Hi, Jude,
 
Yes, you have right: we make differences - and for life it needs to make differences, especially about good and bad.
 
It makes differences if we talk about children or adults... a.s.o.
 
But I don´t believe, that everything we give, good or bad, ever comes back to us: not in THIS life.
 
I often did not get usable answers about such themes, such as I talked when I was young with a priest of the katholic church. And I think, that this was like because he didn´t have the right answers. As I was a child I thought this, as today I think so.
 
If it would be as you said, there wouldn´t be such big and so many injustice in this wide world.
 
We have here in the German speech area a interesting proverb:
 
As you call in the wood
it comes back.
It is so easy with this proverb, to twist facts too and I am nearly carefully with this proverb...
 
Maybe I´m wrong.
 
But if you mean, that we all will get after this life what we deserve in the good and in the bad way:yes, maybe - I am near on your "line"...
 
love and peace
is.
 
 
 
 

If you want to know something about someone, listen to your heart.

Dear Isabella,

I understand a little of what you are saying and the point you are making, I think.  I guess the first
example that popped in to my mind was Jesus Christ.  Yes, actual historical fact, person of one Jesus of Nazareth lived and was crucified.  If what we do good or bad ALWAYS COMES BACK TO US IN THIS LIFE; then the question arises--what did this actual historical person Jesus do that was so bad that it came back to him in crucifixion.  The age old question "Why do bad things happen to good people?"  We only need look at the lives of those we call "Saints" to realize that many, many times bad things happen to good people, or to put it another what did these individuals ever do that was so bad that it is now coming back to them?

I hate to fall back on that old strongly disliked word "mystery", but that is what it is.  We want to know we want an answer  Why, Why?  Most times there is no why. If we understood all of it, then why would we "need" faith?

I do agree with Jude, though, that when these bad things happen, (and I don't believe they happen to many because they send out bad Karma) we have a choice how we will respond to them and how we respond to them determines how much they become embedded into us, embitter us, control us, etc.

Thank you for once again raising some very profound questions to which I KNOW, I will never have
an answer but always bring about new perceptions to look at.

Blessings on your weekend.  May the beauty of Autumn enford you.

Hugs and prayers,
Betty

Thank you both for answering about my questions and thoughts.
I´m so sorry to be so stubborn (?) about questions o f life...I know, I can be very hard.
 
Wish you all a good night - or day...however.
love,
is.

If you want to know something about someone, listen to your heart.

Isabella, Dear,

I do not see this as being stubborn, merely honest questions about life.  We probably would
all be better off if individuals questioned more instead of just swallowing whatever someone else says.

Please don't ever apologize for having the courage to question--yes, it takes real courage to
question rather than just go along to get along.  It is only in questioning that one is ever
able to formulate what one believes.

Much love and prayers,
Betty

We probably would all be better off if individuals questioned more instead of just swallowing whatever someone else says. Please don't ever apologize for having the courage to question--yes, it takes real courage to question rather than just go along to get along. It is only in questioning that one is ever able to formulate what one believes.

 
Betty, I do so agree with this!
 
Jude

Love is the only way

I came across this today ,it does make you think...
 
 
 
 
Yesterday, is history.
Tomorrow, is a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That's why it's called,
The present

The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love~and be loved in return♥♥  


 

Thank you Sandra.....definitely a favourite of mine.
 
Jude

Love is the only way

Yesterday, is history.
Tomorrow, is a mystery.
Today is a gift.
That's why it's called, The present

. . . the present . . .
the gift that is this moment . . .
Sometimes, dear Bright Spirit . . .
the most profound
is stated in the fewest words
with love . . .
sparrow

everything counts... ♥

This came in an email to me
over the weekend.
Pertinent perhaps . . .
 
"Do you remember sitting in a chat room, watching people chat, 
or even chatting yourself? Do you remember receiving so many forwards 
that your mailbox was ready to explode? How about receiving an e-mail
from someone just searching for a friend. 
Did you wonder who these people might be that are behind the keyboard?

Online we meet new people from all around the world. 
Some we chat with just once and then we go on. 
Others we chat with time and time again, and a friendship is made. 
Others become our e-mail mates & buddies, and we look forward to 
their e-mails each day, but have you ever really wondered 
who was really behind the keyboard?

So often we meet a friend in chat we stay up all night chatting, 
sometimes we laugh so hard we cannot type, 
other times we cry and our keyboards are stained from tears. 
We chat about our lives and help solve each other's problems,
we lend a shoulder if we can. Did you every think 
to yourself, who is really behind that keyboard? 

Did you ever chat with someone that promised
you the world and that your friendship will be forever, 
and then they were gone? Do you forget about them and move on, 
or do you wonder "who was that person really, 
that was behind the keyboard?"

Have you ever hid behind your keyboard, pretending to 
be something you are not, just to boost your ego? 
As you sat there and typed have you ever lied, thinking 
"who cares, that person behind the keyboard, it is only a fake person?" 
Did you ever hurt someone thinking "it's only a game?"

Well, behind each and every keyboard are very real people, 
some might be heartless cold people, 
not caring who they hurt, but then there are people that 
are caring, loyal, honest and all kinds of people hoping 
for some companionship online.

Behind the keyboard can be someone who is seriously 
depressed and their only hope is to make a friend, maybe 
an aging person who once had a family, but now they live too far
apart to see one another, perhaps there is someone that cannot 
walk anymore or a person so ill they are in the house forever.

As we enter the world of the Internet we should remember,
it is a very real world and behind each and every 
keyboard is a person who has a heart. No one has a life that 
is pain free, so as we go online whether in chat or just e-mailing, 
we must remember to treat each person the way that we want 
to be treated, to respect each others' feelings and to offer 
friendship because the truth is we really do not know who is behind 
the keyboard or what kind of hurt someone may be feeling. 
To be the best to others that you can be should be 
the "key" to a good, honest life.

Love,
Someone behind a keyboard"
 
   ♥

everything counts... ♥

Thank you Sparrow,
This is one that I missed somehow! I wish I knew how that happens.
 
It is certainly very appropriate.
 
With Love,
Jude (behind the keyboard ♥ )

Love is the only way

An optimist isn't necessarily a blithe,
sappy whistler in the dark.
To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.
If we remember those times and places
where people have behaved magnificently,
this gives us energy to act and
at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a
world in a different direction.
Howard Zinn

Love is the only way

Well said,
dear Jude . . .
   ♥

everything counts... ♥

Although not usually the type of movie I like to see,
I watched 'Tears of the Sun' yesterday,
and my heart is reminded
of the horrors that are daily being committed
against the people of Nigeria, Darfur,
and other countries in Africa,
a continent mostly forgotten
by the rest of the world . . .

everything counts... ♥

Dear Sparrow,
 
somehow I, too, missed the reflections "behind the keyboard". As Jude says, they are very appropriate! Thank you!
 
Love,
Edda

Peace and joy!

"The goal (of movement practice) isn't just to get the rhythms done so you can cross them off your list. It's to do them for the sake of doing them. We've become so destination oriented that we've lost our sense of direction, our ability to follow our own instincts, signals, and inner messages. Somehow it's become more important to get wherever we're going than it is to enjoy the scenery along the way."
Gabrielle Roth
'Sweat Your Prayers'

everything counts... ♥

We are born gentle and weak. At death we are hard and stiff. Green plants are tender and filled with sap. When they die they are withered and dry. Therefore the stiff and unbending are the disciples of death. The gentle and yielding are the disciples of life.

Save your servant, O Sustainer of Life,
from too early a death.

Free me of that affliction of believers
who so easily become rigid of heart
in their journeys to you.

Make my heart like the green willow tree
that easily bends in the wind,
that bows gracefully before the storm
only to raise its head again with renewed life
when the angry clouds have moved on.

Fill me this day, I pray,
with the strength of your Spirit,
the strength to be flexible and ever-green.

Create within me the heart
of a disciple of life,
a heart that is gentle and meek.

Let me learn a lesson from your daughter water
who seeks the lowest path,
ever yielding and humble,
yet wears down the strongest stones into sand.

In her I see abundant wisdom:
“The hard and strong will fall;
the soft and meek shall overcome.”

Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim by Ed Hays

Thank you, Betty, for this beautiful prayer! May it come true for us!
 
Much love,
Edda

Peace and joy!

Sparrow...

We've become so destination oriented that we've lost our sense of direction

 
This always puzzled me about spiritual growth...THE DESTINATION !!! What about life? I've always thought our life was more important than 'getting' to some mysterious pinnacle. I think it's a very male-brain thing to want to get to the point having done as little as possible!
 
Jude

Love is the only way

Make my heart like the green willow tree that easily bends in the wind, that bows gracefully before the storm only to raise its head again with renewed life when the angry clouds have moved on.

 
Thank you Betty. That is indeed beautiful. (and needed!)
 
Love,
Jude

Love is the only way

Sparrow...

We've become so destination oriented that we've lost our sense of direction

 
This always puzzled me about spiritual growth...THE DESTINATION !!! What about life? I've always thought our life was more important than 'getting' to some mysterious pinnacle. I think it's a very male-brain thing to want to get to the point having done as little as possible! 
  Jude

everything counts... ♥