Jack’s Winning Words 2/26/14
“The lotus flower blooms most beautifully from the deepest and thickest mud.”  (Buddhist Proverb)  I read this proverb in a book written by someone who experienced the tragic death of a loved one.  Nature says that there are ways in which the bad can create the good.  We are constantly looking for help to understand what is beyond our understanding.  Maybe the lotus flower is God’s way of giving us some help.    ;-)  Jack

 FROM ED DOC PAUL:  Have you been watching COSMOS?====JACK:  Do you mean the magazine, Cosmo?  Or the Carl Sagan TV program?  I've missed both.  What connection did you see?====PAUL:  There is a new COSMOS like the one of Carl Sagan.  Neil deGrasse Tyson is the expert-narrator.  It’s something to watch each week!  I love it!====JACK:  I'll have to check it out.

 FROM TARMART REV:  Learning from the lotus flower . . . blooming from where I am planted . . . as you have and do in West BLOOMFIELD!"====JACK:  Most of us "plants" have been transplanted.  I have lived in 4 states, but I have enjoyed each in its own way.

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  Manure makes for a blessed fertilizer doesn't it?====JACK:  "Manure" happens!  In retrospect, it can be for the good.

 FROM IKE AT THE MIC:  Maybe we should change the saying from "Let us pray" to "Lotus pray"..mmm ====JACK:  When praying your prayers, perhaps you should use yoga's "lotus position."

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  "LIVE IN EACH SEASON AS IT PASSES; BREATHE THE AIR, DRINK THE DRINK, TASTE THE FRUIT, AND ALIGN YOURSELF TO THE INFLUENCE OF THE EARTH" (Henry David Thoreau) Live in the NOW,, and make the most of it; We who profess a faith, should remind ourselves daily that He IS IN CHARGE, including our destiny in Eternity...Amen? ====JACK:  Destiny....How much is His will, and how much is Our will?

 FROM HAWKEYE GEORGE:  Romans 8:28 has been such a support in trying times for me.   " And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."====JACK:  Often, in difficult circumstances, I find myself saying, "It'll work out."  And, in time, it seems to happen.  Romans 8:28 is a good verse.

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  He also gave us mud!  He knew we would need the mud to get the flower. ====JACK:  I'm waiting to see the "flower" that will come out of the mud in Washington. 

 FROM JK IN CALIFORNIA:  Thanks for this******====JACK:  God has a way of leaving "Post-It" notes for us.