EVERYBODY CAN BE GREAT....

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thank you Martin for all that you did for me!

Everybody can be great... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.

Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

January is National Mentor Month

I know that January is the national month for many themes or observances. One of those themes is National Mentoring Month. I have a connection with mentoring, having been mentored all of my life and also have been a mentor.

The last young person I was an "official" mentor was Jazmin who was a 7th grader at the time. We met through a girls' mentoring program which I was a leader and she chose me as her mentor. She's now in high school and we have kept in touch. She knows French and I am impressed. We last got together for lunch a couple of months ago. Another family member joined us. That's one of the outgrowth of mentoring is that one can be "adopted" into a mentee's family.

National Thank Your Mentor Day is January 21. I like that date because it is the birthday of my deceased mother. She was indeed my first mentor. Every parent needs to be their child's first mentor. There are not enough words that can fully express what she gave me. A mentor is a person who has been down the road further than you. She gave me love and sound advice.

Have you taken the time to thank your mentors? I think I will make sure that I do, especially before January 21.

"If you want prosperity for a year, plant some seeds
If you want prosperity for ten years, grow some trees.
If you want prosperity for a life time, grow some people.
American proverb

Do you have an interest in mentoring? nationalmentoringmonth.com

YEAR END REFLECTION

My favorite way to bring closure to an old year is to do a year-end reflection. Here are some of the questions that I have used in the past and some that have been added.

MY YEAR-END REFLECTION


What did I learn?

Where did I go that was new for me?

How did I increase my spiritual life with God?

How did my profit centers increase? (ways that I made money/work)

How did I invest in myself?

How did I celebrate?

How did I help others?

What new things did I experience? Any first time experiences?

Is there anything I wanted to do but didn't get to?

What did I do to stay physically and emotionally healthy?

How did I try to seed into the lives of others?

What goals were achieved?

Did anyone or anything inspire me?

What accomplishments did I make?

What was fun for me?

GARFIELD, THE SUN BEAM

IN LOVING MEMORY OF



GARFIELD


1991-AUGUST 31, 2009


JESUS WANTS ME FOR A SUNBEAM

TO SHINE FOR HIM EACH DAY;

IN EVERY WAY TRY TO PLEASE HIM,

AT HOME, AT SCHOOL, AT PLAY.



A SUNBEAM, A SUNBEAM,

JESUS WANTS ME FOR A SUNBEAM;

A SUNBEAN, A SUNBEAM,

I'LL BE A SUNBEAM FOR HIM.



GARFIELD WAS DIAGNOSED WITH A KIDNEY DISORDER A FEW MONTHS AGO. HE LIVED LONGER THAN EXPECTED, PRAISE THE LORD!



WE BURIED HIM TODAY IN MY FRIENDSHIP GARDEN. WILLIE DUG THE GRAVE, I SANG A LITTLE SONG AND SAID, "ASHES TO ASHES, DUST TO DUST." KENDALL, MY NEPHEW ,AND I LAID BEAUTIFUL ORANGE MARIGOLD FLOWERS ON HIS GRAVE. I TRIED TO HOLD BACK MY TEARS, BUT I KNOW THAT SOMEONE SAW THEM TODAY. I PRAISE GOD THAT I FOUND GARFIELD UNDER MY SHRUBS. WILLE DROVE UP JUST AS I SAW HIS TAIL UNDER THE SHRUBBERY. AIN'T GOD GOOD!



I LAST SAW HIM BEFORE I WENT TO CHURCH ON SUNDAY AUGUST 30, 2009 AT 9:46 AM. HE LAYED ON STACK OF DRIED WEEDS AND LOOKED LIKE A BEAUTIFUL ORANGE AND WHITE FLOWER. HE WAS LOOKING TOWARDS THE SOUTH.



HE WAS A FAITHFUL COMPANION AND FRIEND. HE WILL BE FOREVER REMEMBERED.



I AM COMFORTED BY GETTING THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE LIVED WITH HIM FOR 12 YEARS.



I AM ALSO COMFORTED BY THIS SCRIPTURE: "A RIGHTEOUS MAN REGARDS THE LIFE OF HIS ANIMAL, BUT THE TENDER MERCIES OF THE WICKED ARE CRUEL."



WE WERE NOT CRUEL TO GARFIELD, THANK YOU, JESUS!

CRITICISM

It's easy enough to pick out flaws
In the work that others have done,
To pint out errors that others have made
When your task you haven't begun.

"It's easy enough to fuss and find fault,
When other s are doing their best.
To sneer at the little that they have achieved
When you have done nothing but rest.

It's easy enough to cavail and carp,
To criticise, scoff and deride,
For few if ever have done perfect work
No matter how hard they have tried.

It is easy enough not to speak of the best
And to dwell all the time on the worst,
And perhaps it is proper sometimes to find fault,
But be sure you have don something first."

Author Unknown

HAPPY JUNETEENTH, JUNE19

..."Juneteenth is a day for celebration of freedom and family, but also a day that calls us all to rededicate ourselves to the convictions at the heart of our American experiment. It reminds us that with the work of each successive generation, we come closer to the realization of that more perfect union."
President Barack Obama

“Until the lion writes his own story, the tale of the hunt
Will always glorify the hunter.”
African proverb

Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the ending of slavery. June 19, 1865, union soldiers, led by General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with 2000 Federal troops to issue the order hat the Civil War had ended and that all slaves were free. This was two and half years after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that had become official on January 1, 1863.

PENSACOLA

I recently got to go to a wonderful workshop, "Combat Stress and Working with the Military and the Their Families." It was in beautiful Pensacola, FL. I am grateful for the military, their service and their sacrifice. I didn't have a clue about all that goes on with them and their families. We should never say or do anything degratory when it comes to these brave men and women.