"Thoughtful" Thoughts

Nine years ago my friend, Paula, gave me a journal for my birthday. I'd never kept a journal or diary (except as a young girl). After some thought I decided to turn it into my "Thoughtful Book", a book I'd fill with quotes and words I read that I enjoy and identified with. I'm now on my 8th "Thoughtful Book."

I thought I'd share some of my first entries as I began this new adventure . . .

Of course, at the very beginning of the book I had to put my candy to start things off right and a word from the Nestle Chocolatier: "Can't be alone with chocolate."

And a word from God to encourage my heart: "Thy God can do much more than thou canst ask."

A word on serenity . . . "The best things in life move slowly. They can hardly overtake one who is in a hurry. We are making haste to ill purpose if we haven't time to read good books, to think quietly, to visit our friends, to comfort the sick and sorrowing, to enjoy the beautiful creation of God, and to lend a hand to a struggling brother. Time is precious, but more precious than fleeting hours are truth, love, benevolence, friendship, service, a serene mind and a happy heart, for these are the essence of life itself." Gilbert Hay

A funny bit of advice . . . "If some bit of gossip come, file the thing away. If a scandalous, spicy crumb, file the thing away. If suspicion comes to you that your neighbor is not true, let me tell you what to do--file the thing away. Do this for a little while. Then go out and burn the file." Streams in the Desert 2 , Mrs. Charles Cowman

The thought of a gentleman . . . "How wonderful, at evening, to be able to say, 'What a day! Lord, What a day! Because I could pray!'" P. J. Wolz

A word from Thomas Kincade about "living in the light of the lovely." . . . "Simply put, beauty is found in anything that delights the senses, nourishes the soul, fires the imagination."

A word from Dorothy Kelley Patterson from her book "Beatitudes for Women." "Scripture makes it clear that every person has a reason for his or her existence . . . If contentment is the ultimate goal, you should negotiate with the cows to take over their pastures. Their contentment with grazing in a grassy meadow seems to overshawdow the satisfaction of most beings with their life situations."

A word for the perfectionist . . . "A healthy perspective on household chores includes determining your maximum acceptable dirt level." Unknown

A word from Eeyore . . . "A little consideration, a little thought for others, makes all the difference."

For the writer . . . "I have only made this [letter] longer because I have not had the time to make it shorter." Blaise Pascal

A word of thought from George MacDonald: "Few are needed to do the out-of-the-way tasks which startle the world, and one may be most useful just doing common place duties, and leaving the issue with God. And when it is all over, and our feet will run no more, and our hands are helpless, and we have scarcely strength to murmur a last prayer, then we shall see that, instead of needing a larger field, we have left untilled many corners of our single acre, and that none of it is fit for our Master's eye were it not for the softening shadow of the cross."

And to close this post my opinion of snow as said by Dennis the Menace, " ... and when you decided to make snow ... that was a REALLY COOL idea!