Changing the world – in 30 second bursts
I really like Lorelle on WordPress‘ blog, and her ‘Changing the World’ post seemed just perfect for me to choose as a sort of ‘auto-meme’ so without further ado, here’s the first 10 from my list: To start with, have good clear out at home and:
- Donate old or unused spectacles to charity – any major optician should accept them
- Take clothing and household items to the goodwill store
- Give foreign coins and notes to charity – your local bank should accept them
- Dispose of hazardous items responsibly at your local refuse collection or recycling centre
- Take paper, plastic, glass and metal to the paper bank
- Switch to bio-friendly cleaning products
- Replace burned out bulbs with long-life ones
- Start a composter using your kitchen scraps
- Plant a tree
- Sponsor a child
And then:
Forgive and Forget
I read a great story about friendship once, it went something like:
Two good friends were walking through the desert. During the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand, “Today my best friend slapped me in the face.”
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him. After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone, “Today my best friend saved my life.”
The friend who had both slapped and saved this best friend asked him, “After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now you write on a stone. Why?”
The other friend replied, “When someone hurts us we should write it down in sand where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.”
We must learn to write our hurts in the sand and carve our blessings in stone.
Let us remember not the hurts, but the blessings we have.
Help For Single Moms
A young college student has been inspired by her friends’ recent misfortunes to create a website to raise funds for singls moms. All monies generated by Google adsense on single-moms.org will be used to create a “Super Single-Mom Scholarship Cash Award”.
The site owner is appealing for help with site admin, graphics, forum posts and content, but you can help by just visiting and signing up.
This is a bold plan to help single moms, from someone who has personal experience of the issue, growing up in a single parent family herself. I wish them well.
Eggs, Coffee, and … Carrots!?
You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word.
In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners.
She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl.
She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
Turning to her daughter, she asked, “Tell me what do you see?”
“Carrots, eggs, and coffee,” she replied.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked. “What’s the point, mother?”
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity — boiling water — but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.
“Which are you?” she asked her daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond?
Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”
Think of this: Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a break-up, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?
How do you handle Adversity?
ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?
I don’t care, I wish you well no matter what or who you are.
