Something to Smile and Maybe Chuckle About

NO WINE

I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I too out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, "If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?"

'No I had to stop drinking years ago', the homeless woman told me.

Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food? I asked.

'No, I don't waste time shopping', the homeless woman said. 'I need to spend all my time tryng to stay alive'.

Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?

'Are you NUTS'! replied the homeless woman. I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!'

'Well, I said, I'm not going to give you the money. Instead I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight.'

The homeless woman was shocked. Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and probably smell pretty disgusting.

I said, 'That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine.'

This was e-mailed to me by a friend. I thought it was funny.

IS TODAY PINK SATURDAY?

No, today is not Pink Saturday. It isn't even Saturday but since I just changed my background to pink I thought I should post something pink here. I love pink you know.

I made this cross stitch pillow right after we moved here - about 19 years ago. I keep it in my doll room now but it was originally in the family room. 

GO SARAH!

GRANDMA GOT RUN OVER?

I remember when this song came out. I loved it. Our family laughed every time we heard it. I mentioned the song to my mother (who was the grandma). Everybody in the family called her Granny - even sisters, nieces, nephews, and even me, her daughter. She didn't think the song was a bit funny. She didn't even smile. I think she was irritated that we thought it was so funny. What made it even funnier is that she had a great sense of humor and laughed at just about every thing.  That was many many years ago. 

 

Anyway, a friend sent us a link to Christmas songs and this was on there so I clicked on it. This is a cute version of the song and I wanted to share it with you. Here is the link to the song: http://heavens-gates.com/fifties/grandmagotranover.html

SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS

I have already posted a Spiritual Sundays post on my other blog but when I got up this morning and looked at my e-mails this was one of them. It was so good that my first thought was to share it on S.S. At first I thought I'd use it next Sunday and then I thought "No, it's too good to wait a week. I'll post it on my other blog." So here it is.
I guess this meant more to me also because I have seen this lady on Fox News so many times. 

Chosen for Love
with E.D. Hill

"By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent
His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him."
(1 John 4:9)

When I was pregnant with my third child, I developed a very severe form of Hepatitis. The doctors tried all sorts of medicines and told me that my pregnancy complicated things. They were severely limited in their efforts to save my life because there were things they
couldn't do with a pregnant patient. Even so, I rejected the suggestion that I abort my baby.

The medical outlook was grim. I was told that if I was able to carry my baby to term, it was likely that my drug therapy would leave the baby mentally or physically challenged. There were no guarantees that I  wouldn't miscarry or the baby wouldn't be stillborn.

I was fighting for my life and the life of my unborn child. I felt so helpless. Even at one of the top hospitals in the nation, the doctors simply couldn't do anything. None of us was in control of my circumstances.

When you're successful in life and your career, it's easy to start feeling like that's the most important thing. It's easy to start believing that you control your own situation and create your own success. But lying in the hospital, I suddenly realized that I wasn't in control. The most intelligent, best-educated doctors in the country had no control. Nobody had any control. Whether my baby and I lived or died was ultimately up to God. It was His choice.

When you get down to it, what do any of us do that earns us the right to demand that God should step in and save us, as though we deserve it? It's a gift that He gives. Too often we don't accept the fact that life is a gift. Life is a gift to be treasured.

In my career on FOX News, I see so many stories that shock me. In one story, there was a drag race with stolen cars where a pedestrian was hit. This story ran several times because the lack of humanity was amazing. The person who had been hit lay in the road and nobody walked over to check on him. One would hope that this person was left lying in the street because nobody else was around, but that wasn't the case. The sidewalks were filled with people walking, going about their business. At one point, someone does walk over and peers down at the injured person, then simply walks away.

There is a person down, and the instinct of every single human being should have been to go to that person's aid. Yet that is not what happened. We have created a society and a generation where people don't want to get involved. They wait for someone else to take responsibility to help another human being. The lives around them aren't valued highly.

At one point during my hospital stay, I realized that I wasn't thinking about my job or success or any of the things I had thought were so important. I was thinking about my children. I was wondering who would help them grow to become the type of adults who value the truly valuable --  people.

Jesus, when asked which commandment is the greatest, spoke of love.
"You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind." (Matthew 22:37) Jesus then said, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:31)

In a conversation with the disciples, Jesus told them that He had chosen them. "This I command you," He said, "that you love one another." (John 15:17)

Jesus focused on people. He valued us so highly that He willingly went to the cross to suffer and die on our behalf. His love is such that had He seen a hit and run victim, He would not have callously ignored his plight.

God chose us for love. He chose us before the foundation of the world. He chose to arrange it so that we could stand before Him, holy and blameless. Because of His love and kindness, He predestined us to be adopted by Him.

Think of it. The Lord made a choice, and that choice is us. Before everything, He chose to value us enough that He sent His only begotten Son to live among us, and die for us.

The Lord chose to save me and my baby. I gave birth to a beautiful, healthy baby boy in spite of my illness and the doctors' prognosis. I frequently tell my son, "Not only did God step in and save me for a greater purpose but He specifically wanted you on this earth because you shouldn't be here."

In walking me through my own personal Valley of the Shadow of Death, God showed me how deeply He values me and all people. Not only did He give me life, but He gave me LIFE!

This Week 

Ask the Lord to show you how valuable you are to Him. Know that He chose you, and ask Him to make that deeply real to you.

Prayer
"Father, sometimes I doubt how much you value me. Sometimes I don't value others as I should. Please forgive me. Please help me to know, deep in my heart, how much value You place in me and help me to value others as You do. Amen."

E.D. Hill joins James and Betty on LIFE TODAY tomorrow (Monday) to discuss her latest book "I'm Not Your Friend, I'm Your Parent: Helping Your Children Set the Boundaries They Need...and Really Want."

MERRY CHRISTMAS Y'ALL

Click to play

MY DOLL BLOG

I just received a blogger award for my Dolls Dolls Dolls blog and I posted my Show & Tell for this week on that blog --- sooo, if you haven't been there in the last day or two, you might want to jump over there for a look. The award is so neat. I love it.  A blogger called Tardevil gave it to me. That should peak your curiosity. 

I also would like to remind you that the linky will be up tomorrow for Spiritual Sundays. We hope you will consider joining us by posting your inspirational/spiritual posts and going there to find the links to others.

NEW SPIRITUAL SUNDAYS WIDGET

Ginger just made a new widget for our Spiritual Sundays blog. You can see it on my sidebar. We have had a lot of lovely comments on that blog. I'm so glad Ginger had the idea of starting it. It is blessing a lot of people but especially Ginger and me. If you haven't been there click on the little birdies on the sidebar to go there.

The new widget is easy to get the code and copy it to your blog, so we hope many of you will want to add it to your sidebar.