I asked.

'Yes, I already assigned him a seat'.
 

'Would you please tell him to come to the flight deck. You can board him early," I said..

A short while later, a young army sergeant entered the flight deck. He was the image of the  perfectly  dressed soldier.  He introduced himself and I asked him about his soldier. The escorts of  these fallen soldiers talk about them as if they are still alive and still with us.

'My soldier is on his way back to Virginia,'  he said.  He proceeded to answer my questions,  but offered no words.

I asked him if there was anything I could do for him and he said no. I told him that he had the toughest  job in the military and that I appreciated the  work that he does for the families of our fallen soldiers. The first officer and I got up out of our seats to shake his hand.  He left the flight deck to find his seat.

 

We completed our preflight checks, pushed back and performed an uneventful departure.  About  30 minutes into our flight I received a call from the lead flight attendant in the cabin. 'I  just found out  the family of the soldier we are carrying, is on board', she said.  She then proceeded to tell me that the father, mother, wife and 2-year old daughter were escorting their son, husband, and father home.  The family was upset because they were unable to see the container that the soldier was in before we left.  We were on our way to a major hub at which the family was going to wait four hours for the connecting flight home to Virginia  .

The father of the soldier told the flight attendant that  knowing his son was below him in the cargo compartment  and being unable to see him was too much for him and the family to bear.  He had  asked the flight attendant if there was anything that could be done to allow them to see him upon our arrival. The family wanted to be outside by the cargo door to watch the soldier being taken off the airplane.. I could hear  the desperation in the flight attendants voice when she  asked me if there was anything I could do.. 'I'm on  it', I said. I told her that I would get back to her.
 

Airborne communication with my company normally occurs in the  form of  e-mail like messages.  I decided to bypass this system and contact my flight dispatcher directly on a secondary radio. There is a radio operator in the operations control center who connects you to the telephone of the dispatcher. I was in direct contact with the dispatcher..  I  explained the situation I had on board with the family and what it was the family wanted. He said he understood and that he would get back to me.
 

Two hours went by and I had not heard from the dispatcher.  We were going to get busy soon and I needed to know what to tell the family.  I sent a text  message asking for an update.  I  saved the return  message from the dispatcher and the following is the text:

'Captain, sorry it has taken so long to get back to you. There  is policy on this now and I had to check on a few  things. Upon your arrival a dedicated escort team will  meet the aircraft.  The team will  escort the family to the ramp and plane side.  A van will be used to load the remains with a secondary van for the family.  The family will be taken to their departure area and escorted into the terminal where the remains can be seen on the ramp.  It is a private area for the family only.  When the connecting aircraft arrives, the family will be escorted onto the ramp and plane side to watch the remains being loaded for the final leg home. Captain, most of us here in flight control are veterans.    Please pass our condolences on to the family.  Thanks.'

I sent a message back telling flight control thanks for a good job. I printed out the message and gave it to the lead flight  attendant to pass on to the father.  The lead flight  attendant was very thankful and told me, 'You have no idea how much this will mean to them.'
 

Things started getting busy for the descent, approach and  landing. After landing, we cleared the runway  and taxied to the ramp area.  The ramp is huge with 15 gates on either side of the alleyway.  It  is always a busy area with aircraft maneuvering every which way to enter and exit. When we entered the ramp and checked in with the ramp controller,  we were told that all traffic was being held for us.

'There is a team in place to meet the  aircraft', we were told.  It looked like it was all coming  together, then I  realized that once we turned the  seat belt sign off,  everyone would stand up at  once and delay the family from  getting off the airplane. As we approached our gate, I asked the  copilot to tell the ramp controller we were going to stop  short of the gate to make an  announcement to the passengers.   He did that and the ramp controller said, 'Take your time.'

I  stopped the aircraft and set the parking brake.   I pushed the public address button and said,  'Ladies and gentleman, this is  your Captain speaking I  have stopped short of our gate to make a  special announcement.  We have a passenger on board who deserves our honor and respect.  His Name is  Private XXXXXX,  a soldier who recently lost his life.   Private XXXXXX is  under your feet in the cargo hold.  Escorting him today is  Army Sergeant  XXXXXXX.  Also, on board are his father, mother, wife, and daughter.  Your entire  flight crew is  asking for all passengers to remain in their seats to  allow the  family to exit the aircraft first. Thank you.'
 

We continued the turn to the gate, came to a stop and  started our shutdown procedures.  A couple of  minutes later I opened the cockpit door. I  found the two forward flight  attendants crying,  something you just do not see.  I was told  that  after we came to a stop, every passenger on the aircraft  stayed in their seats, waiting for the family to exit  the aircraft.

When the family got up and gathered their things, a  passenger slowly started to clap his hands.   Moments later more passengers  joined in and soon  the entire aircraft was clapping.  Words  of 'God  Bless You', I'm sorry, thank you, be proud, and other kind   words were uttered to the family as they made their  way down the  aisle and out of the airplane. They  were escorted down to  the ramp to finally be with  their loved one.
 

Many of the passengers disembarking thanked me for the  announcement I  had made.  They were just words, I  told them,  I could  say them over and over again,  but nothing I say will bring back  that brave soldier.

I  respectfully ask that all of you reflect on this event  and the sacrifices that millions of our men and women  have made to ensure  our freedom and safety in these  United  States of AMERICA .

Foot note: As a Viet Nam Veteran I can only think of all the veterans  including the ones that rode below the deck on their way home and how they were treated. When I read things like this I am proud  that our country has not turned their backs on our soldiers returning from the various war zones today and give them the respect they so deserve.

I know every one who has served their country who reads this will have tears in their eyes.
 

'Lord, hold our troops in your loving hands. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them and their families for the selfless acts they perform for us in our time of need. Amen..'