Happiness

We have heard Redneck jokes for years. It's time to take a reflective look at the core beliefs of a culture that values home, family, country and God.

I ran into a stranger as he passed by,ÔÇ¿
"Oh excuse me please" was my reply.ÔÇ¿ÔÇ¿

He said, "Please excuse me too;ÔÇ¿
I wasn't watching for you."ÔÇ¿ÔÇ¿

We were very polite, this stranger and I.ÔÇ¿
We went on our way and we said goodbye.ÔÇ¿ÔÇ¿

But at home a different story is told,ÔÇ¿
How we treat our loved ones, young and oldÔÇ¿ÔÇ¿.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal,ÔÇ¿
My son stood beside me very still.ÔÇ¿ÔÇ¿

I've never made a fortune,
and it's probably too late now.
But I don't worry about that much,
I'm happy anyhow.
And as I go along life's way,
I'm reaping better than I sowed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,
'Cause my cup has overflowed.

Haven't got a lot of riches,
and sometimes the going's tough.
But I've got loving ones all around me,
and that makes me rich enough.
I thank God for his blessings,
and the mercies He's bestowed.
I'm drinking from my saucer,

-- Author unknown

A drunk man in an Oldsmobile
They said had run the light
That caused the six-car pileup
On 109 that night.

When broken bodies lay about
And blood was everywhere,
The sirens screamed out eulogies,
For death was in the air.

A mother, trapped inside her car,
Was heard above the noise;
Her plaintive plea near split the air:
"Oh, God, please spare my boys!"

She fought to loose her pinned hands;
She struggled to get free,

-- Author Unknown
 

I said a prayer for you today,

And know God must have heard.

I felt the answer in my heart

Although He spoke no word.

I didn't ask for wealth or fame,

I knew you wouldn't mind.

I asked Him to send treasures

Of a far more lasting kind.

I asked that He'd be near you

At the start of each new day,

To grant you health and blessings

And friends to share your way.

-- Author Unknown

A minister passing through his church in the middle of the day,
Decided to pause by the altar and see who had come to pray.

Just then the back door opened, a man came down the aisle,
The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn't shaved in a while.

His shirt was kinda shabby and his coat was worn and frayed,
the man knelt, he bowed his head, then rose and walked away.

In the days that followed, each noon time came this chap,

When you get what you want in your struggle for self,
And the world makes you king for a day,
Just go to the mirror and look at yourself
And see what THAT man has to say.

For it isn’t your father or mother or wifeÔÇ¿
Who judgement upon you must pass,ÔÇ¿
The fellow whose verdict counts most in your life
Is the one staring back from the glass.

Some people may think you a straight-shootin’ chum,

By Ina Hughs

We pray for children
who put chocolate fingers everywhere,
who like to be tickled,
who stomp in puddles and ruin their new pants,
who sneak Popsicles before supper,
who erase holes in math workbooks,
who can never find their shoes.

And we pray for those
who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
who’ve never squeaked across the floor in new sneakers,
who never “counted potatoes,”
who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead,

By Roger Darlington

The knock at the front door announced a visitor. The erraticness of the knock and the absence of a shape through the glass panes which made up the top third of the door suggested that it was a little visitor.

Phil Radcliffe and his wife Molly had lived in this crescent for almost three decades. When they had first moved here, their son and daughter were children and there were many other kids around, all of them happy to play in a street which had no through traffic and all of them knowing that they could call on any house for a friend or advice.

-- by  Bill Walls
My friend John always has something to tell me. He knows so much that young men have to have older and more worldly wise men to tell them. For instance who to trust, how to care for others, and how to live life to the fullest. ÔÇ¿ÔÇ¿

Recently, John lost his wife Janet. For eight years she fought against cancer, but in the end her sickness had the last word. ÔÇ¿ÔÇ¿