Who Cares - What Matters
Have you heard the story? Ok, maybe it’s more of a legend…but it’s really a timeless legend, now of OUR Time.
It was Christmas Eve 1818 and a small church in Austria had gathered together for their Candle light services. Tragedy struck. The organ was broken. It was discovered that, Church mice, literally had eaten through the bellows the organ and it was rendered useless.
No Music on Christmas Eve Candle light services?
Wouldn’t it be great?
You think you’re home for the evening; you have no plans or DO YOU?
Your doorbell rings. You contemplate even answering it, but you do. There’s a man in an elegant tuxedo, top hat, white gloves and a cane. You see over his shoulder that there’s a luxurious limo and he tells you he’s here to escort you to a very special place where “NO” doesn’t exist. You throw on a pair of jeans that don’t have last night’s dinner remains on it and a shirt that doesn’t have the powder sugar your donut snowed all over it just before the doorbell rang.
First time for me in 33 years of Ministry. A double-wedding ceremony.
It took place at the David Simpson Hospice House in Cleveland around 10:15 a.m. on 12/11/13.
Their mother is very sick and is declining rather quickly. “THEY” wanted to do something about as special as a son and a daughter can do for an ailing mother. Take her to a wedding: THEIR’S!
With a small amount of family and friends gathered into The Mediation Room that overlooked an angry Lake Erie on a dishwater gray Winter morning, they wheeled the bed of their mother into that small gathering.
I told them as we began the service, that no matter what Cathedral or highly adorned Sanctuary they’d ever find themselves, it would never be any more sacred than the walls of family and friends that surrounded them right then.
It’s what we seek most in our lives, isn’t it?
A S S U R A N C E.
We may buy Insurance to protect us from financial disaster for crashed cars, burned-down houses, loss of limb or even life. . .but it’s the ASSURANCE of each of these things, the great ‘what-ever’ it is we deem to be LIFE that we ultimately seek.
WARNING: G R A T I T U D E ALERT!
IF Thanksgiving is all about family gathers and feasts upon feasts that last entire weekends. . .
IF Thanksgiving is all about huge football rivalries that have you sitting on the edge of your chairs…
IF Thanksgiving is all about Pilgrims and Indians re-enactment of cute plays with moral meanings…
IF Thanksgiving is all about Gray Thursdays, Black Friday’s Pewter Saturdays, Cyber Mondays. . .
IF Thanksgiving is all about short vacations and getting out of work and school. . .
IF Thanksgiving is all about fine wine, cocktails, the first of holiday parties. . .
IF Thanksgiving is all about leftovers. . .
THEN IT IS O V E R!
But. . .
IF Thanksgiving is all about Gratitude. . .
Then it hasn’t begun. . .
Then it hasn’t concluded. . .
Then it HAS only C O N T I N U E D!
Pass me a Slice of Sincerity and a Cup of Compassion and let us proceed on the Gratitude Trail picking up others along The Way. . . .
I get a Standing Ovation after every talk I give!
Maybe you’d never know unless you were actually There!
Many times near the end of a presentation, as a way of THANKING folks for their attendance and their attention I usually have them stand up all together. I tell them that there are two words they never hear ever enough:
THANK YOU!
And then, because none seldom do, and THEY never would, standing there, I tell them to give themselves a long over due, sincere, well-deserved Standing Ovation. And they do! Loudly! Exuberantly! With Smiles, Whistling, Yaaaaaaaa-hooooooing included…and, and exactly to the penny, what did it cost? What did it deposit in their respective emotional 401k’s?
You can Suppose about it all you want, but it’s more than mere theory or hunch now. Studies have been done and documented with not so surprising results: IT WORKS! IT’S LIFE-CHANGING!
These studies have actually concluded that the expression of sincere gratitude can have some fairly profound and positive effects on our health, our mood and most definitely our relationships. Shocker, huh?
Ok, don’t believe the Studies from the University of Texas Health Science Center or the University of California at Davis or the University of Miami or the University of Washington…use yourself as your own laboratory.
Keep a daily journal of just three things you are thankful for and why.
Make it a practice to tell someone that’s significant to you something you appreciate about them every day.
Look in the mirror when your combing your hair or brushing your teeth and think about something you have done well recently or something you like about yourself.
Maybe it’s true: If you’ve forgotten the language of gratitude, you’ll never be on speaking terms with happiness.
The world doesn’t always have to have a reason to kick you in the teeth every time you smile, but it does. Still, walk in your field and cultivate this attitude of gratitude, and PRESTO: things don’t just look better–THEY ACTUALLY GET BETTER!
Thankfulness feels good, it’s good for you and it’s a blessing for the people around you. It’s such a win-win-win that I’d say we have a cause for gratitude…even without a day just for THAT.
Please, Stand, Give yourself a Standing Ovation! And. . .
Thank You!
Happy Thanksgiving.
I don’t believe I’ve ever read or written any poems or prose, certainly no blog posts about Pizza. I heard something recently that now has made that possible. I recently read something from a friend of a friend talking of all things, about Pizza. Pizza goes all the way back to the ancient tradition of breaking bread and it’s one of the few foods that people still share as a group of family and friends. We gather around it, it’s circular (the symbol for eternal) and we break our share of the pizza (bread). Where as other food we have OUR OWN, our own burger, our own steak, our own plate, our own silverware. . .I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never quite thought of Pizza that way before.
Most of the time, we receive valuable offers, get updated on new products, or have pictures sensually shown us of our great food. Today, I’m simply inviting you to look at Pizza in another way, not just because we love food or might receive a great offer or get gas points by purchasing a gift card at a grocery store. No. . .just because you will have a chance to SHARE with a loved one, a family member, a friend or a group of folks around a pizza and break bread together!
Time for a Pizza? You do know it’s a lot more than just breaking bread, well, now you do!
Often when I’m giving a presentation or workshop of “Palliation For The Soul,” I show this film clip.
I believe I’m the only bald man that actually buys Pantene Shampoo because I love what this makes us feel.
Every day, several times a day, we have opportunities to be Victor’s or Victims. Sometimes those lines blur seamlessly so it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between the two. And then we don’t look, so much as Feel. . .Experience the Difference.
When’s the last time, just by showing up, your life became EXTRAordinary? We all have the capabilities of inviting, making, allowing the very best of our lives to Shine and yes, it often does that best on our darkest days, our bleakest, grayest moments.
Make your Life ExtraORDINARY. Play your own Music. Be the Instrument that everyone needs in their Orchestra. Bring your Shine to the Shadows that lurk and haunt; Not just Today, but especially THIS DAY!
See. Be. Free that Luminosity Beaming to get out of you. . . .
If you wait for the last Thursday in November for Thanksgiving. . .you’ve waited too long.
This is not one of these posts that will have you getting a blank of paper and making a list from 1-25 listing all of the things that you are not only thankful for, but also thankful for NOT. No!
Just one thing. Right now…ONE THING! Funny isn’t it? You can’t think of just one thing, can you? It’s NOT the one thing you’re thankful for that comes to mind…it’s the MANY things!
If you wait for the last Thursday in November for Thanksgiving. . .you’ve waited too long.