In last week's column, it was mentioned that January 21st is National Hugging Day. I also read about Thank You Day being in January. And the last week in January has long been known as International Forgiveness Week. The other morning I was listening on the radio, and heard it say that a noted doctor stated that, "70% of the people would be released from hospitals in 24, hours, if they knew they were forgiven." A French philosopher once said that, "To know all is to forgive all." Among my heroes of faith are many missionary friends whose forgiving heart has taken them to their former captors. That is the story of St. Patrick who went back to Ireland as a Christian missionary to take the love of Christ. A well known missionary and author of many books, worked among the people who killed her husband, and other missionaries. There are many heroes of faith, who live a life of daily forgiveness. Forgiveness is the mark of maturity. Life is too short to hold a grudge. Harry E. Fosdick once said, "Hating people is like burning down your home to get rid of a rat." The inability to forgive and forget, is what makes one sick. As we have many warm thoughts on forgiveness during International Forgiveness Week, may we remember, there is a little remedy to ease the life we live and make each day, a happier one - it is the word, forgive.
Episode 79: Warm Thoughts by the Fireside →
The home fires may be burning in your home, as we together listen on the radio and watch TV, about the travel challenges many are facing throughout the country. Upon my return from travel to Seattle during the holiday season I was welcomed with 20 degree below zero weather. However, my heart was warmed as I listened to the phone messages and read the many cards, letters and precious thoughts, which I received. You all really made my day! Among the thoughts sent to me was a letter from my friend Dr. Green in Vermillion, South Dakota. She included thoughts from an unknown author, which I feel are so warm and precious - indeed to be shared with you, dear readers of this warm thoughts column.
Episode 69: International Day of Peace →
Remembering 911. America, a day in September, we cannot forget. The month of September will always bring thoughts about 911. On that day, each year, we commemorate the courage so many individuals exhibited when in unimaginable horror, we watched the collapse of the World Trade Center, a burning Pentagon and a smoke filled black hole in the Pennsylvania field. It was on that dreadful day 10 years ago that I was inspired to write these thoughts.
Episode 65: Intentional Counting →
Some time ago, a dear friend and great grandma who has faced many emotional challenges in her life, shared some thoughts about counting. This dear friend regularly reads this Warm Thoughts column and wanted to share the thoughts of an unknown author, with all you, dear readers out there, somewhere. We live in an age where we have many choices and changes.
Some time ago, I heard someone state that, "Pain is inevitable, but misery and being miserable is a choice." In the school of learning and hard knocks, the following thoughts may warm our hearts, and perhaps motivate us in our own countdown.
Episode 61: Adventures in Attitudes →
Many years ago I attended a seminar on Adventures in Attitudes, which at that time, made me very aware of the dynamics of positive and negative attitudes and their results.
A positive attitude, can be your choice and mine.To change your attitude is to change your life.
Dr Viktor Frankle writes, "The last of the human freedoms, is to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances." James Allen, long ago wrote the wonderful little book titled, "As a Man Thinketh," where he compared the mind to a garden, pointing out that the garden will always bring forth what is planted there. "If no useful seeds are put into it," he wrote, "then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind. So may a man tend to the garden of his mind weeding out all the wrong, useless, and impure thoughts and cultivating toward perfection, the flowers and fruits of right, useful, and pure thoughts. By pursuing this process, a man sooner or later discovers that he is the master gardener of his soul, the director of his life. He also reveals within himself. The laws of thoughts, how the thought forces, and mind elements operate in the shaping of his character,
circumstances, and destiny."
Episode 52: Reflection in the Mountains →
It is springtime, and the Rockies. After the wintry April of South Dakota, it was a spring retreat for me to fly to the mountains of Colorado. It is always a joy to go see family in Colorado and celebrate special family events. Going to the mountains provides special moments for reflection and meditation. It was many years ago that I reflected on Psalm, 121, a favorite psalm for many and at that time, I penned these lines, which I will share with you.