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Hearts and Humor Archives Index
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| << July05, 2007 - Hearts and Humor - The Color of Yogurt |
July12, 2007 - Hearts and Humor - The Best Move >> |
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Hi, Gang - my wonderful family of readers. I have a story tonight that I have shared with only a few of you and a select number of friends. They told me to write it to the world. I was reluctant, because I felt many would think I was crazy. Today I felt the need to share. Below is what I needed to tell. Before the story, I have a few things for your enjoyment. Do you think you have it hard? Do you feel life dragging you down? Does the world put too much on your shoulders, and do you feel you cannot get through it? Check out a woman who faced a challenge and jumped in with both feet. This video is in, I think Chinese, but the video speaks for itself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GNzBFnUAdo Next is a very cool magic trick. I put it on my Youtube site. Be ready to be amazed. I've seen it before. My friend Keith sent it to me. See Keith's link below. I thought you would enjoy it too. http://youtube.com/watch?v=B-TjTT66lX4 This next link sort of fits with today's story. http://www.andiesisle.com/imagine.html If you enjoy a story, feel free to pass it on to your friends. I only ask that you leave the link at the bottom for them to join us. NOTE: IF YOU WISH TO STOP RECEIVING MY STORIES, USE THE UNSUBSCRIBE LINK AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST. PLEASE DO NOT MARK ME AS SPAM. MY STORIES ARE ONLY SENT TO THOSE WHO SUBSCRIBE TO MY EZINE. I Love your comments. Send them to: msmith4@nj.rr.com If anyone is interested in greeting cards, Ginny belongs to a group of artists. They've teamed together to market their products. Check them out at: http://www.etsygreetings.blogspot.com Ginny's cards and other crafts are at: http://www.ginginsgoodies.etsy.com Be sure to check out my collection of inspirational sites at the end. There's something for everyone. Now for today's story. A Cloudy Answer I stood in the kitchen and made my lunch for the next day. There was an urgent knock on our front door. I assumed it was one of my son's friends and expected him to answer it. When he didn't rush down the stairs, I stopped what I was doing, opened the door, and was greeted by a burly, unshaven man. "Mr. Smith?" he snarled. "Yes?" I replied. "How…." He cut me off. "I'm here to repossess your car. I need your keys!" He handed me a card. "I already have your car hooked to my truck. There's a number on that card. You need to call tomorrow. If you don't make payments, your car will be auctioned off!" Ginny joined me. Our car trailed the tow truck, turned the corner, and rolled out of sight. We clutched each other in bed that night and cried. Times were tough. I worked in a low-paying job. My wages weren't enough to cover the bills. Feeding seven people and living in one of the most expensive areas in the country was a challenge, especially with three growing grandchildren. After struggling to get our car back, I sat on our deck in the middle of the night. My stepdaughter, Heather, and her three boys slept in their room. Ginny slept in our room and my son slept in his. It was a perfect summer night - temperatures in the 70's and no wind. Behind me, a bright moon lit the few clouds that drifted across the sky. A couple of stars struggled to outshine the light of the moon and the lights of Manhattan a few miles away. As everyone slept, I put my head back. With my face to the sky, I closed my eyes and began to pray. "Lord!" I began. "I don't know what you want from me. I need your help. We're struggling to survive. "I know you have a plan for everyone and everything. You put rocks in our path to give us strength, but, Lord, I don't know if I'm strong enough for the mountain in front of me. "When you took Georgia home with you, I was lost. A spilled bag of peas got me back on track. I watched them roll across the floor and saw what my life had become - a scattered mess. "I cried on my knees, as I tried to pull the peas into a pile. Later I saw your wisdom. It was your lesson to me - one piece at a time. "Lord, I'm not seeing it this time. What do you want from me? "I thank you for bringing Ginny into my life. She's everything I prayed for. You looked down and pulled our two grief-stricken hearts together. "Lord, you took our spouses home to you and left us alone. We doubted you. 'Why?' we cried. You made it right again, but now I have doubts. How much must Ginny and I go through? "Lord, there's my writing. I love it. It's not a career. All I'm doing is writing from my heart. I don't know where it's heading, but I feel it is going somewhere. Lord, people around the world are emailing me. They tell me their problems and joys. They thank me for touching their hearts. "Where's it going, Lord? I'm hurting and struggling, but in some way, I'm helping others. I thought helping those in need was to work in a soup kitchen, donating to charities, or laboring for those who couldn't. "Is sharing my words and my heart with the world what you want me to do, Lord? It doesn't seem to be going anywhere. This time, your will is not as clear as the spilled bag of peas, then again, I didn't see that message until many months later. This bag of peas is taking a lot longer to pick up. I'm not sure I'll be able to gather them all up." Alone on my deck that night, with nothing but the hum of New York City traffic in the distance, I prayed for more than an hour. "Lord, what do you want me to do?" I opened my eyes. In the black sky above, one single cloud, lit white by the moon, looked back at me. The cloud was shaped in the form of a bearded man's face. Through the black eye sockets, stars twinkled. The answer was cloudy clear. *************************** Life is better now. Ginny and I are slowly getting back on our feet. Our bills are paid on time. We can afford a pizza and maybe dinner out once-in-a-while. Heather remarried. She and the three boys are building a new life in Idaho with her new husband. My son does his thing and Ginny and I enjoy our love for each other. There are hills and mountains ahead, but the face in the clouds still stares at me. I know it's going to be OK. Michael T. Smith If you enjoy a story, feel free to pass it on to your friends. My only request is that you include the link for your friends to join our family. To join our family, go to: http://subs.zinester.com/86758/ As promised, here is a list of great inspirational sites. I subscribe to all of them. You will love these sites. A good friend of mine has a new book out. You should check this out. Carol's been through rough times. She tells it all in her latest book. Carol Roach M.Ed, B.A. Publisher: Storytime Tapestry Author: Angels Watching Over Me:http://www.lulu.com/content/644485 Picking up the Pieces: A Woman's Journey: www.publishamerica.com To join Carol's story site, go to Storytime Tapestry at: http://archives.zinester.com/98907/ Here's a good one by Linda Della Donna Freelance Writer www.littleredmailbox.com www.griefcase.blogspot.com www.storybone.blogspot.com "...and sometime when I wasn't looking, I got a new life." By my good friend Keith in Australia: http://www.agiftofinspiration.com.au/ My friend Phil runs http://www.peoplestuff.com.au/ Phil's awesome and brutally honest Zev, yes another friend, runs http://empoweringmessages.com/stories/ Heart Catchers is a wonderful site. www.DianeDeanWhite.com www.Heartwarmers.com and www.petwarmers.com are two wonderful story sites. http://hodu.com/ http://www.mydailyinsights.com/ www.ripplemaker.com http://www.sermonillustrator.org http://www.SkyWriting.Net Here's a newly discovered one I like: http://www.archive.zinester.com/9516 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WarmFuzzyStories/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WithInSight/ If you, or anyone you know needs prayers for health concerns, struggles,etc visit www.janetperezeckles.com Janet's prayer group will respond. That's all I can think of right now. If I come up with more, I'll add them. Enjoy!!! I love your comments, Send them to msmith4@nj.rr.com. I'll include some in every post. Now for some comments on my last few stories: I received so many wonderful comments last week. I wish I could share them all with you, but sadly I can't. Rest assured, I did reply to everyone of them, as those of you who wrote me know. This email from Diana cracked me up. I love what kids say. I loved your stories today of your grandkids. Thanks for starting my day off with a smile! I have a new granddaughter, Azalia Praise. Her big sister Angelina is just awestruck with her. Her mom and I got a huge laugh when Angelina realized the baby's food came from mom's "beebs" (her word for breasts). The look on her face was priceless. She promptly came out and told grama and grampa that the baby gets her food from beebs, and lifted her shirt to show us. Have a blessed day! Diana ****************** From Emma in Italy. Emma is a teacher and experieces children's comments constantly. My name is Emma and I'd like to thank you for the great help and source of inspiration that your newsletter provides for me. I'm and Italian elementary teacher, living in Caserta, a small town 30 km from Naples: therefore, as a teacher, I've been especially touched by the make a difference movie" that you linked to in your last message. I also appreciate very much all of your stories and thought I'd tell you so. I've thought of writing to you before, to thank you for this service, but today's stories were touching enough to actually make me do so. I wish you all the best for your work and hope to keep receiving your stories for a long time. Have a good day. Emma ******************* I'm obliviously walking through the housewares section of a local department store because my eyes are focused on my infant son who is sitting up in the cart without his carseat for the first time. Suddenly, he is pointing at something and saying, "Foccee! Mommy's Foccee! Mommy's Foccee!" So, I followed his finger - coffee mugs. He had noticed the coffee mugs. He's almost twelve now, but while all of my family and friends drink coffee, they always bring me Mommy's Foccee, and I love it. It's especially funny at restaurants - we try to be careful and actually ask for coffee, but after eleven years, it's hard. Michelle ******************* Good morning Mike, I am so sorry to hear about the loss of your son's friend. At the same time, I am happy for you that your son was lucky enough to have left that vehicle before the crash. Last week I went with a friend to New Jersey to pick up a large cabin cruiser he had bought and to bring it up to Canada via the Hudson River and Erie Canal system. One day, while we were broken down in Waterford New York, awaiting repairs, I saw my first television in days, and the lead CNN story was about a car full of 5 cheerleaders who were killed when they hit a semi-trailer head on. It's such a tragedy to lose young vibrant lives. Recently in Canada, there have been a number of deaths of young people due to street racing and racing on highways. You would not hear about those incidents in New Jersey, just as we here would not typically hear about those 5 girls or your son's friends. I am writing this now, since I have a 17 year old son who has recently received his full licence, and cannot wait for any opportunity to drive my car. I get nervous for him every time he does take the car, and pray for his safe arrival. I know what I was like when I first started to drive in the carefree sixties. Now there are more cars that are faster, and more drivers that seem to be less skilled to handle the volumes on our roads. The 4th of July (just like Canada Day) should be a time of rejoicing and celebration, not mourning and worrying about the fate of a young person who made a serious mistake. Our prayers will include your son and all of his friends - that another such incident never finds any of them. Your (poppy) friend in Oakville, ON. Ed Leonard ************************ In His time and by His grace. Mike, I loved your story about the garden of death. Thank God, it is now a new garden of life. Your creative abilities are abundantly expressed in this story. You have a wonderful talent of expressing your feelings and putting them into a very descriptive analagous story, if that is the right word. Thanks for sharing, it is beautiful. Nell ********************* About "The Color of Yogurt": What a lovely story! It is indeed gratifying when you are there to see the progress little kids make when learning a language. I live that every day, because I'm a teacher in preschool and elementary (an English teacher, by the way. We speak Spanish here in Venezuela). I get so excited when they learn a new word and they start using it every time they can! And sometimes it's frustratingly funny when they don't get them. There was a kid named Diego, and he wanted to use a spatula to flatten some clay, so he told me "Teacher, can I use your 'patula'? (Mae, puedo usar tu p?tula?)" I laughed and told him: "Sweetie, it's called a 'esp?tula' (Cielo, se llama esp?tula) "I know! So? Can I use your p?tula?". The same happened with the word microphone (micr?fono, which he called 'cr?fono', or if it belonged to other person, 'tu-cr?fono'. He got confused with the 'mi' part of the word, which is the equivalent to the possessive "my" in English). Things like those are the ones that make me love my job, and I hope to keep enjoying it for a long time. And by the way, I love yogurt color too! Jessica. ************************* About "The Color of Yogurt": What a lovely story! It is indeed gratifying when you are there to see the progress little kids make when learning a language. I live that every day, because I'm a teacher in preschool and elementary (an English teacher, by the way. We speak Spanish here in Venezuela). I get so excited when they learn a new word and they start using it every time they can! And sometimes it's frustratingly funny when they don't get them. There was a kid named Diego, and he wanted to use a spatula to flatten some clay, so he told me "Teacher, can I use your 'patula'? (Mae, puedo usar tu p?tula?)" I laughed and told him: "Sweetie, it's called a 'esp?tula' (Cielo, se llama esp?tula) "I know! So? Can I use your p?tula?". The same happened with the word microphone (micr?fono, which he called 'cr?fono', or if it belonged to other person, 'tu-cr?fono'. He got confused with the 'mi' part of the word, which is the equivalent to the possessive "my" in English). Things like those are the ones that make me love my job, and I hope to keep enjoying it for a long time. And by the way, I love yogurt color too! Jessica. To unsubscribe, please go to: http://www.zinester.com/cgi/unsub.cgi?86758&0& |
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| << July05, 2007 - Hearts and Humor - The Color of Yogurt |
July12, 2007 - Hearts and Humor - The Best Move >> |
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