"We making a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give"

Apparently someone called Norman MacEwan said those words!

Picked up a book in Oxfam recently. You know when you hesitate over a book and put it back on the shelf, then reach for it again, flick through a few more pages...return it to the shelf...wander off..but you can't quite put it out of your mind? This was the scenario and I knew it was a book I needed to learn from, so I listened to the inner voice amd paid the £2.49 knowing that it was an investment in understanding a subject that held important challenges right across every area of life. The title?

"The Power of Generosity" by Dave Toycen (President and CEO of World Vision, Canada)

Such Chapter headings as:

Generosity: What is it?
Who are the Generous?
The Power of Generosity to overcome obstacles
  "          "           "     stimulate Personal Growth
  "            "         "  Does it make a Difference?
"          "            "       on the Road to Justice
"           "         "    to make Peace
"            "            "    What Lies Behind?
"              "         "    : Money
Failure:    A Personal Testimony
The Power of Generosity: How to get it
"              "        "   in a World of Change

Challenging and timely stuff indeed! I've just finished the Peace chapter and the poem below is quoted from there. Just thought to start the day with it!

"He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In !

From the poem " Outwitted"
— Edwin Markham

Ring Out, Wild Bells

 

 

 

 

 Ring Out, Wild Bells

 

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light;

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,

For those that here we see no more,

Ring out the feud of rich and poor,

Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,

And ancient forms of party strife;

Ring in the nobler modes of life,

With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,

The faithless coldness of the times;

Ring out, ring out thy mournful rhymes,

But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,

The civic slander and the spite;

Ring in the love of truth and right,

Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease,

Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;

Ring out the thousand wars of old,

Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,

The larger heart, the kindlier hand;

Ring out the darkness of the land,

Ring in the Christ that is to be.

 

 Alfred Lord Tennyson

Two minutes silence

On Radio 2 this morning, General Sir Richard Dannatt read part of a poem by Major Malcolm (Sammy) Boyle, from the 7th Green Howards who went to Normandy in June 1944 for the D-Day landings.

Life and Eternity

If I should never see the moon again
Rising, red gold across the harvest field,
Or feel the stinging of soft April rain,
As the brown earth, her hidden treasures yield.

If I should never taste the salt sea spray
As the ship beats her course against the breeze,
Or smell the dog rose and the new mown hay,
Or moss and primrose beneath the trees.

If I should never hear the thrushes wake
Long before sunrise in the glimmering down;
Or watch the huge Atlantic rollers break
Against the rugged cliffs in battling scorn.

If I have said goodbye to stream and wood
To the wide ocean and the green clad hill,
I know that he who made this world so good
Has somewhere made a heaven better still.

This bear I witness with my latest breath
Knowing the love of God, I fear not death.

Major Boyle never returned from Normandy. He was killed in action on 16th June 1944.


Nothing to add.....

Words....sacred or secular...

RAOUL
No more talk
of darkness,
Forget these
wide-eyed fears.
I'm here,
nothing can harm you -
my words will
warm and calm you.

Let me be
your freedom,
let daylight
dry -your tears.
I'm here,
with you, beside you,
to guard you
and to guide you . . .

CHRISTINE
Say you love me
every
waking moment,
turn my head
with talk of summertime . . .

Say you need me
with you,
now and always . . .
promise me that all
you say is true -
that's all I ask
of you . . .

RAOUL
Let me be
your shelter,
let me
be your light.
You're safe:
No-one will find you
your fears are
far behind you . . .

CHRISTINE
All I want
is freedom,
a world with
no more night . . .
and you
always beside me
to hold me
and to hide me . . .

RAOUL
Then say you'll share with
me one
love, one lifetime . . .
Iet me lead you
from your solitude . . .

Say you need me
with you
here, beside you . . .
anywhere you go,
let me go too -
Christine,
that's all I ask
of you . . .

CHRISTINE
Say you'll share with
me one
love, one lifetime . . .
say the word
and I will follow you . . .

BOTH
Share each day with
me, each
night, each morning . . .

CHRISTINE
Say you love me . . .

RAOUL
You know I do . . .

BOTH
Love me -
that's all I ask
of you . .

Anywhere you go
let me go too . . .
Love me -
that's all I ask
of you . .

A poem and a ponder

A New Perspective

The little cares that fretted me, I lost them yesterday

Among the fields above the sea,

Among the winds at play,

Among the lowing of the herds,

The rustling of the trees.

Among the singing of the birds,

The humming of the bees.

The foolish fears of what may happen,

I cast them all away

Among the clover-scented grass,

Among the husking of the corn

Where drowsy poppies nod,

Where ill thoughts die and good are born,

Out in the fields with God.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning

"For Christians, the beginning of the day should not be burdened and haunted by various kinds of concerns that they face during the day. The Lord stands above the new day, for God has made it. All restlessness, all impurity, all worry and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, in the early morning hours of the day, may our many thoughts and our many idle words be silent and may the first word and the first thought belong to the one to whom our whole life belongs "

~Dietrich Bonhoeffer

A pome what I liked!

Last Night I Dreamed of Chickens

Last night I dreamed of chickens,
there were chickens everywhere,
they were standing on my stomach,
they were nesting in my hair,
they were pecking at my pillow,
they were hopping on my head,
they were ruffling up their feathers
as they raced about my bed.

They were on the chairs and tables,
they were on the chandeliers,
they were roosting in the corners,
they were clucking in my ears,
there were chickens, chickens, chickens
for as far as I could see...
when I woke today, I noticed
there were eggs on top of me.

Jack Prelutsky

http://www.poemhunter.com/

Slowing Down

W. H. Davies Leisure WHAT is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare?— No time to stand beneath the boughs, And stare as long as sheep and cows: No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass: No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night: No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance: No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began? A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. It is so easy to rush through the day and miss the beauty of a tree coming into bud, a tulip about to open, a ladybird on a leaf. Each season brings a beauty of its own and I can so easily allow these moments to pass me by with a mere cursory glance. This Spring I am going to open my eyes to see and wonder and linger, sometimes I will switch to macro and marvel.... Tomorrow I am going for a morning walk with friends, camera in hand, I hope to bring you a flavour in pictures!