The Trouble Tree

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work. His electric saw quit, and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence.

On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a tall tree, touching tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door, he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed with smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

"Oh, that's my trouble tree" he replied. "I know that I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure. Troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I get home. Then in the morning I pick them up again. "Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there ain't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

Do you have a Trouble Tree you can hang your problems on? Do not take your troubles home with you, but instead find peace with the Trouble Tree.

This post has been edited by MayAnne: Aug 31 2008, 10:45 PM

Handwriting on the Wall

A weary mother returned from the store,
ugging groceries through the kitchen door.

Awaiting her arrival was her eight-year-old son,
Eager to relate what his younger brother had done.

"While I was out playing and Dad was on a call,
T.J. took his crayons and wrote on the wall!

It's on the new paper you just hung in the den.
I told him you'd be mad at having to do it again."

She let out a moan and furrowed her brow.
"Where is your little brother right now?"

She emptied her arms and with a purposeful stride,
She marched to his closet where he had gone to hide.

She called his full name as she entered his room.
He trembled with fear -- he knew that meant doom!

For the next ten minutes, she ranted and raved
About the expensive wallpaper and how she had saved.

Stressed over all the work it would take to repair,
She condemned his actions and total lack of care.

The more she scolded, the madder she got,
Then stomped from his room, totally distraught!

She headed for the den to confirm her fears.
When she saw the wall, her eyes flooded with tears.

The message she read pierced her soul with a dart.
It said, "I love Mommy," surrounded by a heart.



Well, the wallpaper remained, just as she found it,
With an empty picture frame hung to surround it.

A reminder to her, and indeed to all,
Take time to read the handwriting on the wall!!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

LOVE NEVER FAILS.

Seen from Loving Eyes...

A grandmother and a little girl whose face was sprinkled with bright red freckles spent the day at the zoo.

The children were waiting in line to get their cheeks painted by a local artist who was decorating them with tiger paws.

"You've got so many freckles, there's no place to paint!" a boy in the line cried. Embarrassed, the little girl dropped her head. Her grandmother knelt down next to her. "I love your freckles," she said.

"Not me," the girl replied. Well, when I was a little girl I always wanted freckles," the grandmother said, tracing her finger across the child's cheek. "Freckles are beautiful!" she continued.

The girl looked up. "Really?"

"Of course," said the grandmother. "Why, just name me one thing that's prettier than freckles."

The little girl peered into the old woman's smiling face, and answered softly, "Wrinkles."

Harmonizing heart and brain through love is what can establish a complete intelligence, a complete self, where a child can look at life and realise there are no dead ends, there are always possibilities. The greatest gift a parent (or a grandparent) can give a child during all the ups and downs of life is love.

As you continue to send out love, the energy returns to you in a regenerating spiral...

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

PLANT THREE ROWS OF PEAS:
1. Peace of mind
2. Peace of heart
3. Peace of soul

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF SQUASH:
1. Squash gossip
2. Squash indifference
3. Squash grumbling
4. Squash selfishness

PLANT FOUR ROWS OF LETTUCE:
1. Lettuce be faithful
2. Lettuce be kind
3. Lettuce be patient
4. Lettuce really love one another

NO GARDEN WITHOUT TURNIPS:
1. Turnip for meetings
2. Turnip for service
3. Turnip to help one another

TO CONCLUDE OUR GARDEN WE MUST HAVE THYME:
1. Thyme for each other
2. Thyme for family
3. Thyme for friends... water freely with patience and cultivate with love


There will be much fruit in your garden because you reap what you sow.

Real happiness is cheap enough, yet how dearly we pay for its counterfeit. ~ Hosea Ballou

What Letting Go Really Means...

To "let go" does not mean to stop caring. It means I can't do it for someone else.

To "let go" is not to cut myself off. It's the realization that I can't control another.

To "let go" is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands, but in God's.

To "let go" is not to try to change or blame another. It's to make the most possible out of myself.

To "let go" is not to care for, but care about.

To "let go" is not to fix, but to be supportive.

To "let go" is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being, as we all are.

To "let go" is not to be in the middle, arranging all the outcomes, but to allow others to affect their own destinies.

To "let go" is not to deny, but to accept.

To "let go" is not to nag, scold, fuss, or argue; but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.

To "let go" is not to adjust everything to my desires, but to take each day as it comes and cherish myself in it.

To "let go" is not to regret the past, but to live for today and grow for the future.

To "let go" is to fear less and to love more.


This is to remind you and myself that each one of us has things in our life beyond our control – and often the healthy thing is to let go... in the proper way.

This post has been edited by MayAnne: Sep 15 2008, 11:03 PM