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Celebrating Small Things: The Sneeze that Scared the Geese

Action On the Lake (Photo credit: TexasEagle)

Recently while Bob and I were on our morning walk around the lake, I exploded with a sharp, high pitched sneeze. I immediately heard a splash and looked around to make sure a fisherman had not been startled and fallen in the lake. My next thought was, that must have been a big fish that made that much noise jumping. Finally I saw who had been scared by my sneeze. A goose standing in the water, wings spread and flapping.

I started laughing and said, “I sneezed and scared the geese.” Then Bob started laughing and we laughed the rest of the walk to the car. It has been said that I have a laugh that sounds like a flock of geese. Now I can also lay claim to a sneeze that scares them.

Don’t forget to drop by Scribblings of an Aspiring Author to see what other people are celebrating.

Don’t Let Them Scare You

English: Elmer Davis. Director of the Office o... — English: Elmer Davis. Director of the Office of War Information during World War II (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

“The first and great commandment is: Don’t let them scare you.” ~Elmer Davis

Thought for Today

“Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.” ~Mary Ferguson

Thought for Today

Taize prayers, Taize silence (Photo credit: What is in us)

“Humility of heart is the capacity just to be for the sake of God…One way of entering into this fundamental Christian attitude is to learn once again what it means just to be – to allow ourselves to rest before God with the being he gave us, with no other intention, effort, or purpose, except to surrender that being back to him. This is the orientation of contemplative prayer and the ultimate purpose of every genuine spiritual exercise.” ~ Thomas Keating, Heart of the World

Thought for Today

Breath Of An Angel- between fear and hope (Photo credit: Ðeni [back..sort of])

“There are four ways you can handle fear. You can go over it, under it, or around it. But if you are ever to put fear behind you, you must walk straight through it. Once you put fear behind you. Leave it there.” ~Donna Favors

Thought for Today

PhotonQ-Extincting (Photo credit: PhOtOnQuAnTiQuE)

“Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them… they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.” ~Orison Swett Marden

Labels are for Jars, Not People

RitLab - Pickling! — RitLab – Pickling! (Photo credit: Contemporary Jewish Museum)

My first job after college was working with people with developmental disabilities. One lesson I learned was the words we use to describe people do matter. Words have the power to hurt. But the good news is that words also have the power to heal and empower.

Working with people with different abilities led me to a strong dislike of labels. Labels were developed as communication tools and if we could see them as just that there wouldn’t be a problem. The problem is when strong (often negative) emotion becomes attached to labels. So we change the labels, but changing words does not change attitudes.

The damage from labels comes when we apply them to ourselves or others and believe them. When we believe anyone is “less than” other people due to any of the qualities that make us unique we are doing harm to ourselves and others.

When we change the words we also must change our thoughts, which change our beliefs, which in turn change our lives. Remember, labels are for jars, not people.

Celebrating the Small Things: Looking at Relocation Information

Bob and I have been looking at relocation packets received from Chambers of Commerce in towns we might want to move to sometime in the next year. Pouring through lots of information hoping to make better use of our time when we go to visit in the fall.

A small part of planning for something really big. We’ve been wanting to make this move for a long time. This is all good.

Thought for Today

“When we are not concerned about what others think of us or what we will get for what we do, the right words and actions will emerge from the center of our beings because the Spirit of God, who makes us children of God and sets us free, will speak and act through us.” — Henri Nouwen