Another good word quote

In the case of good books, the point is not how many of them you can get
through, but rather how many can get through to you. -Mortimer J. Adler,
philosopher, educator and author (1902-2001)

Waltz Class

I had my first waltz class this last Tuesday evening. I was so much fun! I've always wanted to learn how to Waltz and Swing dance. I have never done it, but my mother and I have talked about it since I was in my mid-teens. I think it's beautiful to watch a couple that knows how to waltz together.

It is so much harder than I ever thought it would be though. Oh my goodness! It was a stretch for my mind to get my feet to go where they were supposed to. I kept wanting to use my right foot over and over again. Then when I thought I was getting the steps down(keep in mind I was just doing 'the box'. This is where you go back on right, out on left, together with right, then forward with left, over with right, and together with left). :) About the time I thought I was getting the simple, but mind boggling right, left, right, left. The teacher put me with a partner. He was very sweet, even when I stepped on his feet.:) He was an older gentleman, & knew how to waltz, which was a very good thing. He was learning how to lead. Leading! What an important word. Growing over the years, I 've been taught that the man should lead, and I believe it. Watching everyone in the class trying to learn to waltz together and my sweet, but poor partner, I realized in another way how important it is for the man to lead. When I forgot to watch for his lead and we both tried to lead we got all messed up, me going one way and him another. It was bad... When he forgot to relay clearly where he wanted me to follow next, and I wasn't sure which way he was going, it was horrible. In waltzing the man has to telegraph to an extent, so that the lady knows what to do next. He will put pressure on your arm by pushing or pulling, so that you will know which direction he is planning to go. When he fails to telegraph what he direction will be, we end up falling, stumbling, and stepping all over one another. . It is such a parallel with life. If you are in a leadership position and not leading, so the followers can follow a clear path, everyone gets muddled up. Since it was on the dance floor and we were learning it was amusing, when we had the little mess ups; but in real life, it would not have been amusing. I needed this gentleman to lead me, whether it was with the feel of his hand moving one direction or another, or a little bit of pressure on the arm of the side that needed to be moving. In life I need to be led, whether it is by the gentle reminder of someone's actions, or words, or a little bit more pressure from some one in leadership who is correcting me before I stumble all over myself and possinbly cause someone else to fall!. Following! Another very important word. For the followers part, I need to be willing without a moments hesitation to change where I thought we were going, to where ever he is now leading. I need to watch carefully for those signals, and then adjust so I am in step with them. After a while the dancing got to be easier. I could quit conciously thinking' right, left, right left', and just waited for those subtle signals. I could usually follow my partner. Towards the end I even got to learn a 'turn'!. That was beautiful to watch and fun to do once I was able. The teacher brought up a really good point that I was surprised and impressed with. She explained how the gentlemen would continue to hold onto one of our hands and gently lead us through the turn and around in a cirlcle until we were back in front of them. She then said "There will be 3 steps before you turn around and can see him again. " Ladies make sure you let him lead you! Let him signal how quickly he wants to go. If you anticipate the steps and try to speed it up you might get there before him.You want to get there together. Walk slowly & let him bring you along." I loved it! My mom and I both looked at each other and had to smile. :) It was great! I had no idea that I would like it as much as I did, or that I would see so many good lessons.

Anyway, this post ended up being almost as much a reminder about leading and following as it was a story about the fun & excitement that I had on Tuesday. I am looking forward to going back this coming Tuesday, learning some more, and practicing my 'following.'. :)

Laugh out loud, at the movies

My sister and I met my brothers in town the other night and went to see a movie together. As it ended up the guys went to see a different movie than my sister and I did. So much for going to the movies together. :) After we set down, close to the back rows an elderly couple set down behind us. My sister and I were watching the trivia questions about actors & movies, and discussing how many of the questions we didn't know the answers to. About that time the elder man started yelling to his wife about the questions on the screen. It was hilarious! He must have been hard of hearing, because he was yelling out his questions & she was yelling the answers back, which was almost as funny.. :) At one point during the question and answer session, he asked his wife a question, that my sister and I had been discussing. We were all waiting for the answer and two of the other questions on the screen had already been asked and answered. So now the wife hollers in her 'conversational tone' to her husband, "Are they ever going to give us the answer"? I laughing, finally turned around to agree with her and we all started talking. We discussed with each other what we thought the answer was in tones more suited to the room, rather then the loud and amusing tones used by her husband and herself. After she was done chatting with us, we turned back around, and at this time her husband asked her what we had been talking about. He of course hadn't really caught much of our conversation, so instead of asking me to talk louder, he just waited until I had turned back around and then shouted the question so loudly that ,once again ,the whole last five rows could hear.!!! The screen finally did show everyone the answer and the gentleman behind us laughing, shouted, this time to me I think, "Well you all had some of it right. 50% is not bad!" About that time the movie started so it got quiet,....... for a moment......

It was a suspense movie but it was hilarious. I guess the elderly couple acting so naturally had made a lot of the folks feel at home because now it turned into audience participation!! The guy next to my sister kept cheering for the lady trying to get away from this bad guy and bemoaning every bad that happened, slapping his knee and whooping all the while! Every time something startling would happen the teenaged girls sitting toward the front would scream. While all of this was going on the couple behind us would start back up their benevolent bellowing about something he hadn't caught! By the time the movie was over, it was all I could do not to turn around and tell the couple that it was great to meet them and get to enjoy the movie with them. We did end up asking them what they thought and just chit chatting a bit. It was a fun evening and on the way home my sister and I kept getting the giggles over the whole experience. Over all we had a blast!

Poem from Streams in the desert

Great truths are dearly bought, the common truths,

Such as we give and take from day to day,

Come in the common walk of easy life,

Blown by the careless wind across our way.

Great truths are greatly won, not found by chance,

Nor wafted on the breath of summer dream;

But grasped in the great struggle of our soul,

Hard buffeting with adverse wind and stream.

But in the day of conflict, fear, and grief,

When the strong hand of God, put forth in might,

Plows up the subsoil of our stagnant heart,

And brings the imprisoned truth seed to the light.

Wrung from the troubled spirit, in hard hours

Of weakness, solitude, and times of pain,

Truth springs like harvest from the well-plowed field,

And our soul feels it has not wept in vain.

Our knowledge of God is enlarged when we are brought through circumstances that cause us to draw closer to His will. When difficulties come into our path, we can thank God that He is taking the time to teach us something new and important. We can then lean on His everlasting arms of comfort, and love. The poem made me think of the 91st psalm: He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust:

Quote

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to bechewed and digested. -Francis Bacon, essayist, philosopher, and statesman(1561-1626)

This is good!!!!

Hymn

The Church’s One Foundation
By Samuel J. Stone
The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
She is his new creation
By water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her
To be his holy bride;
With his own blood he bought her,
And for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,
Yet one over all the earth;
Her charter of salvation:
One Lord, one faith, one birth.
One holy name she blesses,
Partakes one holy food,
And to one hope she presses
With every grace endued.

Through toil and tribulation
And tumult of her war
She waits the consummation
Of peace forevermore
Till with the vision glorious
Her longing eyes are blest,
And the great Church victorious
Shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth has union
With God, the Three in One,
And mystic sweet communion
With those whose rest is won.
O blessed heavenly chorus!
Lord, save us by your grace
That we, like saints before us,
May see you face to face.

Hymn # 289 from Lutheran Worship
Author: Samuel S. Wesley
Tune: Aurelia1st
Published in: 1866

Quotes and word of the day.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims
may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber
barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty
may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those
who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do
so with the approval of their own conscience. C. S. Lewis

tyr·an·ny ( P ) Pronunciation Key (tr-n)n. pl. tyr·an·nies
A government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power.
The office, authority, or jurisdiction of an absolute ruler.
Absolute power, especially when exercised unjustly or cruelly:
I have sworn... eternal hostility against every form of tyranny
over the mind of man (Thomas Jefferson).
Use of absolute power.
A tyrannical act.
Extreme harshness or severity; rigor.
[Middle English tyrannie, from Old French, from Late Latin tyrannia,
from Greek turanni, from turannos, tyrant.]

I have always enjoyed C.S. Lewis and when my Mother sent this
to me I knew I needed to post it.

I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that
life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy. -
Rabindranath Tagore, philosopher, author, songwriter, painter,
educator, composer, Nobellaureate (1861-1941)

Well said! We will find joy in our lives when we are doing the work we have been given.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WORD OF THE DAY

parrhesia (puh-REEZ-i-uh)


noun 1. Boldness of speech. 2. The practice of asking forgiveness before
speaking in this manner.

[From New Latin, from Greek, from para- (beyond) + rhesis (speech).] From political leaders to business heads, very few like to face the truth. Some claim to want candor but follow the dictum of filmmaker Samuel Goldwyn who said, "I want everybody to tell me the truth, even if it costs them their jobs." If you're not entirely sure about your boss, we recommend starting with parrhesia (sense 2), before giving in to parrhesia (sense 1)

:) I like this word. I do not exhibit it as well as I ought , but I still think it a fascinating word.

The power to command frequently causes failure to think. -Barbara Tuchman,author and historian (1912-1989)

Hmmm. :)

Luke 24:38

"Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts?"

"Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest O Israel, My way is hid from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God?" The Lord cares for all things, and the meanest creatures share in His universal providence, but His particular providence is over His saints. "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him." "Precious shall their blood be in His sight." "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to His purpose." Let the fact that, while He is the Saviour of all men, He is specially the Saviour of them that believe, cheer and comfort you. You are His peculiar care; His regal treasure which He guards as the apple of His eye; His vineyard over which He watches day and night. "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." Let the thought of His special love to you be a spiritual pain-killer, a dear quietus to your woe: "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." God says that as much to you as to any saint of old. "Fear not, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward." We lose much consolation by the habit of reading His promises for the whole church, instead of taking them directly home to ourselves. Believer, grasp the divine word with a personal, appropriating faith. Think that you hear Jesus say, "I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not." Think you see Him walking on the waters of thy trouble, for He is there, and He is saying, "Fear not, it is I; be not afraid." Oh, those sweet words of Christ! May the Holy Ghost make you feel them as spoken to you; forget others for awhile--accept the voice of Jesus as addressed to you, and say, "Jesus whispers consolation; I cannot refuse it; I will sit under His shadow with great delight."

—Morning and Evening

Those are beautiful thoughts. He has promised to be with us, to never leave us, no matter what we feel is going on. He has called us to Him.

Fun Poems

The Embarrassing Episode of Little Miss Muffet
by Guy Wetmore Carryl

Little Mis Muffet discovered a tuffet,
( Which never occurred to the rest of us)
And, as 'twas a June day, and just about noonday,
She wanted to eat- like the best of us:
Her diet was whey, and I hasten to say
It is wholesome and people grow fat on it.
The spot being lonely, the lady not only
Discovered the tuffet, but sat on it!

A rivulet gabbled beside her and babbled,
As rivulets always are thought to do,
And dragon flies sported around and cavorted,
As poets say dragon flies ought to do;
When glancing aside for a moment , she spied
A horrible sight that brought fear to her,
A hideous spider was sitting beside her,
And most unavoidably near to her!

Albeit unsightly, this creature politely
Said: " Madam, I earnestly vow to you,
I'm penitent that I did not bring my hat. I
Should otherwise certainly bow to you."
Though anxious to please, he was so ill at ease
That he lost all his sense of propriety,
And grew so inept that he clumsily stept
In her plate!- which is barred in Society!

This curious error completed her terror!;
She shuddered, and growing much paler, not
Only left tuffet, but dealt him a buffet
Which doubled him up in a sailor knot.
It should be explained that at this he was pained:
He cried: ' I have vexed you no doubt of it!
Your fist's like a truncheon." "YOU"RE still in my luncheon!"
Was all that she answered! " Get out of it!"

And the MORAL is this: Be it madam or miss
To whom you have something to say,
Your are only absurd when you get in the curd
But you're rude when you get in the whey!



A Young Lady named Bright
by Edward Lear

There was a young lady named Bright,
Who traveled much faster than light.
She started one day,
In the relative way,
And returned on the previous night.

I thought these were amusing and realized that I had not posted them on my blog yet, so here you go. Once again these are so much better if you read them out loud. :)

2Corinthians 5:14

"The love of Christ constraineth us."

How much owest thou unto my Lord? Has He ever done anything for thee? Has He forgiven thy sins? Has He covered thee with a robe of righteousness? Has He set thy feet upon a rock? Has He established thy goings? Has He prepared heaven for thee? Has He prepared thee for heaven? Has He written thy name in His book of life? Has He given thee countless blessings? Has He laid up for thee a store of mercies, which eye hath not seen nor ear heard? Then do something for Jesus worthy of His love. Give not a mere wordy offering to a dying Redeemer. How will you feel when your Master comes, if you have to confess that you did nothing for Him, but kept your love shut up, like a stagnant pool, neither flowing forth to His poor or to His work. Out on such love as that! What do men think of a love which never shows itself in action? Why, they say, "Open rebuke is better than secret love." Who will accept a love so weak that it does not actuate you to a single deed of self-denial, of generosity, of heroism, or zeal! Think how He has loved you, and given Himself for you! Do you know the power of that love? Then let it be like a rushing mighty wind to your soul to sweep out the clouds of your worldliness, and clear away the mists of sin. "For Christ's sake" be this the tongue of fire that shall sit upon you: "for Christ's sake" be this the divine rapture, the heavenly afflatus to bear you aloft from earth, the divine spirit that shall make you bold as lions and swift as eagles in your Lord's service. Love should give wings to the feet of service, and strength to the arms of labour. Fixed on God with a constancy that is not to be shaken, resolute to honour Him with a determination that is not to be turned aside, and pressing on with an ardour never to be wearied, let us manifest the constraints of love to Jesus. May the divine loadstone draw us heavenward towards itself.

Morning and Evening---

Love should give wings to the feet of service, and strength to the arms of labour. I really like that. Love. My mother studied the love chapter this last year and she shared some of the things that she learned. I can not help but think about that chapter now, especially the part about being longsuffering, patient, and humble. When we serve we do it with those characteristics.