There Is a Wholeness

Every Wednesday at 4 o’clock p.m. is Social Hour here at Chambrell. Bill is so good mingling with the other residents and learning to know them by name, exchanging bits of news and jokes.
I don’t have that “gift of gab.” It is hard for me to verbalize my thoughts when talking to other people. I do so admire the person who always says the right word at the right time. Socially, I feel inadequate and incomplete.

“There is a Wholeness,” taken from an article printed in Guidepost from a book by Harold S. Kushner entitled: How Good Do We Have to Be?” He tells a story, “The Missing piece,” taken from a book by Shel Silverstein.

The story involves a circle from which a large triangular wedge had been cut. The circle wanted to be whole so it went looking for the missing piece. But because it was incomplete, it could only roll slowly. It admired the flowers along the way. It chatted with butterflies. It enjoyed the sunshine.

It found lots of pieces , but none fit. So it left them all by the side of the road.and went on searching. Then one day it found a piece that fit exactly. It was so happy . Now it could be whole with nothing missing. But as a perfect circle it rolled too fast to notice the flowers or talk to the butterflies. When it realized how different the world seemed, it stopped, left its missing piece by the side of the road and rolled on--appreciating life again..

There is a wholeness about the person who has come to terms with his limitations , who knows who he is and what he can and cannot do. When we have everything we never know what it feels like to yearn, to hope, to dream . In some strange sense we are more whole when we are incomplete. So do not be concerned if your life is not a complete circle. Take time to smell the roses, and thank God for He loves you just as you are.

How do I thank thee?
I see the blue sky
And the bird in wing
I’m awed by the beauty of the trees.
How do I thank thee?
I smell the sweet flower
I feel the warm sun
Yet cool breezes blow over me.
How do I thank you?
I see the sunrise, sunset
Stars twinkling overhead
God made the heaven and the seas.
How do I thank thee
I see it all
I shout for joy - I’m alive
God made all this and God made me.
Wilhelmine

Molded by God

Spring always seems to me a time for renewal. A chance for growth!

My Aunt Ethel had a printed quote hanging in her kitchen window. It said: “God sees us as we can be, but loves us as we are.”

Moses said he was, ‘slow of speech-Oh my Lord, send I pray, some other person,’ Paul said, ‘I know that nothing good lives in me.’

Simon, the fisherman was impulsive, arrogant, self-centered and unfaithful. When Jesus saw him, he looked beyond the mere exterior of this crude fisherman and saw there the picture of a man of vast undeveloped resources.

God calls and does not ask it we are suitable……….only if we are available.
One of the greatest parts of our Lord’s ministry was spent in dealing with men such as these. He seemed to have the ability to look beyond the mere exterior of a person and bring forth the best that was within.
Jesus told Moses: “ I will appoint Aaron to be your spokesman.” He wanted him to be the leader of Israel. How well God knew his potentialities.

To change the actual “Thou Art’ into the ideal ‘ Thou shall be,’ is the high function of Jesus Christ. Regardless of our age or station in life, there are unlimited possibilities of what we may become, if we let God do the leading and the developing.
Just as a green shoot becomes a blooming flower, we too can be transformed into effective Christian living. He understands our inadequacies . He knows us as we are, but he knows what we can become.

New Life
As I look out my window day by day.
I see changes take place, Nature may
Bring forth a green shoot where once
The ground was bare - no life was found.
The sun caresses the tender sprout
I patiently wait and look all about
As it grows taller, I see quite near
Another green shoot and another appear.
Anxiously I wait now with interest anew
As the blooms unfold in glorious hue.
Yesterday a place that did annoy
Today is beauty for all to enjoy.
Wilhelmine

April Fool's Day

April Fools likely originated in 16th century France, where the start of the New Year was observed on April 1st until, in 1562, Pope Gregory introduced the new Christian calendar where the new year fell on January 1st. Some people, however, didn’t hear or didn’t believe the change, and continued to celebrate New Years on April 1st. Others would then play tricks on them (April Fools).

In France, April Fools was traditionally celebrated by placing dead fish on the backs of friends. Today, real fish have been replaced by fish shaped stickers, which are stuck to the back of one’s shirt. This arises from the fact that the April sun ends the zodiacal sign of the fish .

Today, Americans play small tricks on friends and strangers alike on the first of April. One common trick on April Fool’s Day, or All Fool’s Day, is pointing down to a friend’s shoelace and saying, “Your shoelace is untied.” Teachers in the nineteenth century used to say to pupils, “Look! A flock of geese!” and point up. School children might tell a classmate that school has been canceled. Whatever the trick, if the innocent victim falls for the joke, the prankster yells, “April Fool!”

The “fools errands” we play on people are practical jokes. Putting salt in the sugar bowl for the nest person is not a nice trick to play. College students set their clocks an hour behind, so their roommates show up to the wrong class - or not at all. Most April Fool jokes are in good fun and not meant to harm anyone. The most clever April Fool joke is the one where everyone laughs, especially the person upon whom the joke is played.

Follow Me

A crowd of people gathered ‘round Him by the Sea of Gallilee
This man who healed the sick and made the blind to see.
Oh, that we had eyes to see Him
To mingle with the crowd
Ears to hear the words He taught them…..“Follow me.”

They say He ate with those shunned by the Pharisees
He told them man was not made for the law,
But had a higher destiny.
Oh, that we might have the mind to comprehend,
The privilege to call Him Master, Friend,
A heart contrite to understand His message…..”Follow me.”

News about His teaching traveled far and wide,
The Bridegroom waits to wed His Holy Bride.
Drink the wine of new life, cast away the old,
Accept God’s love made manifest of which you were foretold.
He tried to tell them about Gethsemane
One day they would deny, forsake Him, this he could foresee.

Oh, that we might speak for Him, His love embrace
To tell about Golgotha and His saving Grace.
Father , we thank you for sending your Son to
Live among men that we might know your love.
Let us remember also the sacrifice He made
That we might live free from sin. Amen.

Wilhelmine

Easter

For children, the glorious Easter celebration, too often means that special Sunday when the Bunny comes and they get a basket full of goodies and get to participate in an Easter Egg Hunt. Traditionally for youth & adults alike it often means bright new spring clothes and bonnets. But Easter should have a much deeper meaning. It is the day when Christ rose from the dead and left the heartwarming message for all mankind that if you believe in Him, you too shall have everlasting life.

The philosopher Luther wrote: In His life, Christ is an example, showing us how to live; in His death, He is a sacrifice, satisfying for our sins; in His resurrection, a conqueror, in His ascension, a king, in His intercession, a high priest.

One brilliant explanation of the significance of Christ was written by a wise man named French:
This is part of the glory of Christ as compared with the chiefest of his servants that He alone stands at the absolute center of humanity, the one completely harmonious man, unfolding all which was in humanity, equally and fully on all sides, the only one in whom the real and ideal met and were absolutely one. He is the absolute and perfect truth, the highest that humanity can reach; at once its perfect image and supreme Lord.

Written many years ago, a verse from this Easter Carol gives a significant setting for a memorable Easter Day:
“Tomb, thou shall not hold Him longer;
Death is strong, but Life is stronger;
Stronger than the dark, the light;
Stronger than the wrong, the right;
Faith and Hope triumphant say
Christ will rise on Easter Day.”

If you think about meaningful words like these, you will begin to realize the real significance of the glorious Easter celebration.

Interesting Facts About Easter

Easter is always the 1st Sunday after the 1st full moon after the Spring Equinox (which is March 20).

This dating of Easter is based on the lunar calendar that Hebrew people used to identify Passover, which is why it moves around on our Roman calendar.
Based on the above information, Easter can actually be one day earlier (March 22), but that is rare.

Here’s the interesting information. This year is the earliest any of us will ever see Easter, and only the most elderly of our population have ever seen it this early (95 years old or older). And none of us have ever, or will ever, see a day earlier! Here’s the facts:

1) The next time Easter will be this early (March 23) will be the year 2228 (220 years from now). The last time it was this early was 1913. The only folks that were around for that were folks 95 years or older.
2) The next time Easter will be a day earlier, March 22, will be in the year 2285 (277 years from now). The last time it was on March 22 was 1818. So no one alive today has or will ever see it any earlier than this year.

Irish Limericks

Monday, March 17th is St. Patrick’s Day. It’s a day when, as the saying goes, everyone’s a wee bit Irish. So, it seems fitting to share a few Irish limericks:

May there always be work for your hands to do,
May your purse always hold a coin or two,
May the sun always shine on your windowpane,
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain,
May the hand of a friend always be near you,
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.

May you always find blue skies above your head,
Shamrocks beneath your feet,
Laughter and joy a plenty,
Kindness from all you meet,
Good friends and kin to miss you
If ever you choose to roam,
And a path that’s been cleared by angels
Themselves bringing you safely home.

As you travel down life’s highway,
May the road rise up to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine softly in your face,
And the rains fall gently on your fields;
And until we meet again,
May God keep you in the palm of his hand.

When a bit of sunshine hits ye,
After passing of a cloud,
When a fit of laughter gets ye and
Yer spine is feeling proud,
Don’t forget to up and fling it at a soul
That’s feeling blue
For the minute that ye sling it,
It’s a boomerang to you.