Give Yourself a Christmas Gift

If you have a memory of days gone by, then you can give yourself some pretty great Christmas gifts. 

Simply go back in time to a happy moment in your life and relive it for a few moments.

~Do you remember your first bicycle?  The color?  How tall did it seem to you?

~Remember the year your got your longed-for sweater?  What color was it?

~Did you receive a not-ask-for gift that turned out to be a childhood favorite?  Mine was a hockey game with moveable men.  I played that game so much.

~Was your home full of relatives, siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles?  I remember the year all 28 of us got to be home at the same time for Christmas eve and Christmas day.  What a nice memory.

~What was one of your favorite dishes on your Christmas table?

~Were you a pie person or a cake person?

~Do you have a favorite song of the season?

Thank God for the gift of memory of times gone by.  What a nice treasure that is.

The 'Almost a Minute" Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time

To Help Man Endure

William Faulkner said this when accepting his Nobel Prize:

"It is the writer's privilege to

help man endure by lifting

his heart."

To all who write – we hold a powerful tool in our hands – that of enlightening, empowering, and encouraging mankind.

What a noble cause indeed.

My branch of this enterprise is to offer hope and encouragement one word at a time.  I validate people.

Others do other aspects of helping mankind endure.

Are you one of us?  What is your branch?

The 'Almost a Minute' Blog Site

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time

Ultimately Good

 Do you know what results from effort, tenacity and smart practice?  You get good in the long run.

I don’t know of any human babies who walk on the day they are born, but they ultimately become good walkers.

I’ve worked with a lot of student musicians.  I remember an 8-year-old girl named Cheryl who made some kind of mistake or blunder every time she performed a solo.  I was encouraged to quit using her. 

I continued, knowing the seed of persistence that might be growing inside of her.  And it took root.  In her adult life she has become a stellar musician, formed her own musical group and is a success.  I had to look past her blunders in her youth and think of her successes yet to come.  She had the potential to become ultimately good.  And so she has become.

People who are good in the long run fail a lot in the beginning.  That is a part of the deal.  We pay the price for a chance to be good in the long run.

We learn as we go and some fine day, perhaps, we are ultimately good.

That’s not a bad trade-off. 

Up-Words

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time

A Bad Day - Not a Bad Life

This is the shortest blog in the history of the world.  

 So what if we occasionally have a bad day?  We bounce back.  We realize that tomorrow is another day and we forget the bad one and march into the new one. 

Here’s the main point.  

That is all. 

Up-Words

Offering Hope

Encouragement

Inspiration

One Word at a Time