THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY

What you say to a friend or an acquaintance or even someone in passing could remain in their minds for the rest of their life. It could even remain in yours. I have many words running through my mind. Some have been said to me and some I have said. I would like to erase some that have been said to me and I regret some I have said.

"It will only take a few seconds." Said to me when I wasn't feeling too well physically. I cannot get rid of them. I spend a lot of seconds doing things that add up to minutes and hours that I could have been doing something more meaningful. Usually, more meaningful things take more than a few seconds.

"Can't never did do anything!" My Dad said that to me and it impacted my life for the better. Thanks, Dad!

I could go on and on, but these are just a couple of examples. There are too many running around in my head. 

"Be Kind with Your Words."

Going Way Back on Thursday

I learned 'jitterbug' to Glen Miller's 'In the Mood'!

Thought for Thursday

"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too.  A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way." 

W. H. Murray said that in his book
The Scottish Himalayan Expedition.
I got this quote when I was participating
 in a 30-day journal project with
Lisa Sonora.

Thought for Thursday

My Dad used to say to me
"Can't never did do anything!"
Wonder if he got that from his Dad?

"The pupil who is

never 

required 

to

do 

what he 

cannot

do 

never does

what he can do." *

*From 'The Week', March 28, 2014. 

Credited with John Stuart Mill, 

quoted in the Monterey County, California, 'Herald'.

Thought for Thursday

The Road Not Taken

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black,

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence;

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

---Published in 1916 

in the Collection,

 Mountain Interval

Robert Frost-1916

Born March 26, 1871

Died January 29, 1963

Thoughts for Thursday

First Day of Spring

The Daffodils

William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud

  That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

  A host, of golden daffodils,

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

  Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

  And twinkle on the Milky Way,

They stretched in never-ending line

  Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 

  Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they

  Outdid the sparkling waves in glee;

A poet could not but be gay 

  In such a jocund company.

I gazed, and gazed, but little thought

  What wealth the show to me had brought;

For oft, when on my couch I lie

  In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

  Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

  And dances with the daffodils.

Born April 7, 1770
Died April 23, 1850

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago

Thought for Thursday

The House by the 

Side of the Road

Sam Walter Foss

There are hermit souls that live withdrawn 
  In the place of their self-content;
There are souls like stars.,that dwell apart,
  In a fellowless firmament;
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths
  Where highways never ran---
But let me live by the side of the road
  and be a friend to man.

Let me live in a house by the side of the road,
  Where the race of men go by---
The men who are good and the men who are bad,
  As good and as bad as I.
I would not sit in the scorner's seat,
  Or hurl the cynic's ban---
Let me live in a house by the side of the road
  And be a friend to man.

I see from my house by the side of the road,
  By the side of the highway of life,
The men who press with the ardor of hope,
 The men who are faint with the strife.
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears,
  Both parts of an infinite plan---

Let me live in a house by the side of the road

  And be a friend to man.

Mixed Media Art by Lynne Grant-Tull

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead
  And mountains of wearisome height;
That the road passes on through the long afternoon
  And stretches away to the night.
But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice,
  And weep with the strangers that moan,
Nor live in my house by the side of the road
  Like a man who dwells alone.

Born June 19, 1858
Died February 26, 1911

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago

Thought for Thursday

If you follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there the whole while, waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living.

Joseph Campbell

Thought for Thursday

Opportunity

John James Ingalls

Master of human destinies am I.

Fame, love, and fortune on my footsteps wait,

Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate

Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by

Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late

I knock unbidden, once at every gate!

If sleeping, wake--if feasting, rise before

I turn away. It is the hour of fate,

And they who follow me reach every state

Mortals desire, and conquer every foe

Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate,

condemned to failure, penury, and woe,

Seek me in vain and uselessly implore--

I answer not, and I return no more.

John James Ingalls
Born December 19, 1833
Died July 16, 1900

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago

Thought for Thursday

Abou Ben Adhem

James Henry Leigh Hunt

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)

Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,

And saw, within the moonlight in his room,

Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,

An Angel writing in a book of gold:

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,

And to the Presence in the room he said,

"What writest thou?" The vision raised its head,

And with a look make of all sweet accord

Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"

Replied the Angel.  Abou spoke more low,

But cheerly still; and said, "I pray thee, then,

Write me as one that loves this fellow-men."

The Angel wrote, and vanished.  The next night

It came again with a great wakening light,

And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,

And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!

James Henry Leigh Hunt

(Born October 19, 1784;

died August 28, 1859)

Thought for Thursday

Not in Vain

Emily Dickinson

(Born 1830; died 1886)

If I can stop one heart from breaking,

I shall not live in vain;

If I can ease one life the aching,

Or cool one pain,

Or help one fainting robin

Unto his nest again,

I shall not live in vain.

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago

THOUGHT FOR THURSDAY

A Poem for me and you...

Be Strong!

We are not here to play, to dream, to drift;

We have hard work to do, and loads to lift;

Shun not the struggle-face it: 'tis God's gift.

Be strong!

Say not, "The days are evil. Who's to blame?"

And fold the hands and acquiesce-oh shame!

Stand up, speak out, and bravely, in God's name.

Be  strong! 

It matters not how deep intrenched the wrong,

How hard the battle goes, the day how long;

Faint not-fight on! To-morrow comes the song.

By Maltie Davenport Babcock
(Born August 3, 1858; Died May 18, 1901)

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago

THOUGHT FOR THIS THURSDAY

I thought I would read you a poem today! 
Have a great one!

Keep a-Goin'*

Frank L. Stanton

If you strike a thorn or rose,

   Keep a-goin'!

If it hails or if it snows,

   Keep a-goin'!

'Taint no use to sit an' whine

When the fish ain't on your line;

Bait your hook an' keep a-tryin'--

  Keep a-goin'!

When the weather kills your crop,

   Keep a-goin'!

Though 'tis work to reach the top, 

  Keep a-goin'!

S'pose you're out o' ev'ry dime,

Gittin' broke ain't any crime;

Tell the world you're feelin' prime-

  Keep a-goin'!

When it looks like all is  up,

  Keep a-goin'!

Drain the sweetness from the cup,

  Keep a-goin'!

See the wild birds on the wing,

Hear the bells that sweetly ring,

When you feel like singin', sing-

  Keep a-goin'!

*Frank L. Stanton

(Born February 22, 1857 in Charleston, South Carolina

 died January 7, 1927 in Atlanta, Georgia)

From One Hundred and One Famous Poems
 with a Prose Supplement
An Anthology Compiled by Roy J. Cook
Revised Edition, published in 1958
by The Reilly & Lee Co. Publishers, Chicago