There's Some Truth to That

A number of years ago, a friend of mine (who it was exactly, I cannot recall) gave me a daily calendar called "Friend to Friend" with a short prayer and a quote for each day of the year. I discovered that in a box of my "treasures" at some point last year and pulled it out to set on the windowsill above my kitchen sink. I enjoyed going through it during this past year and would look at it many times during the day. Sometimes the prayer of the day applied directly to my life; sometimes it didn't. Sometimes the quote of the day was corny, sometimes humorous, sometimes wise. But it was always a pleasure to flip the calendar to the new day and see what came next.

Here are a few of the quotes that stood out to me from that calendar:

~ Courage is fear that said its prayers.

~ You can knock the chip off the other person's shoulder simply by patting him on the back. I have seen this in action as I've learned about love languages, especially the words of affirmation love language. People with a chip on their shoulder can be disarmed by filling their love tank with words of affirmation.

~ A good neighbor doubles the value of a house. I can vouch for that since we have plenty of good neighbors around us who make it even more wonderful to live here!

~ Optimists are people who leave the dinner dishes because they will feel more like washing them in the morning. I try this sometimes, but the dishes don't look any more inviting to me in the morning than they did at night.

~ Some jobs have to be put off dozens of times before they completely slip your mind. Sigh...this one describes me, too.

~ A person's temper improves the more he doesn't use it.

~ God tucks mothers in at night. Awwwww... :)

~ The one time people never say, "It's just a game," is when they're winning. Watching my competitive boys has convinced me of this one!

~ Some believe that wrongs aren't wrong if they're done by nice people like ourselves. Ouch! This hits home because even this morning, I was thinking critical thoughts about some group of people (I really can't remember who, believe it or not). When I realized what I was doing, I knew that if anyone else had expressed such thoughts, I would have labeled them as prideful, close-minded, ignorant people. And that's exactly who I was--and am--more times than I'd like to admit.

~ Nothing widens a narrow driveway quite as much as looking at it with a snow shovel in your hand. Ah, the power of perspective! :)

~ A synonym is the word you use when you can't spell the other one. I'm guilty of that!

~ No one has been honored for what they received. They are honored for what they gave. True, so true.

And here is a recent gem of wisdom that I discovered for myself. Save one special decoration to bring out in January, so that the cold and gray days after Christmas are brightened a bit. For me this year, it's this stuffed snowman that I bought at a neighborhood yard sale in July. After I got him, I put him in a closet and occasionally peeked at him (one time even hugging and talking to him, convincing Jeff that I had surely lost my marbles), but resisted the urge to bring him out when decorating for Christmas. Now I'm so glad I waited and let him be a special January decoration; it makes me happy to see him on the bench inside our front door! :)