Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

September 3, 2007

Publishers Favourite Sites:

Rosanne Catalano

http://www.rosannecatalano.net/

Michael Smith

http://subs.zinester.com/86758/

Barbara Weymouth

penwormprayerwarriors-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Helen Dowd

www.occupytillicome.com

Dean Perchick

http://symzonia.blogspot.com

Today’s Announcements

A happy birthday wish goes out to our Maltese writer, Tanja Cilia: tanjachilja@hotmail.com

Donations are always needed to help with the operating expenses of running the newsletter and to keep Storytime Tapestry the quality newsletter you are so accustomed to.   

Please note that Storytime Tapestry is a free newsletter to members and there will never be a cost for the newsletter. Donations are purely voluntary and no member should ever feel guilty for not making a donation at this time.

Today’s Stories

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The Spider

by Helen Dowd

Do you know that teachers and parents are not the only ones who teach us lessons, and that school is not the only place we can learn? Yes. God teaches lessons too?

“HOW?” you ask. One of God's ways to teach is through NATURE. If we open our eyes we can learn lessons from some of God’s smallest and most insignificant creatures. Proverbs 30:24-28 tells us this: “There be four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise:...The ants....The conies (a kind of rabbit)....The locusts....The spider.” (King James Version)

This lesson is on diligence, or perseverance, and its teacher is one of God’s most despised creations:

THE SPIDER

“The spider taketh hold with her hands, and is in kings’ palaces.” Proverbs 30:28. (KJV)

Industrious spider,
spinning magically,
a lacy home,
placed so invisibly:
a perfect pattern,
hung precariously.
To lure your prey,
you wait
so patiently.

And should a breeze
that wafts so silently
across your labyrinth--
built so carefully--
destroy you web,
most unintentionally,
you build again,
undaunted,
tirelessly.

Mysterious spider,
hiding secretly
in royal palace
or in squalid den.
You wait for naught
to weave your silky maze.
You have no fear:
you’ll snare your
prize again.

Tenacious spider,
spin your awesome web.
May nature then,
with glistening drops of dew,
adorn your lace by
adding shimmering light.
And let all eyes behold
th’ ethereal
sight.

Just watch the spider at work, as I did, outside my office window. She never tires of her job, and she never stops until it is finished. She does not become discouraged when things don’t go her way. She does not give up. She just starts again.

  Helen Dowd

Bio

Helen Dowd enjoys spending time at her computer, along side her husband of 50 years, writing poetry, story poems, stories about pets and life in general, as well as inspirational and Bible stories. Her writings can be found on her website: www.occupytillicome.com. She has recently had a book published  – If You Only Knew!—a story of courage and faith, taking place during the Great Depression and beyond.  It can be viewed by pressing on the banner on the front page of her website.

hmdowd@telus.net

~**~**~

It Is Written # 4.
Bill Walker
missourisage@yahoo.com

Malachi 3;10. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, If I will not open the windows of Heaven and pore you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

Mark 12;42. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites, which made a farthing.

I think one must read a bit more of the words both before and after these two verses to get the meaning.

We know no more about the poor widow, then the fact she gave maybe her last two cents. She trusted what was said in Malachi. This is a pure case of trust, and obey.

1 Kings 17;10 And he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering sticks: and he called to her and said fetch me. I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink.

17:11. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

17;12. And she said, As the Lord thy God liveth I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat and die.

17;13. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou has said: but make me a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and thy son.

17;14. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel. The barrel of meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.

17;15. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

Here was a poor woman, who had a son. She was down to her last means of a small meal. She gave all one might say. The barrel of meal never ran out, the oil never ran out. We are not told, but sticks were found as needed for the fire.

In her case, God replaced the oil and the meal as needed. Trust and obey.
Tinker and Poo; The Boys Write
http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?&isbn=0-595-35741-5
*
 

~**~**~

ValueSpeak

A Weekly Column

By Joseph Walker

valuespeak@msn.com

NO MATTER WHAT

            For more than a week now, national media attention has been focused on a small mining community in the mountains not far from where I live, as anxious families wait to learn the fate of six miners who have been trapped deep within a coal mine.

            I can’t even imagine the pain and anguish of loved ones as they wait and wonder, clinging to every small glimmer of hope that is offered despite the ominous possibilities that loom larger with each passing hour.  Nor can I begin to understand what may or may not have been going on inside the mine behind the wall of rubble.  To be honest, I try not to think about it, although I do find myself praying for them.

            A lot.

            I don’t think I’m alone in that.  I’m sure countless prayers have been offered for the miners and their families during the past week or so.  Nothing mobilizes and energizes this nation’s faith like a crisis.  Americans are believers, by and large, and we are quick to exercise our faith when it is needed.

            But I have also been impressed by those who have been exercising more than their faith in behalf of the trapped miners.  From the moment of the cave-in there have been miners on the other side of the rubble clawing at the rocks and debris, sometimes with bare hands.  Never mind the fact that part of the mine had just collapsed, or the occasional tremors that quivered beneath the surface of the earth.  Miners from all around the world have come and are working shoulder-to-shoulder with local miners in a desperate race against time.

            Every hour of every day.

            “Those are good men down there,” said one miner, obviously weary after a long shift pulling rocks and dirt and who know what else out of the mine.  “They’re our brothers, and you never give up on your brother.”

            And so they work – grueling, hard, exhausting work – hour after hour, day after day, in a mine that has already trapped six of their colleagues.  At this point they don’t know if their function is rescue or recovery.  To be honest, they don’t really care.  The moment the ceiling of the mine collapsed separating them from six fellow miners this stopped being a job.  Now, it’s more of a mission – a quest.  And it’s personal – deeply, intimately, painfully so.

            “We’re all kind of a family up here,” one grizzled veteran said as he strapped on his safety gear and prepared to enter the mine one more time.  “We watch out for each other and we take care of each other no matter what.  That’s what families do.”

            At least, that’s what families SHOULD do.  But as I watch how these men and women cling to each other through this heart-wrenching ordeal, it occurs to me that our families could probably learn a few things from the way this “family” functions: how they love each other.  How they respect each other.  How they care about each other.  And how they are there for each other.  No matter what.

            Of course, crisis has a way of bringing together even the most dysfunctional families.  But there is something real among these miners – something solid that binds them together and gives them strength.  And somehow you understand that the tangible synergy of this “family” will see them through whatever the future holds for them.

            Just as it can for our families.

            No matter what.

Poetry Corner

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God

David Fox

God never speaks aloud

But whatever you do, He is proud.

So try your best, the best you can,

Because God is proud of every woman and man.

David Fox

davidirafox@yahoo.com

 ~**~**~

A Perfect World

David Fox

Lord, paint me a perfect world

Where the sun will always shine,

I'm sure that you can do it Lord,

If you can turn water into wine.

David Fox

davidirafox@yahoo.com

~**~**~

 Love One Another

David Fox

Love one another

Like your sister or brother

Because every Tom, Dick and Steve

Are related to Adam and Eve

In one way or another.

David Fox

davidirafox@yahoo.com

~**~**~

Stars

David Fox

As I look up in the sky

A thought comes to my mind

I have to stop and wonder

Which one is God behind?

David Fox

davidirafox@yahoo.com

Readers Feedback

Happy Birthday Storytime!  I love all those gifts you share with us.                   Louise

Happy Birthday Storytime!!  I still miss Loren. 

Laura

Oh! my, where has the last four years gone?  I have been with Tapestry since the beginning.  I have enjoyed every article that I have read.  I look forward to reading what the great writers have to tell. Congratulations Carol.  Keep up the good work.

Tennie in sunny Florida

Congratulations Carol and Storytime Tapestry on the 4th Anniversary!  I enjoy the variety in the newsletter, with so many writers, ideas, information, stories, and poems.  I also am deeply pleased by the open acceptance so many writers are given by this publication.  There is an open-ness and liberality toward all kinds of writing and writers.

Thanks to Carol and all who contribute!

Blessings, Mary-Ellen Grisham "meg"

Storytime Tapestry Angels

Angels on earth, they exist they are out there.  Angels come in all ages, shapes and sizes, civil status, and religion.  Their nature is love and their purpose is giving to the less fortunate of this world.  Storytime Tapestry angels are no exception.  These angels are loyal members who have contributed to the upkeep of Storytime Tapestry newsletter so that Storytime Tapestry can continue come to your email box 350 days of the year.

Here is our Storytime Tapestry Angels: Also, I would like to thank those of you who chose to be a silent angel and gave an anonymous donation to keep Storytime Tapestry up and running.

Clara Westerfer, Mark Crider, Rosanne Catalano, Paula Booher, Kay Seefeldt, Mariane Holbrook, Mary Ellen Grisham, Louise Nomani, Sharon Bryant, Angela Walker, Hart and Helen Dowd, Keith Ready, Ginger Morgenstern, Ellie Braun-Haley, Surinder Jandu, Bob Shaw, Carol Meeks, Charlotte Hilliard, Maria Keller