It's Lucky Number 37 Day!!!

Every day is several national and international holidays and
probably a few personal holidays too.
No wonder we're so busy!
I thought I should have a few personal holidays of my own.
Today is one of them; first anniversary this year.
I could have called it No Name day but that might be confusing in
relation to No Name's birthday on the third of July.
I could have called it "fall off a horse day" or "break your arm
day" but that probably would be frowned upon by parents and
medical people.
So it's "lucky number 37 day":
I live at number 37,
the medical center where my favourite physiotherapists are is at
number 37
and I was 37 when my favourite horse gave me a reason to visit
that medical center and meet those great people.
So in honour of heart-dwelling horses and people and interesting
links:
HAPPY LUCKY NUMBER THIRTY-SEVEN DAY EVERYONE!

Heartprints

Whatever our hands touch -
We leave fingerprints!
On walls, on furniture
On doorknobs, dishes, books.
There's no escape.
As we touch we leave our identity.
Oh God, wherever I go today
Help me leave heartprints!
Heartprints of compassion
Of understanding and love.
Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern.
May my heart touch a lonely neighbor
Or a runaway daughter
Or an anxious mother
Or perhaps an aged grandfather.
Lord, send me out today
To leave heartprints.
And if someone should say,
"I felt your touch,"
May that one sense YOUR LOVE
Touching through ME.
(Author unknown)

Mindful

"Great minds discuss ideas,
average minds discuss events,
small minds discuss people."
(Admiral Hyman Rickover)
Wow, so we actually have THREE minds!
Next time I feel I'm losing my mind I'll be wondering which one I'm losing
but I'll still have two minds left!

To M.

Your name will never sound the same again
Because now it is you; you gave it identity,
Added your warmth and love to it
And at its heart lies your beautiful sense of wonder
That touches our souls with the promise
Of countless possibilities, opportunities
To encounter the beauty that emerges
Or the joke that pops up
Out of (what appears to be) the daily grind
If only we receive,
Not bound by our own expectations
Which so easily lead to disappointment and criticism
But open and anticipating, letting it surprise us;
With our hearts and our senses wide open
So we won't miss a precious moment.
That sense of wonder radiates a life so contagious,
It makes our souls come alive
When we share in its joyful excitement.
So stay true to yourself;
Please don't ever lose yourself!
May nothing ever dim the light within you;
And if you find a weakness in yourself
Or someone points it out to you
Don't EVER allow anyone to convince you,
Least of all yourself,
That your weakness is more important than your strengths;
Your gift to this world is a rare and precious one.
May you find true comfort when you're sad
And a way out of any trouble.
I wish you love and happiness;
I hope and pray that your wondering soul
Will be well preserved forever.

The truth about lies

These are beautiful lyrics (based on what I found on sing365) by Evanescence from the songs "lies" and "lies (remix)".
THIS IS SO TRUE (and so hard to remember)!

Bound at every limb by my shackles of fear
Sealed with lies through so many tears
Lost from within and pursuing the end
I fight for the chance to be lied to again

You will never be strong enough
You will never be good enough
You were never conceived in love
You will not rise above

They'll never see
I'll never be
I struggle on and on to feed this hunger
Burning deep inside of me

But through my tears breaks a blinding light
Birthing a dawn to this endless night
Arms outstretched, awaiting me
An open embrace upon a bleeding tree

Rest in me and I'll comfort you
I have lived and I died for you
Abide in me and I vow to you
I will never forsake you

They'll never see
I'll never be
I struggle on and on to feed this hunger
Burning deep inside of me

Rest in me and I'll comfort you
I have lived yet died for you
Abide in me and I vow to you
I will never forsake you

They'll never see
I'll never be
I struggle on and on to feed this hunger
Burning deep inside of me

Bind my limbs with fear
Choke me with tears
I won't die for you

You've been here before
And come back for more
But not this time

You will never be strong enough
You will never be good enough
You were never conceived in love
You will not rise above

Somebody tell me what made us all believe you
I should have known all along it was all a lie
(Should have known it was all a lie)

Now I know the truth
I'm through fearing you
And I am free

You will never be strong enough
You will never be good enough
You were never conceived in love
You will not rise above

Somebody tell me what made us all believe you
I should have known all along it was all a lie
(Should have known it was all a lie)

Cute!

Last Saturday I was at a party. Among the dozens of guests were my almost eight-year-old nephew and a little girl of two-and-a-half. Let's call her Angie for the sake of privacy; her mother calls her princess sometimes. Because playing with a much younger child beats conversing with grown-ups my nephew entertained the little girl. He learnt what her name was and did call her Angie a few times but by the end of the evening, when he found her again for some game, we heard him say: "come, princess!"
Children can be so cute!

The magpie and the mysterious burning balloon

Sometimes it takes a good friend to help me understand what's
really going on in my life. Thanks Mark!

A little over a week ago three strange things happened.
First, on Thursday evening we were out in the garden enjoying the nice weather when suddenly the serene Summer evening was disrupted by lots of sirens: fire trucks, a police car and an ambulance. The sirens went on and on and on and it sounded like the fire trucks were driving around in circles. We thought some factory producing chemicals had exploded or something but Friday's newspaper revealed that all those firemen and policemen were in search of a burning balloon that was reported to have crashed. It wasn't the balloonist who had made an emergency call but rather someone living in the area who thought they'd seen a burning balloon pass by and suddenly disappear. We'd seen two balloons shortly before but they weren't burning. After searching for about 1.5 hours the firemen and policemen gave up. No balloon was found or officially reported missing, nobody knows what really happened.

Then on Saturday as mum was writing a birthday card, back door open to let the Summer breeze freshen up the house, she heard the flapping of wings. Thinking it was a bird that just landed on the wall between our neighbour's garden and ours she looked up and saw a magpie in our kitchen on the counter! We're not interested in such pets so she chased it off.

On Sunday I was talking on Skype when mum came into the room to warn me that two teenage guys were standing in front of our house, looking up at my room (or the neighbour's) and typing something into their mobile phones. She asked if it was possible for them to hack into my phone or my computer. She made very sure the guys knew she was watching them and after a while they disappeared.

To me those were three separate, remarkable events but Mark made me see how they were connected: the magpie knew where the burning balloon had ended up and came to tell us so we could sell the story and photographs and be famous and rich but, as many animals these days, it was fitted with a transmitter and those two guys, being on a treasure hunt, knowing the magpie had entered our house and thinking it was still there, in the attic somewhere, were trying to pick up the transmitter's signal on their mobile phones.
I would never have thought of that!

Keep love alive

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.
(Matthew 24:12-13)

Good thing to remember (for me too!): the harder it is to love the more the world needs it.

Number fun

There's a logic to this apparently but most of all it's fun.
I never realised this until someone pointed it out recently.
Let's say you were born in 1970. Your mother was born in 1945 and your father in 1940.
When you are 40, your dad will be 70
and when you are 45 your mother will be 70.
This works for all years of birth within a century, ,01 through ,99.
Once you cross the ,00 border the age of the older person is the year of birth of the younger person (last two digits) plus 100.
Example: you were born in 1975 and your child was born in 2002.
When your child is 75 you will be 102.
Funny, isn't it?

Watch your thoughts

Watch your thoughts
For they become words.
Watch your words
For they become actions.
Watch your actions
For they become habits.
Watch your habits
For they become character.
Watch your character
For it becomes your destiny.
(Author unknown - if you know who the author is, please let me know)

On Wisdomology, Heatherhedyjon wrote in response to this:
"I need to remember to watch myself more than I watch others."
So do I.