Windows Extra
The "Write" Decision
Author Unknown
A story tells of two friends who were walking through the desert. At one point they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand: "Today my best friend slapped me in the face." They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone, "Today my best friend saved my life."
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend said, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now, you write on a stone, why?"
The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away, but when someone does something good to us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."
Learn to write your hurts in the sand and to carve your blessings in stone.
I Wish You Enough
Author Unknown
Recently, I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. The airline had announced her departure and, standing near the security gate, they hugged and he said, "I love you. I wish you enough." She, in turn, said, "Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad."
They kissed and she left. He walked over toward the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see he wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on his privacy, but he welcomed me in by asking, "Did you ever say good-bye to someone, knowing it would be forever?"
"Yes, I have," I replied. "Forgive me for asking, but is this a forever good-bye?"
"I am old and she lives much too far away. I have challenges ahead, and the reality is, her next trip back will be for my funeral," he said.
"When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I wish you enough.' May I ask what that means?" He began to smile."
"That's a wish that has been handed down for many generations in my family. My parents used to say it to everyone." He paused for a moment, looking up as if trying to remember it in detail. He smiled even more.
"When we said, 'I wish you enough,' we were wanting the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them," he continued and then, turning toward me, he shared the following:
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright.
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive.
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger.
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
I wish you enough "hellos" to get you through the final "good-byes."
Two New Lasting Treasures Videos!
Our Lasting Treasures series is growing with the addition of two more speakers to our library. Carole Mayhall and Buzzie Gray have both graciously shared from the Word and their lives to bring us two new messages that you will want to hear!
Carole's message is titled, How to Walk in Joy and Buzzie's is, A Life Pleasing to God.
We have past titles including:
- Ruth Myers: Lord Be To Me What You Are
- Helene Ashker: Contentment in a Discontented World
- Virginia Eims: God's Purposes in Tests, Trials, and Sufferings
- Jean Fleming: Quiet Time
- Jean Boardman: Pleasing the Father
- Jeanie McGilchrist: Surviving the Storms
- Georgia Drake: Life Issues: Parenting