Don't Quit

When things go wrong
As they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging
Seems all uphill,
When the funds are low,
And the debts are high,
And you want to smile'
But you have to sigh;
When care is pressing you down a bit...
Rest if you must - but don't you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit...
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.
Author Unknown

Bless this house

Serenity prayer

Together

Lord, help me to remember
that nothing can happen to me this day
that you and I can't handle together.

Jewish Proverb (Mother)

God could not be everywhere, so he made mothers.
Jewish Proverb

Children 2 (Nolte)

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.
Dorothy Law Nolte

A Smile

A smile costs nothing, but gives much. It enriches those who receive, without making poorer those who give. It takes but a moment, but the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None is so rich or mighty that he can get along without it and none is so poor but that he can be made rich by it. A smile creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in business and is the countersign of friendship. It brings rest to the weary, cheer to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and it is nature’s best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something that is of no value to anyone until it is given away. Some people are too tired to give you a smile. Give them one of yours, as none needs a smile so much as he who has none to give. - Authorship under dispute

Today

There is nothing I can give you which you have not. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take.
No Heaven can come to us unless our hearts find rest in today - take Heaven!
No peace lies in the future, which is not hidden in this present instant - take peace!
The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within reach, is joy.
There is a radiance and glory in the darkness, could we but see; and to see we only have to look - I beseech you to look.
Life is so generous a giver, but we, judging its gifts by their covering, cast them away as ugly or heavy or hard.
Remove the covering and you will find beneath it a living splendour, woven of love by wisdom with power. Welcome it, grasp it, and you touch the angel's hand that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial, a sorrow or a duty, believe me, that angel's hand is there, the gift is there and the wonder of an overshadowing presence. Our joy is too.
Be not content with them as joys, for they conceal diviner gifts.
Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty, that beneath its covering you will find earth but cloaks your heaven.
Courage then to seize it...that is all! But, then, you have courage...and the knowledge that we are pilgrims together, wending our way through unknown country...Home!
And so, at this time I greet you, not quite as the world sends greetings, but with profound esteem; and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day breaks and the shadows flee away.
--------------------------------- Fra Giovanni

Children 1

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of to-morrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.
--------------------------------- Kahlil Gibran

Steps

You can’t be all things to all people.
You can’t do all things at once.
You can’t do all things equally well.
You can’t do all things better than everyone else.
Your humanity is showing just like everyone else’s.
So:
You have to find out who you are, and be that.
You have to decide what comes first, and do that.
You have to discover your strengths, and use them.
You have to learn not to compete with others,
Because no one else is in the contest of *being you*.
Then:
You will have learned to accept your own uniqueness.
You will have learned to set priorities and make decisions.
You will have learned to live with your limitations.
You will have learned to give yourself the respect that is due.
And you’ll be a most vital mortal.
Dare To Believe:
That you are a wonderful, unique person.
That you are a once-in-all-history event.
That it’s more than a right, it’s your duty, to be who you are.
That life is not a problem to solve, but a gift to cherish.
And you’ll be able to stay one up on what used to get you down.

Calendar

There are two days in the week about which and upon which I never worry. Two carefree days, kept sacredly free from fear and apprehension. One of these days is Yesterday...and the other day I do not worry about is Tomorrow.
Robert Jones Burdette

Homemaker

Friend 3

When we honestly ask ourselves which persons in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares. — Henri Nouwen

Child's Prayer

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray, dear Lord, my soul to keep.
May angels guard me through the night
And keep me safe till morning light.
Bless my home and all those in it,
Each and every single minute,
And when I wake again, I pray,
Dear Lord stay with me through the day.
Help me to grow kind and strong,
Watch over me the whole day long-
And when it’s time to sleep again,
Please tuck me in with love. Amen.

Mother 8

The loveliest masterpiece of the heart of God is the heart of a mother.

Therese of Lisieux