The two most important tools of parenting are time and touch. Listen to your boys and girls, look them in the eye, put your arms around them, hug them close, tell them how valuable they are.
From Proverbs 20:7: “The righteous walk in integrity—happy are the children who follow them!”
Allergy time peaks
Summer moves into autumn—
Ragweed in full bloom
Summertime fading
Crisp, cool mornings signal change—
Autumn’s billboard colors
Autumn comes knocking
Where have all the song birds gone?
Morning’s quiet peace
Feelings and Emotions are the universal language and are to be honored. They are the authentic expression of who you are in your deepest place.
When we are most, then we are least alone; for are these faces not identical?
Judith Wright (1915-2000) was a renowned poet, environmentalist, and champion of aboriginal rights in Australia. She was the 1998 recipient of the Australian National Living Treasure Award.
Perfection Defined:
The condition of being free or as free as possible from all flaws or defects.
Striving for absolute perfection proves to be elusive
Life provides few examples that are always conclusive
Perfection in bowling
Rolling 12 strikes in a row
Perfect school attendance
No absences during an entire school year
Perfect gymnastics performance
Scoring an “improbable” 10.0
Perfect school exam score
All questions answered correctly
Perfect completion of a crossword puzzle
Every square correctly filled in
Perfect game in baseball
Pitcher retires all batters—no one reaches first base
Perfect grades in school
All A’s . . . 4.0 GPA
Standards have been made to measure perfection
Challenging all to achieve for greater satisfaction
Individual actions and results to be told
Defining a level of perfection to behold
A “perfect” vacation
What makes it the best ever?
A “perfect” photograph
What makes this image so brilliant?
A “perfect” job
What provides the greatest satisfaction at work?
A “perfect” health report
What makes these results outstanding?
A “perfect” marriage
What moments are forever beautiful?
Subjective perfection is short-lived for a good reason
Definitions and expectations change with each season
When we think that our best efforts fall short
Allow Christ to bring us back to our home port
His unblemished life is perfection for sure
We follow His example for lives more pure
There is nothing more tragic than to come to the end of life and know we have been on the wrong course.
From John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
From Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.”
Dead from our trespasses
Sin ruling over man
Living outside God’s law
Called to accept His plan
God opens grace-filled door
Cooling desires of flesh
Sharing His mercy’s love
Today begins afresh
Salvation accepted
Lord’s spring of grace will flow
Tasting divine favor
Mistakes washed white as snow
Life christened with God’s joy
Made alive in Jesus
Overcoming weakness
Lord’s divine grace frees us
Eternal age to come
Lord’s love shall see us through
Saving us from darkness
Grace through faith comes in view
From 2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “But He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
Take a moment to ask the Lord if anything is clouding your internal signals, and trust in His promise to make your path straight.
From Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.”
Downstream from the steamboat port of Fort Benton, the currents of the Missouri River find ways to hide a mystery from the night.
Montana Territorial Secretary, Thomas Francis Meagher, has disappeared late at night outside of Fort Benton. In the absence of the Territorial Governor, he is the acting governor.
What has happened to Meagher on this quiet evening on July 1, 1867?
Traveling by steamboat, Meagher appears to have fallen overboard. His body is quickly swallowed up by the Missouri River’s unforgiving waters, never to be seen again.
No one really knows what actually has happened, or better yet, they are keeping quiet about the dark happenings on this July night.
Meagher is known to be a heavy drinker. Is he killed in an accidental drowning when he mysteriously falls overboard?
Or did he succumb to suicide provoked by disillusionment with his shattered, personal dreams?
With many enemies, perhaps Meagher is murdered aboard this steamboat, and his body is forgotten as it conveniently floats far downstream in the swift currents of the river.
This “immortal” Irishman’s life is honored with a high degree of irony. In an unusual tribute for a relatively unknown man with a dubious past, a statue of him is erected in 1905 and placed on the grounds in front of the State Capitol in Helena. In the central region of the state, Meagher County is named for him.
Here are a few additional facts about Thomas Francis Meagher:
He is born in Ireland in 1823.
As an Irish nationalist, he participates in the Rebellion of 1848 and is sentenced to serve in a Tasmanian prison. However, he escapes in 1852, and eventually ends up in the United States.
During the American Civil War, he joins the Union Army as part of the “Fighting 69th” Irish Brigade. He rises to the rank of brigadier general.
Following the war, his dreams take him to the Montana Territory. In his future, he hopes to build an Irish-Catholic colony and pursue a career as a U.S. Senator.
This informative post will be posted on Saturday along with my usual writing. We can all appreciate some of the lesser known facts from around the world.
Many of the coffee bars inside the CIA and other top-secret United States government buildings are staffed by blind people, although this has as much to do with a very successful employment drive as it does national security.
Created in England in the 1760s, the first jigsaw puzzles were maps. Pieces were formed by cutting along the borders of the countries, and the end result was used to teach kids geography.
These facts have been discovered in I NEVER KNEW THAT by David Hoffman (2009).
Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.
No one has come up with a substitute for hard work.
Pitcher Satchel Paige played most of his years of baseball before the Major Leagues were opened up to play for African-Americans. Despite this, he was inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1971.
Left fielder Ted Williams played his entire Major League career with the Boston Red Sox. In 1941, he hit .406 (the person to hit at least .400). The Hall-of-Famer’s statistics are even more incredible when one realizes that he served in the military during both World War II and the Korean War as an aviator.
Big Sky Buckeye 