Are you playing?

Lost! Somewhere between

sunrise and sunset,

twenty four golden hours,

each set with

sixty diamond minutes.

No reward is offered,

for they are gone forever.

— HORACE MANN

I think this quote is not only meant for getting things done. It can also mean to enjoy your Life... make time to play, laugh, relax and have fun.

Another sweet image, this one by Frances Brundage. Date on the bottom front, 1912, but postmarked on the back, 1913. This will be my last New Year's postcard...on to Valentine's Day.




I wasn't going to do a long post today, but when Life calls, do we listen? Something I am trying to learn and practice. First, I hope everyone is reflecting a bit on Martin Luther King's Day and how it affects us all, not just in terms of equal rights and race, but in our own personal journeys of growth and fulfillment. I think this is the same with Barack Obama becoming our 44th president tomorrow. His call to service (very much like John Kennedy's) reflects a message of hope and truth. We can only be truly happy and successful when we are helping others, and in the process we help ourselves. It is a very fine line, yet really not a line at all, as we are all interconnected with each other, whether we want to believe it or not. As John Donne's quote includes "no man is an island", we are all in this together, for the purpose of fulfilling Life. What does that mean? I think it means that everything we do, our thoughts included, make up all of what is our life on this beautiful planet. (Someone once said that all of the thoughts that you have ever thought are here still, surrounding us. Yikes! That is probably not a good thing most of the time.) This is why the little things matter the most. Being attentive and courteous while you are driving.(no cell phones, use your blinker, no tail-gating, check your blindspot) Patience while you are standing in line.(make sure you have eaten and used the bathroom before errands) Calm when someone seems to get a rise out of you. (Breathe and bless this person because who knows what they are experiencing) and for you parents out there (I know, I have no children, but I do have eyes and a brain) what are you really teaching your children about Life when you, yourself, are frazzled, stressed, depleted? I will tell you, you are continuing the cycle of distress by example. What do you truly want to give your children? That next new toy or designer shoes or a sense of accomplishment, a love of helping others and the ability to keep themselves centered and relaxed during good or challenging times? Let us know that the sun, literally, will shine again (for those of you back East), the economy will be just fine (cycles of life) and that we can all contribute to the health, peace and joy of our planet just by being our true self (no ego and no worries of the future), the you that you are meant to be. (And deep down, each one of us really knows what that is.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"EACH ONE HELPS THE OTHER, SAYING TO ONE ANOTHER, "TAKE COURAGE"!"
--- Isaiah 41:6
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Today I planned to just post the below photos and instead ended up a bit preachy! (which is, I guess, what blogging is all about sometimes! :o) Anyway, I took these pictures yesterday morning as these 2 little goofballs were playing and carrying on. They are siblings, but I have no idea if they are male or female. They were sure having fun and as you can tell by the end, they both just sit there like, "now what do we do?"

Time to switch places, mid-playing.

NOW WHAT?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HAVE A DAY FILLED WITH PLAYFUL PATIENCE!