"I Saw God Today"

"I Saw God Today" ~ It wasn't in the birth of a baby as my baby days are long over with ~ It was in the eyes of a daughter as she cared for her sick mother and in the heart of a sister as she gave special love and attention to her older sister who had just lost her husband and was ill herself.... It was in the eyes and heart of a nurse as she cleaned an elderly woman with such patience and understanding of the pain the woman was going through.....
"I Saw God Today" and I need to look and see Him more often always around......
Even if you are not a fan of country music, it is difficult not to love the words of this song......

I Saw God Today


Just walked down the street to the coffee shop
Had to take a break
I've been by her side for 18 hours straight
Saw a flower growing in the middle of a sidewalk
Pushing up through the concrete
Like it was planted right there for me to see
The flashing lights, the honking horns
All seemed to fade away
In the shadow of that hospital at 508
I saw God today.

Chorus:
I've been to church, I've read the book
I know he's here but I don't look
Near as often as I should (Yeah I know I should)
His fingerprints are everywhere
I just slowed down to stop and stare
Opened my eyes and man I swear
I saw God today.

Saw a couple walking by
They were holding hands
Man she had that glow
Yeah I couldn't help but notice she was starting to show
Stood there for a minute taking in the sky
Lost in that sunset
A splash of amber melted into shades of red.

Chorus:
I've been to church, I've read the book
I know he's here but I don't look
Near as often as I should (Yeah I know I should)
His fingerprints are everywhere
I just slowed down to stop and stare
Opened my eyes and man I swear
I saw God today.

Got my face pressed up against the nursery glass
She's sleeping like a rock
My name on her wrist wearing tiny pink socks
She's got my nose, she's got her mamas eyes
My brand new baby girl
She's a miracle
I saw God today...

PICTURE PERFECT FRIDAY ~ ILLUMINATION

      
      Another fun week from the   Picture Perfect Team!   Our host this week is Cherie   and the word she has chosen (well, with a little help from harleymick)   is:    ILLUMINATION (Definition: That which illuminates or gives light; brightness; splendor; especially, intellectual light or knowledge.)

If you are not a part of PPF

and would like to join in all the fun

just follow this link --------->PICTURE PERFECT

 

 

My picture was made on March 9, 2006

on a trip to Pawleys Island, SC to visit my sister.

We spent one day at Brookgreen Gardens,

which is between

Pawleys Island and Mytle Beach,

where I shot this little fellow with my

Kodak Z740 Digital Zoom Camera.

     

The Sun provides the illumination

for the world and it's creatures,

While God provides the illumination

of love in our heart and soul!

    

            

 

May everyone have a weekend

filled with Illumination.

Illumination of the day

and of the night

but mostly of the heart!!!

 

Wanted

 

 

 

 

Wishing everyone

a great week

Filled with friends,

laughter & love!!!

PICTURE PERFECT FRIDAY ~ GOBSMACKED

Paul McCartney's Standing Stone  ~ Movement II ~ He Awoke Startled

 

 

Another fun week from the   Picture Perfect Team!   Our host this week is JohnOh   and the word he has chosen is:    GOBSMACKED.

If you are not a part of PPF

and would like to join in all the fun

just follow this link --------->PICTURE PERFECT

 

 

As with each week our host has picked

a fun word.  Reading the details

of the news from which the word

was heard and chosen,

I was gobstrucked like

the woman being interviewed!

 

"Roughly $17,000.00 a day"

is a very good job if you can find it!!! 

 

Must confess though,

I have streched the rules.

(broken or disregarded are such ugly words)

  (but I did take the picture  ~ well, yes,

of a picture but Paul just wasn't

available for pictures this week! 

You understand, I am sure!)

 

The picture was taken with my Kodak Z740 Digital Camera and the cloud with his thoughts was added in Photobucket!

 

 

 

 

My first thought was the person most likely to be gobsmacked was Paul!!!

I mean, I'm thinking for $17,000.00 a day, he could have gotten himself a good maid, a great cook, a fine nanny, and called an escort service! He would have had money to spare and saved himself so much heartache!!!

....................................

 

 

Wishing everyone

a wonderful weekend!!!

If you're going to have any

gobsmacked moments,

may they all be pleasant ones!!!

 

 

* a note about the music (for those that are interested)...

In 1993 McCartney was commissioned by EMI Records to compose a major orchestral work to mark EMI's 100th anniversary in the autumn of 1997. Standing Stone premiered in October 1997 before a capacity audience in the Royal Albert Hall, London.  It was performed by some 300 members of the London Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony Chorus, conducted by Lawrence Foster. It was also recorded by the same forces at the famous Abbey Road Studios in London.

The music is full of celebration and victory. At one point we hear the sounds of a ceilidh. An orchestral jig precedes the final hymn of celebration.

McCartney wrote that he wanted everyone to leave feeling happy after a performance of Standing Stone, and feeling that they had understood most of what they had heard. So in conclusion he gives us a fine uplifting love theme, first in the orchestra, then with the choir singing unaccompanied, and then in a full version as a grand finale.

The final message of Standing Stone is that mankind's whole journey is about love. Love is the most natural thing in the world. Love is the oldest secret of the universe. Love is all we seek, and all you need is love.

At last || Eva Cassidy

What a voice!
What a song!

Perhaps Love

I think perhaps all these things are true!

Somewhere in Time

One of my very favorite movies if not my favorite!
Such beautiful music!!!

ALL THE JOY YOU NEED

   
Thank you, Cherie for the music brain storm  

"Joy is not in things; it is in us"

~ Richard Wagner

 

ALL THE JOY YOU NEED

Thomas Aquinas once said, "No one can live without joy." But many people try. And the reason is often simply because they don't know how to be happy! They are so intent on the three P's - power, prosperity and prestige - that they miss out on joy.

Try to imagine this picture. It is a photograph taken by Henri Cartier-Bresson, who pioneered modern photography as an art form during the early decades of the 20th Century. He became known for his photographs of apparent contradictions: pictures that left mysteries unexplained.

One of his famous photographs was shot in a poor section of Spain in the 1930s. The picture depicts a run-down alley surrounded by decaying walls, strewn with rubble randomly stacked in thick piles lying on the street, and riddled with bullet holes dotting gray walls. The setting alone evokes feelings of sadness and despair.

But then...the contradiction. Within the grim alley children are
playing. They wear dirty and tattered clothes, as one might expect in
such a setting, but like playing children everywhere, they laugh with
carefree joy. In the foreground, a tiny boy on crutches hobbles away
from two other boys, his face lit up with a broad grin. One boy is
laughing so hard he has to hold his side. Others lean on the cracked
walls, beaming with delight.

It is easy to spot the contrast - and the point. Joy amidst the rubble
of life. Laughter amongst life's ruins.

We cannot avoid pain, however hard we try. But we can avoid joy. We
cannot escape hardship and trouble, but we can miss out on
much of life's peace and laughter.

If you feel as if you could use more joy, try this:

* Spend time daily doing something you enjoy.
* Do those things that bring inner peace.
* Learn to laugh heartily and frequently.
* Cultivate an attitude of hope.
* Fill each day with as much love as it can possibly hold.

You'll still have plenty of problems, but through it all, you'll find
all you joy you will ever need.

 

~ from Your Life Support

 

              ~ Steve Goodier

 

Henri Cartier-Bresson (August 22, 1908 - August 3, 2004)

was a French photographer considered to be the father of modern photojournalism,

an early adopter of 35mm format, and the master of candid photography.

He helped develop the "street photography" style

that has influenced generations of photographers that followed.

 

 

 

... joy and sorrow are inseparable. . . together they come and when one sits alone with you . . . remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

~ Kahil Gibran

 

 

"I'm so happy for you!"

 

"One of the sanest, surest,

and most generous joys of life

comes from being happy

over the good fortune of others."

~ Robert A. Heinlein

 

Wishing each one of you

a week full

of joy and good fortune!

A Few Snow Flurries in Alabama

03-08-08
Early Saturday Morning
A little fun in the snow...
And 15 miles North of here had quite a bit more...

Tracy Chapman - The Promise

Tracy Chapman - The Promise
Lyrics and music by: Tracy Chapman
Album: New Beginning [1995]

THE PROMISE

If you wait for me then I'll come for you
Although I've traveled far
I always hold a place for you in my heart
If you think of me
If you miss me once in awhile
Then I'll return to you
I'll return and fill that space in your heart

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
If you'll be waiting

If you dream of me like I dream of you
In a place that's warm and dark
In a place where I can feel the beating of your heart

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
If you'll be waiting

I've longed for you and I have desired
To see your face your smile
To be with you wherever you are

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
If you'll be waiting
I've longed for you and I have desired
To see your face, your smile
To be with you wherever you are

Remembering
Your touch
Your kiss
Your warm embrace
I'll find my way back to you
Please say you'll be waiting

Together again
It would feel so good to be
In your arms
Where all my journeys end
If you can make a promise If it's one that you can keep, I vow to come for you
If you wait for me and say you'll hold
A place for me in your heart

Ebb Tide

PICTURE PERFECT FRIDAY ~ MOVEMENT

 
  Another fun week from the   Picture Perfect Team!   Our host this week is Heather   and the word she has chosen is:    Movement.

If you are not a part of PPF

and would like to join in all the fun

just follow this link --------->PICTURE PERFECT

 

  Those that know my love of water   will not be too surprised that my choice   for movement would involve it.   I wanted so much to use a picture from   my resent visit to California but   most of the pictures had more movement   than I thought the music I choose depicited,   so I once again went back to the pictures   I took in December when I visited my sister   at Pawley's Island, S.C.   It was taken with my Kodak Z740 Digital Camera.          

............................................................................................................................................

 

The movement of the tide

as it covers the shore

Just like the movement

of your arms enveloping me

Produces a warm steady beat

to the movement of my heart.

 

 

 

Whether your movement is fast

or at a snails pace,

Enjoy your Weekend!!!

 

 

Tea for Two.....

 

 

Steeped in Cherished Memories

Even though my beloved aunt's memory was disappearing because of Alzheimer's, she never forgot the power of a cup of tea.   By Eileen Valinoti

Not long ago, I went to visit my elderly Aunt Mary who lives in a nursing home. Alzheimer's disease had taken its toll. As I sat beside her, my aunt stared vacantly into space, her once vibrant features frozen into an unhappy frown. She hardly glanced at the bouquet of daisies I had brought, and when I tried to take her hand, she pulled away from me in fright. I felt a terrible sense of loss, remembering how close we had been and the confidences we had shared through the years, usually over a cup of tea in her cozy kitchen. As a very young girl, I loved to visit Aunt Mary. Childless herself, she had time and energy to lavish on a favorite niece. My favorite spot was a chair at her kitchen table where she always served me tea, sometimes accompanied by her Irish soda bread, thick with plump raisins and sprinkled with caraway seeds. She made an elegant ceremony out of our teas, covering the table with her snowy Irish linen tablecloth and putting out her finest china cups. As we drank our tea, she listened intently to my stories about school and my worries about friendship. No one else in my young life took me as seriously. Sometimes she would tell me tales of her childhood on a farm in Ireland, her fears on her journey to America over a storm-tossed ocean, her struggles as a young immigrant girl seeking work in a big city.   Aunt Mary taught me many things - how to take up a hem, how to write a thank you note, and, most important of all, how to make a proper pot of tea.  First, she told me, you put on the kettle, and just before the water comes to a boil, you fill the teapot halfway with hot water to warm it.  When the kettle boils, you keep it simmering while you throw out the water in the teapot, and than put a level spoonful of tea leaves - one for each person and one for the pot.  After you add the boiling water, you let it steep for a few minutes.  Then, before you serve it, you strain the leaves with care.   My aunt had a firm belief in the soothing powers of tea. Growing up, I had my share of adolescent misery. One snowy evening, I arrived at Aunt Mary's in tears over a broken romance. She helped me off with my coat, brushed the snow from my hair, and then said in a determined voice, "I'll put the kettle on." I sat at her table in the kitchen and wiped my eyes. The sound of the kettle's singing whistle, the cheerful clatter of the dishes and silver as my aunt set the table, the sight of the white tablecloth with its embroidered green shamrocks, all served to calm my shattered spirit. Soon, I was warming my cold hands around a steaming cup, strong and dark and fragrant. "Drink your tea," my aunt admonished. I felt the blood returning to my face. The ritual soothed and reassured. Life goes on, it said. One day at a time. As we sipped our tea, Aunt Mary spoke to me about her own heartbreak when her husband died. But she drew strength and solace from friends and family, just as I would, indeed as I was doing now, restored by my aunt's sympathetic attention. In those moments, my aunt taught me a vital lesson in the power of empathy—a lesson I remember to this day. Then, as a special treat, Aunt Mary read me my fortune in the tea leaves. "You'll be meeting someone new—a tall, handsome young man," she said, gazing into the bottom of my cup. Soon, we were giggling together. "When?" I heard myself asking, the tears now dried on my face. "Soon," she intoned, "very soon." I left her that day with a lighter heart and a head full of dreams. I thought of that long-ago afternoon as I sat beside my aunt in the nursing home, wondering if I would ever connect with her again. I looked out the window. It was beginning to get dark. A long drive home awaited me. I would have to leave soon. Yet I was reluctant to go without even a sign of recognition from my aunt. But then I remembered passing the kitchen on the way to Aunt Mary's room and seeing an ancient teapot on the stove. With the permission of the staff, I went into the kitchen and set about making afternoon tea. I found a tray and arranged it with the teapot, two cups and saucers, lemon, sugar, and cream. I placed all on a paper doily—not as elegant as Aunt Mary's tablecloth, but it would do. As a final touch, I added the daisies I had brought, putting them into a small vase. "It's time for tea," I announced, as I carried the tray into my aunt's room. For the first time that day, there was a change in her facial expression. Her eyes widened with a look of pleased surprise. As I poured the tea and asked her old, familiar questions, "Lemon or cream? One sugar or two?" she suddenly reached for my hand and said, "Oh, my dear, how lovely." It was as if the homely ritual with its associations of home and loved ones had awakened her dormant spirit. We might have been back together once again in her cozy kitchen. The bond between us could never be broken, I realized. We sat together then, sipping our tea, connected once more by the healing power of tea and sympathy.       as published in Beliefnet

Share tea

with someone you love

and

have a wonderful week!!!