You don’t just lose someone once.

 

You lose them when you close your eyes each night.

And as you open them each morning.

You lose them throughout the day.

An unused coffee cup.

An empty chair.

A pair of boots no longer there.

You lose them as the sun sets.

And darkness closes in.

 

You lose them as you wonder why.

Staring at a star lit sky.

You lose them on the big days.

Anniversaries.

Birthdays.

Graduations.

Holidays.

Weddings.

And the regular days too.

You lose them in the ordinary.

Paperwork.

Household chores.

Routines taken for granted.

You lose them in the familiar.

A song they used to sing.

The scent of their cologne.

A slice of their favorite pie.

You lose them in conversations you will never have.

And all the words unsaid.

You lose them in all the places they’ve been.

And all the places they longed to go.

You lose them in what could have been.

And all the dreams you shared.

You lose them as you pick up the broken pieces.

And begin your life anew.

You lose them when you realize.

This is your new reality.

They are never coming back.

No matter how much 

You miss them or

Need them.

No matter how hard you pray.

They are gone.

And you must go on.

Alone.

You lose them as the seasons change.

The snow blows.

The flowers blossom.

The grass grows.

The leaves fall.

You lose them again and again.

Day after day.

Month after month.

Year after year.

Time marches on, carrying them further and further way.

You lose them as your hair whitens and your body bends with age.

Your memory fades.

And the details begin to blur.

Their face stares back at you from a faded photograph.

Someone you used to know.

You think you might have loved them once.

Long ago.

Back then.

When you were whole.

You don’t just lose someone once.

You lose them every day.

Over and over again.

For the rest of your life. 

Source:   Monica Bobbitt

24 Quotes on Practicing Compassion

The words "sympathy," "empathy," and "compassion" are often used interchangeably, but each has a distinct meaning. Sympathy is feeling sorry that someone is going through a hard time, or sending a card to show them they’re in our thoughts.

 

Empathy takes us a step closer to our fellow humans by allowing us to understand and share in their emotions: to flinch at a skinned knee or sniffle at a sentimental commercial.

 

Compassion, meanwhile, is that sense of shared experience coupled with the desire to do something to help alleviate the pain. Compassion doesn’t just flinch at a child’s skinned knee; it rushes to find a SpongeBob Squarepants Band-Aid.

 

 

Taking action to help others is the heart of compassion, and if you keep an eye out, you’ll find plenty of ways to offer kindness to those around you. Hold the door for someone. Surrender the last jar of pickles at the grocery store. Lend an ear to someone who needs to talk. These discrete acts of kindness can change a person’s whole day — which can, in turn, inspire them to be a little kinder to those around them.

 

 

Compassion not only makes us happier as individuals, but also has a tendency to get passed along, making the world just a little bit brighter for all of us who live here.

 

 

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.

                                                       — Dalai Lama

 

 

You cannot do kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.     — Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.     — Maya Angelou

 

 

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.                                      — Lao Tzu

 

 

Having compassion starts and ends with having compassion for all those unwanted parts of ourselves.
                                                       — Pema Chödrön

 

 

Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole nature in its beauty.       — Albert Einstein

 

 

I’ve been searching for ways to heal myself, and I’ve found that kindness is the best way.  — Lady Gaga

 

 

Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you’re already in heaven now.  — Jack Kerouac

 

 

All I'm saying is, kindness don't have no boundaries.
                  ― Kathryn Stockett, author of “The Help”

 

 

A kind and compassionate act is often its own reward.
                                               — William John Bennett

 

 

I prefer you to make mistakes in kindness than work miracles in unkindness.                 ― Mother Teresa

 

 

Kindness is the only service that will stand the storm of life and not wash out. It will wear well and will be remembered long after the prism of politeness or the complexion of courtesy has faded away.
                                                      — Abraham Lincoln

 

 

The simplest acts of kindness are by far more powerful than a thousand heads bowing in prayer.
                                                       ― Mahatma Gandhi

 

 

Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.              — Jackie Chan

 

 

Compassion is about giving all the love that you’ve got.
                                                            — Cheryl Strayed

 

 

Do your little bit of good where you are; it’s those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
                                                            — Desmond Tutu 

 

 

Kindness is the light that dissolves all walls between souls, families, and nations.
                 — Paramahansa Yogananda, Hindu monk

 

 

Kindness, I’ve discovered, is everything in life.
         ― Isaac Bashevis Singer, writer and Nobel laureate

 

 

If you see someone without a smile, give them one of yours.                                          — Dolly Parton

 

 

In compassion, when we feel with the other, we dethrone ourselves from the center of our world and we put another person there.      — Karen Armstrong, author

 

 

Kindness begins with the understanding that we all struggle.                      — Charles Glassman, author

 

 

Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.                   — Jackie Chan

 

 

The highest forms of understanding we can achieve are laughter and human compassion.
                                    — Richard Feynman, physicist

 

 

Carry out a random act of kindness, with no expectation of reward, safe in the knowledge that one day someone might do the same for you.                — Princess Diana

 

Here I am Send Me

 

God called to him….And he said, "Here I am." --Exodus 3:4

"Moses’ reply to God revealed that he knew where he was and that he was ready.  Readiness means having a right relationship to God and having the knowledge of where we are.  We are so busy telling God where we would like to go.  Yet the man or woman who is ready for God and His work is the one who receives the prize when the summons comes." --Oswald Chambers, 'My Utmost for His Highest'

To quickly lay out the life of Moses, he was born in Egypt to Hebrew slaves, adopted by Pharaoh's daughter and raised as a prince of Egypt, Then he committed murder and was exiled, either self-imposed as if running for his life or sent into the wilderness by Pharaoh as a sentence.  Scholars estimate Moses was about 40 years in Egypt, 40 years in Midian tending the flocks of his father-in-law Jethro and 40 years leading the tribes of Israel out of bondage and through the wilderness.  Moses did not live to see the Promised Land, as was the original goal.

So Moses is an old man of around 80 when God appears to him on the "back side of the desert" in the form of a burning bush.  Was he ready for the task to which God was about to call him?  Well, yes AND no.  Yes, Moses was ready to listen and, despite some specific objections, willing to act on God's instructions.  And no, he wasn't ready at all,; he was a diamond-in-the-rough and, like a moving car is easier to steer than one sitting still, God began to work miracles through this flawed and sort-of-willing man.

It was a little over thirty years ago when God began appearing to me with some regularity.  The idea of going into ministry was not even something I would have considered, in fact I'm sure I'd have laughed in their face if someone had suggested anything like that.  I was a detective and struggling in a failing marriage--my own version of the back side of some desert.

Trying to improve my relationship with my first wife, I would periodically attend mass with her and interested myself in things that interested her.  She inquired about a youth program called "Teens Encounter Christ," or TEC, that she had attended as a youth in New York state, whether that program or something similar existed locally.  The closest one was operated within the diocese in Kansas City, MO and we involved ourselves in it.

I was not Catholic, but they weren't so awash in volunteers so as to exclude me from participation.  Like Moses, I was ready, but not, and God drew me near to this burning bush, not to ordain me in His service, but to deepen my curiosity and willingness to respond to Him.  And, like Moses, I had objections, I had flaws, I had issues.  I don't know if I was a diamond, but I was certainly in the rough.

TEC, obviously, was not the panacea for my marital problems and the marriage dissolved a year or so later, but that didn't undo what God had started in me, AND He was not done with me.  And, before you ask, my appetite for God was not consistent throughout that time, but THAT did not dissuade Him either.

As Chambers suggests above, I knew where I was and, when I was ready, God appeared to me as a different sort of burning bush.  Whether or not you FEEL like you know where you are, you do--know, that is.  You know in your gut where you are even if your heart is all over the place, twisting in the shifting winds of life.  What's more, in spite of your fickle emotions, GOD knows exactly where you are and when you're ready to take notice of a burning bush, to peak your curiosity, to draw you nearer and make you evermore into what He created you to be from the beginning.

You are NOT too far gone.  You are NOT too old, or too broken, or too stubborn, or too . . . anything.  Wherever you are, God comes to YOU.  He meets you where you are and He will invite you, over and over, as many times as it takes, to trust Him to give you the life you've always wanted.  You can refuse His offer, but that doesn't mean He'll go away.  The road to Him is ALWAYS open and HE is the one who travels it to get to YOU.

You might think God is concealing something from you, or denying you something you want.  He's not telling you "No" necessarily.  More likely He's saying, "Come closer, I want to show you something."  When your burning bush appears, be ready, because it may appear at first to be uninviting, but it might well be the change you've been hoping for.

Rick's Recipes: My Mama's Homemade Meatloaf

 

Author: MyWindowsill

Recipe type: Main dish

Cuisine: American

Prep time:  15 mins

Cook time:  1 hour

Total time:  1 hour 15 mins

Serves: 8-10

A simple, hearty recipe for homemade meatloaf that will have you coming back for more. 

Ingredients: 

• 3 lb. ground hamburger
• 2 cups milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 2 cups tomato juice
• 1 cup crushed cornflakes
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Onion, peppers or garlic to taste (optional - and this is not in her recipe)

Instructions:

1.  Mix all ingredients together.

2.  Put into a 9 x 12-inch pan.

3.  Cover top with ketchup.

4.  Bake at 250 for 2 hours OR at 350 for 1+ hour.

5.  You can top with ketchup after the first hour.

6.  SUNDAY MORNING baking times:

7.  Heat in oven at 350 until it begins to cook.

8.  Turn off oven and set time-bake for 11 o'clock at a temperature of 250.

9.  It will be ready to serve at 1PM after church

 

He Anoints my Head with Oil

 

Have you ever wondered what the portion of the 23rd Psalm meant when it reads, “He anoints my head with oil”? Was it figurative artful language? Or did those beautiful words have a parallel meaning that made real life sense in the era of the Psalmist. 

First, a little background: Sheep often got their head caught in briers and became dangerously injured, even died, in a desperate attempt to free themselves. There were horrid little flies that liked to torment sheep by laying eggs in their nostrils, which turned into worms, only to drive the sheep to beat their head against a rock—sometimes to death. Their ears and eyes were also susceptible to tormenting insects. So, the shepherd anointed their entire head with oil. Then there was peace. That oil formed a barrier of protection against the evil of the various attacks that tried to destroy the sheep.

Do you have times when you are dealing with an onslaught of sheer mental torment? Do troublesome thoughts continuously invade your mind? Do you beat your head against a proverbial wall trying to figure out answers to life’s seemingly endless list of debatable questions? Then ask God to anoint your head with oil. He has an unlimited supply! His oil protects your heart and mind, and allows you to keep your eyes fixed on Him! There is peace as you focus on the Lord and not the problems and challenges of your life! May the Father anoint your head with His oil of healing so your cup overflows with boundless blessings! God is good! And He is faithful to protect and meet your needs! - (Adapted by J Drummonds from the writing of an unknown author.)

We become like those we behold.

 

Real life happening

 

Two men, the sons of a wealthy man, set out to not become like their dad. One of them was so determined to be unlike his father that he scorned all his father’s good points. Where his father was disciplined about work, this man wanted to be the opposite. So he kept referencing his father to make sure he wasn’t like him – and became just like the man on whom he had been focusing. Oh, he wasn’t disciplined about work; in fact, he could hardly hold a job. Instead of being consumed with work, he became consumed with alcohol. The same characteristics that made his father a workaholic created an alcoholic.

 

The other son appreciated his father’s work ethic, but didn’t want to be like him in relationships. Instead of looking at his father and trying to measure opposite, he changed his focus to someone he admired and respected. In watching this man and measuring himself by a different man’s standards, the second son became unlike his father by changing his focus.

 

We become like those we behold.

 

Changed from focus

 

Scripture tells us this is so. If we want to become like someone, all we need to do is focus on that person. It matters not if we are trying to become unlike that person, or if we want to become like that person; if we focus on that person, and we will become like him.

 

2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us:

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

 

The secret to becoming what we behold

 

When life is frustrating, when hurts are deep, when betrayal is real, choose to change your focus. Instead of looking at the frustrations, the hurts, and the betrayal, look at the Person who makes the difference. Consider His glory. Focus on His glory. It’s true. His glory changes us.

 

In focusing on His Person and His glory, we experience the changes: we become what we behold.

Originally Appeared HERE

Monday Quotes: 11 Quotes on Gratitude, the 'Parent of all Virtues'

In our busy and stressful modern world, it can be easy to forget to slow down and acknowledge the bounties that many of us already possess, such as shelter, food, and love. In our efforts to achieve and progress, we may, at times, succumb to pessimism, and lose sight of these simpler and more essential gifts.

 

Practicing grateful thinking helps us turn our attention away from negativity and towards what is working in our lives, and how far we have come on our journey. This approach can lighten and brighten our outlook, releasing the pressure of constant worry and effort. While setting goals is natural, gratitude balances this urge with the inherent message that we have and are enough. Gratitude allows us to rest and feel contentment and joy in the present.

 

We can develop our capacity for appreciation by starting a gratitude journal or simply taking a few minutes each day to reflect on all the good in our life. We may feel grateful for a sunny afternoon, steady employment, a loved one’s help, or a game of fetch with our dog. Focusing on these gifts can have a powerful and even transformative effect on our lives. Here are 11 quotes on the importance of giving thanks.

 

Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.                  — Cicero

 

Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
                                           — Melody Beattie, author

 

Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer.  — Maya Angelou

 

Acknowledging the good that you already have in your life is the foundation for all abundance. — Eckhart Tolle

 

Nine-tenths of wisdom is appreciation. Go find somebody's hand and squeeze it, while there's time.
                                 — Dale Dauten, business coach

 

Your bounty is beyond my speaking. But though my mouth be dumb, my heart shall thank you.
                                        — Nicholas Rowe, writer

 

Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.                                                                   — Karl Barth, theologian

 

O Lord that lends me life, lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!           — William Shakespeare

 

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.                       — Willie Nelson

 

I know for sure that appreciating whatever shows up for you in life changes your personal vibration. You radiate and generate more goodness for yourself when you're aware of all you have and not focusing on your have-nots.                                  — Oprah Winfrey

 

I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual.                                   — Henry David Thoreau