Winning Words 4/11/13
“In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”  (Leo Tolstoy)  Tolstoy did other things besides write, “War and Peace.”  This Russian author also was an influence for Gandhi and for MLK Jr.  In later years he became an ascetic, giving up family wealth, seeking to find God in austerity.  Today’s quote suggests that we can see God in the common things that we often take for granted, such as…    ;-)  Jack

 FROM WALMART REV:  ...in the simplicity of a small child's trust and love for a parent.////JACK:  It's a comparison with the child/parent relationship that we have with God...so simple and so profound.

 FROM HY YO SILVER:  Isn't that the motto of our State (well, kind of)?!  This rings true on several notes, Jack.  Mainly, it is about the need to pause from the incessant grind of work and to appreciate foundational priorities like family and faith.////JACK:  Do you remember the words..."The pause that refreshes?"  And do you remember the product connected with it?  BTW, Michigan's state motto is, "Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam, circumspice."

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  ...the quiet of the desert, the majesty of the mountains, the breeze against our skin, the songs of the birds, the recognition of our breath, the sounds of play, of laughter, and of love, the taste of ice cream, the smell of coffee, the eyes of a loved one, a smile, a kind word, and all the blessings of another day....and then again, tomorrow.... ////JACK:  Sit back with that coffee and say....AHHHHHHHH!  Life is good!

 FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Such as the rays of morning sun streaming through the pines trees...or the robin with its beak full of straw and string preparing to nest in the apple tree.////JACK:  Isn't it interesting that each bird species can build its home with only the plans in their head, using free materials and with no contractors or inspectors to deal with?////RI:  Yes, it's rather incredible that when the time is right, a bird proceeds to build a nest, which must be inherently instinctive, because that bird was unable to learn by watching its parent build the nest from which it was hatched.////JACK:  Last Sunday, in my sermon, I asked, "What miracles have you seen?"  You saw a robin getting ready to build a nest.
////RI:  It's just so amazing to watch...the bird brings its dry grass, and string, and twigs, and deposits them in the crotch of two or three tree branches, then selectively puts each piece in place, intertwining and arranging them carefully so they become a tight unit.  I've examined some abandoned nests too, and they have mud plastered among the twigs to bond them and shape a nice smooth bowl bottom which gets lined with some feathers to create a soft warm receptacle for the eggs.  God's creations are so totally beyond man's imagination.///JACK:  And people used to be mocked by calling them, "bird brain."

 FROM CL IN MICHIGAN:  My life partner, my children and grand kids.  A beautiful sunrise or sunset a blue summer sky with a few billowing clouds here and there.  God is truly everywhere, constantly with us.  AMEN////JACK:  I like the hymn, "Earth and All Stars," especially these stanzas...
Earth and all stars,
loud rushing planets,
sing to the Lord a new song!
O victory, loud shouting army,
sing to the Lord a new song!
He has done marvelous things.
I, too, will praise him
with a new song!

Hail, wind, and rain,
loud blowing snowstorms,
sing to the Lord a new song!
Flowers and trees,
loud rustling leaves,
sing to the Lord a new song!
He has done marvelous things.
I, too, will praise him
with a new song!

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Wonderful words to live by everyday.  It's such a blessing to be able to get up, walk to my window and look at the beautiful world outside.  This is not a perfect world but it is an awesomely beautiful world if you do take the time to open your eyes and really look!  God has blessed us with beauty all around.  Just look!////JACK:  Even the rain is beautiful..."April showers bring May flowers."

 FROM FACEBOOK LIZ:  like.////JACK:  There are many things to like in this quote and in the responses received.

 ///JUDY:  Yes, it is beautiful but we are getting too much.  Our creek is a river.   It has overflowed the banks and drowned all the Red Winged-Blackbird babies.  We are in no danger of floods because we are 20 feet up on the hill.  But it's hard to see the parent birds flying back and forth.  There are hundreds of parents.  All is silent now...they no longer call back and forth...just sit on the reeds.  They will nest again though.  They have three broods.////JACK:  Have you read the poem, "The Field Mouse" by Gillian Clarke?

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  TOLSTOY WAS A COMPLICATED PERSON...A COUNT, A WRITER, HUSBAND, FATHER OF 14, AND IN LATER YEARS AN AESTHETIC AND MORALIST, ETC. ETC.  NO WONDER HE AND WIFE SOFYA HAD SOME TURBULANT YEARS! GOOD QUOTE FROM HIM FOR TODAY. HE TRIED TO MAKE HIS LIFE COUNT!  INTERNATIONALLY ADMIRED.... STILL.  I'VE READ HIS NOVELS, AND SOME SHORT STORIES.  HE  HAD KEEN INSIGHTS!////JACK:  Tolstoy...a complicated person?  Aren't we all?  War and Peace?  I'm into O. Henry.

 FROM KF IN MICHIGAN:  Such as all the things that are blooming today, in spite of the fact that we have had snow showers!  : )////JACK:  I like the blooming onion at The Outback.