STORYTIME TAPESTRY

The Newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world

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Nov 28, 2005? 

Today??™s Announcements:

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? I am very pleased to announce that Barbara Philips, writer # 269 has joined our most talented group of writers here at Storytime Tapestry.? 

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Now on to the good stuff..........

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Today's Queue Stories
~**~**~**~

~ Come Home ~

Joyce C. Lock

? ? ?  Imagining a proud father holding a newborn in the palm of his hand, I envision love beaming from God's eyes as He says,?  "Awe, Perfect!?  How beautiful!"?  You were exactly the creation intended.?  (God didn't make a mistake.?  He never does.)? ?  Christians are royalty, joint heirs, children of the KING!?  With access to everything God owns, we get the best seats in the house!?  Yet, knowing such is of little value until we access those privileges.

? ? ?  Some struggle to become acceptable, thinking God won't otherwise receive them.?  Others hold people back, trying to make them white.?  Acceptance was ours the moment we received God and the acceptable time is when He calls you.?  Don't tell God's children they can't serve.?  And, don't you tell God you can't.?  As long as we bow to such defeating thoughts, we remain separate from truth and rightful inheritance.

? ? ?  You know God is there.?  Sometimes you hear Him.?  But often, He seems so very far away.?  He isn't really.?  He's just patiently waiting for you to let go of your cross, get up, and walk.?  More than anything we could offer, God longs for a relationship with us.?  When we seek God more than life itself, He begins revealing Himself to us.? ?  There's such 'awe' in God's presence, as in each step we learn more about what He's really like.?  Try taking spiritual risks, you may never know what you're missing.? 

? ? ?  If we only have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.?  Truth sets you free.?  Stand up to Satan with it.?  Seek to know truth in your every thought.?  Does it line up with God's love for you??  Seek God's direction in each moment of your day, wherein it is impossible to fail Him.?  Don't put it off any longer.?  Your life depends upon it.?  Steps of faith give us Victory!

? ? ?  Through much tribulation we enter the Kingdom of God (letting Him sit upon the throne of our heart).?  For those who don't choose it, it just isn't bad enough yet ... bad enough to place all those wounds where they rightfully belong (on Satan's door step) ... bad enough to quit telling God what He believes and get our every next answer from Him ... bad enough to desire praises from God instead of men ... bad enough to say,?  "Here am I, send me."

? ? ?  Perhaps only then can God be a proud parent again, (not perfect, but having perfect hearts) - children who look into their Father's eyes with complete faith and adoration.

? ? ?  God raises the weak to confound the wise.?  He wants to love us in ways we never dreamed.?  Isn't it about time we let Him?

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?© by Joyce C. Lock
http://our.homewithgod.com/heavenlyinspirations/

~**~**~? 

? Just Look 'em In the Eye

Michael Smith

My boss and I walked down the hallway of our building. "Hi, John." I said to a passing gentleman. "Hey, Susan!" I called to a woman headed to the water? cooler. "Jeff? What's shakin'?" I asked another.

My boss looked at me, "I've been here longer than you, and yet you know everyone. How do you do that?"

I didn't answer right away. He made me realize, I did know almost everyone who worked on the four floors our company occupied in the building. It is like? that at all the companies I have worked for. It continues at the new company I work for today.

I knew the security guards that monitored our safety. I knew the cleaners, the maintenance men, the bosses, and the workers. I knew them all. Hundreds of people I could call "my friends."

Outside the office, wherever I lived, I knew all the neighbors. I knew the grocery clerks and the guy who takes the carts from the parking lot. I know the postman and the guy behind the counter at the 7/11 down the street

"It's simple." I finally answered. "I look them in the eye and say, ???Hi!??? That's all it takes. I see them in the hall and I say, ???Hi! How are you???? Soon they? recognize me and will say ???Hi!??? or "Good Morning!??? to me first.

Michael SmithFort Lee, NJ

mtsmith@qwestonline.com
Read my Stories at http://heartsandhumor.com/blog/

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Lessons From the Dying

Barbara C. Phillips

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Dan called me to his room. He looked perplexed and asked "who are all these people Barbara?"

I looked around the room. On the walls there were posters of various people and events. On his dresser were pictures of his mother, late partner and various friends who were no longer alive. The sun was shining through the windows, and there was gentle music playing in the background.

It seemed to anyone looking at the scene that Dan and I were alone. But were we?

I looked at Dan, smiled, and said "Dan, these are your guides."

He smiled and relaxed back on the pillows, closing his eyes. "Oh good. I thought they would never get here. It's almost time isn't it?"

"Yes it is. Are you ready?"

"Yes...it's been a long time." I looked out the window into the court yard. Dan had been living at the hospice for longer that I had been there.

When I arrived 3 years earlier, he had filled me in on what it was like to have AIDS. He taught me about the culture, what it was like to watch all of your friends die and wonder when your turn was coming.

Dan's question was not unusual. I had heard various renditions of the same question over the years prior and since Dan's death. By the time I met Dan, death was not a stranger to me...professionally and personally. I had seen and experienced things that science cannot explain and indeed many just dismiss.

Living creatures are made up of energy. It's our Spirit or Soul I suppose. We can feel it. Often times we can see it. We know when it's there, and we know when it's gone. Occasionally, we are blessed to see it leave.

Dan.
Greg.
Paul.
Shelly.
Claudia.
Michael.
Steve.
John.
Mitch.

These are just some of the countless names of men and women who taught me how to live while dying.

Years previous to this, I was introduced to Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore. This poem touched me deeply as I still had unfinished business around my fathers death when I was 16. I still carry this poem with me today.

Peace, my heart, let the time for parting be sweet.
Let it not be a death, but completeness.
Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way.

Rabindranath Tagore, poem 61, published 1914?  in ???The Gardener???.

A week later, I watched Dan smile and then saw his Spirit leave his body and move on to what is next. His guides gently leading the way.

Thank you Dan.

(c)2005

info@OlderWiserWomen.com

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Barbara C. Phillips, NP is a board certified Geriatric and Family Nurse Practitioner with more than a few decades of experience. She is the founder of OlderWiserWomen?„? where women are inspired to the freedom, magic, and wisdom of successful aging.?  She is currently accepting age positive stories for inclusion in her book tentatively titled ???OlderWiserWomen: Our Journey???. Published widely on the internet and in international print media, she is also a contributing author to Inspiration to Realization, Vol II, with her chapter ???Aging is an Inside Job??? (available 12/1/05).?  Visit http:// www.OlderWiserWomen.com?  for your copy of ???Celebrating You: 50 Tips for Vibrant Living.???? 

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? SENIOR WRITERS

Chief Writer: Sharon Bryant

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? Agee, Vance;? Apted, Violet;? Baker, Kathy; Batt, Al;?  Berry, Nell; Blaine, Pamela

Boda, Ginger;? ? Buhagiar, Victor; Cassady, B.J.;?  Cavalera, Robyn; Crider, Mark;? 

Deming, Barb; Doherty, Maria; Goodier, Steve; Halley, Ellie Braun;

Harris, Kathy Anne;? Hunt, Sharlette;? 

Jacobson, Gary;? Kiser, Roger Dean; Kerens, Claudia; Jenkins, Pamela;

Liles, Norma; Lilly, Jodi Flesberg; Lock, Joyce; Mazzella, Joe;? Morris, Deepak; Ojeigbe, Georgewaters;

?  Petry, Dianna Doles; Roberts, Susan;?  Shiveley, Debra; Shaw, Bob; Sims, Richard; Streidel, Saskia; Swarner, Ken; Vaknin, Sam; Verhoeff, Jan

Walker, Bill; Walker, Joe;? Warner, Gorden K; Walsh, Sue

Weymouth, Barbara; Whirity, Kathy;? White, Robert;

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STORYTIME TAPESTRY STAFF

Publisher: Carol Roach-founder

Moderator: Thelma Hartselle-co founder

Moderator: Clara Westerfer

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