Jack’s Winning Words 11/20/18
“Everybody needs beauty as well as bread.”  (John Muir)  I read of a travel company, Flowers and Bread, which promotes tours with beautiful scenery and good food.  At your Thanksgiving table, will there be room for flowers?  During Detroit’s economic distress, efforts were made to preserve the Art Institute and not sell off its artwork.  A hungry man, with little money, used it to buy a loaf of bread and a rose.  John Muir would admire him.  Would you?   ;-)  Jack

FROM RI IN BOSTON:  That man has my admiration.  He sensed the need to feed more than the body...he fed the soul.  We're regularly advised to "stop and smell the roses."  That man did more...he possessed a rose, which probably lasted longer than his loaf of bread.===JACK:  I'm reminded of the biblical story of anointing the feet of Jesus.  Now when Jesus was in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, “Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and given to the poor.”  But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.  In pouring this ointment on my body, she has done it bto prepare me for burial. Truly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.

FROM GDJ IN WISCONSIN:  Flowers are a miracle. Having them around the house does wonders for the spirit! Do you buy them?  Happy Thanksgiving dear friend. Please extend blessings to your family. We will kids, 4 grandkids, our new neighbors, their 3 kids and 4 dogs. Plus lots of flowers 👶👶🧑🧑🐈🐈🐈🐈🦃🌺🥀🌹🌻🌼🌷===JACK:  Thanksgiving this year in Michigan and Christmas in Minnesota.  Family is a great blessing...and so are friends.  God is great; God is good!  There are roses on my kitchen table right now...beautiful red ones.

FROM SHALOM JAN:  Absolutely!===JACK:  No wiggle room?===JAN:  I believe that each person has their own list of priorities and, if one of your priorities is beauty, that's what should guide your choices.  There is no "end of the story" there.  He could have bought the rose to present to someone whose love had been gracious to him, or who had prayed for him, or who was just someone he met "on the street" who needed a lift in spirits.  Or, he could have needed that lift in spirits himself, to keep those suicidal thought processes at bay.  There are a dozen possible reasons for choosing beauty over butter for his bread.===JACK:  Absolutely!

FROM QUILTING CAROL:  Yes, we get too caught up in ‘things’.===JACK:  R.L. Stevenson wrote, "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm sure we should all be as happy as kings."  There are things. and there are things.  Prioritize!

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:   Margaret bought two big bouquets yesterday for our Thanksgiving table. we will have 16 here on Thursday.    she will rearrange the flowers even more beautifully as she always does.===JACK:  I like the fall flowers...celosia, croton, dianthus and mums.===PAUL:  we also keep a huge bush of Hydrangea near our front door.  Margaret uses them in bouquets even in the dead of winter.===JACK:  It seems as though she's the flower lady and you're the bread guy!===PAUL: yes, i try to bring home the bread===JACK:  ...the bread-winner!

FROM GOOD DEBT JON:  How good is life when your beauty bakes your bread?===JACK:  What a great thought!  The smell of baking bread is an added blessing.  We used to have a bakery near our home when I was growing up.  At 5 pm the loaves would come out of the oven,and I would often be there to take home a "hot" loaf of unsliced bread to be served at suppertime.===JON:  Yes, some of the memories of days gone by absolutely bring a warm smile.===JACK:  Even young people can have memories.  On Thanksgiving Day, ask some of the youngsters for their favorite Thanksgiving memories.

FROM PATG:  Happy Thanksgiving.  I enjoy your winning words every day.  Always look forward to an inspiring thought to start me off.===JACK:  Sometimes when I send out Winning Words I think of thI shot an arrow into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,
It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.

FROM M&L:  Yes.  Good one, Jack.  Thanks.===JACK:  I had some misgivings as I sent this one...but what do I know?

FROM BLAZING OAKS:  Well most do, anyway! I  have made that decision in the past when money was very tight, but the blessings of a beautiful Azealia plant, or a bouquet of fresh flowers does lift the soul!  However, I do remember one time when Bill and I attended a candle-light Christmas service at the big downtown Presbyterian Church which was beautifully adorned with live poinsettia plants all around the sanctuary, on the steps, the rostrum, down the aisles,everywhere you
 looked, and I of course was enchanted, and bathed in the elegance and profusion of them, but  when I commented to Bill, he replied, "I was just thinking what all that money could have been used for, to help the poor, and for mission work. A few flowers would be nice, but I don't need hundreds to get me the Christmas Spirit!"  I agreed he had a point... To Each His Own, as the old pop song goes! Bill particularly loved the beauty of violin music! :-)===JACK:  I sometimes feel that I'm too careful in expressing opinions.  Maybe it's because of this quote that I came across many years ago.  "There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it ill behooves any of us to find fault with the rest of us."  (James Truslow Adams)  He's famous for another quote, too..."There are obviously two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live."
===OAKS:  The first one was a favorite of my mom; I thought it was from Robert (Robie) Burns!  I stand corrected!  One gets into hot water much more often from something said, than from something
unsaid! YOU are probably wise to be cautious. You're loved AND appreciated Just as you are!

FROM JB IN OLV:  Absolutely!

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  There will be bread but no flowers...Noah and Josh are allergic!  Besides there will be too much good food and candles to miss them.===JACK:  No allergies, but no turkey for two grandchildren who are vegan/vegetarian.

FROM COPPER COUNTRY PASTOR:  We are here at Antigo with Todd’s family for Thanksgiving.  Last evening we drove through Merrill on our way to Tomahawk where Eric was playing hockey.  But both going and coming I thought of you and Mary and the numerous experiences with the old Superior Conference events in which you and I were involved.    I’m thankful for you being a part of my life.   Thank you Lord for such friends and mentors!===JACK:  Thank you, too, for inviting us to be part of your family by asking us to be baptismal sponsors for one of your children.  An honor!