Words from the Heart

Asking For Forgiveness (Photo credit: hang_in_there ) In the last post, my guest blogger, Margaret Norton, began a dialogue on the Gift of Forgiveness.  Since that post, several people have emailed me to say, "How can I forgive?"  "Why forgive? They only keep hurting me."  "If someone hurts someone else that I love, they hurt me, too.  But, it's not my job to forgive them." To these readers and others of like mind, allow me to repeat a truth that I can testify to wholeheartedly - Forgiveness is the greatest gift you give yourself!  What does this mean?  The gift you give yourself when you forgive someone, is the ability to go through life without carrying around a bundle of hate, despair, fear, outrage, anger, disappointment and so on.  An old wise man once asked me if I would carry around a bag of excrement.  I, not surprisingly, was appalled!  "Of course not!" I stated most vehemently.  "That is totally disgusting!" "We...

Unconditional love is difficult to give.  To do so, one must overlook all the imperfections, the bumps and warts, the eccentricities of their loved ones.  This is not easy, but, some people come pretty close to loving unconditionally.  If you are very lucky, they will share the path with you. Roger is one of the dearest, kindest and most loving men in the world. He is one of the primary people on my list of Those I know and Love . Roger is my partner in life, a cheerleader when I need encouragement, and wise counsel when I need a bit of Sophic advice.  Each morning begins with Roger greeting me with, "Good morning, beautiful!" Each evening ends with, "I am so blessed to have you in my life."  You know, it doesn't get much better than this! My daughters are at the top of the list, too, as are my grandchildren.  Each is a gem like no other.  Each brings me such joy! I would be remiss if I didn't add my dear, dear friend Barbara to the top of the lis...

Image via Wikipedia When I began this blog in January of 2007, I never stopped to think about the lives it would touch. Quite honestly, I thought only my family and some of my friends would bother to look at what I had written.  However, as the years passed, I came to realize that blogging is a powerful tool.  As the header of the blog states,   " Words from the Heart are powerful. Words, when connected to Spirit, heal, bring hope, and connect us to the world. Words nurture dreams into reality. Words from the Heart bring Peace. " Over the past four and a half years, I have been blessed with comments from people around the world.  I have developed long-lasting friendships with fellow writers. And, I have used my blog to help bring awareness to issues like AIDS, cancer, Alzheimer's and abuse.   In January of this year, I added a map to this blog.  It tracks the places where people live who visit and read. Never in my wildest dreams would I have tho...

I was driving to work a few days after the horrendous earthquake in Haiti listening to NPR on the radio. The reporter was telling how survivors had gathered in a central area to wait for aid...water,food, medical care. She told how occasionally someone in the crowd of hundreds of survivors would break out in song, how others would join in the chanting and how it relieved the tension of waiting. During the reporter's wanderings through the crowd, she came upon an elderly woman who was seated under the shade of a small tree. The woman was completely alone. As the reporter approached, she realized that the old woman was singing, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Amen!" She sang it with all her heart; her own little tune, over and over again. In speaking to her, the reporter found that the little grandmother had lost everything she owned. She had no home, no money, no family or friends. She was totally alone, except for her great faith in her God to which she sang a ...

There are times when the serendipity of Life just blows me over. Today, I had the great pleasure of preaching at my friend Will's church. The theme for today's service was, "Be Love." The sermon spoke of how we are all called to Be Love in whatever manner we can. The sermon was well received, leaving me with a feeling of content accomplishment. Arriving home, I sat down to check what emails had come in over the past two days while I was gone. My eyes were immediately drawn to an email that seemed to stand out like a beacon of Light from the screen. My friend, Maithri, had written about the new non-profit organization he has started for the people in Swaziland. As I read his note and then traveled to the new website for Possible Dreams International (PDI), my heart filled with such joy. Here was an example of what I had been trying to share with the congregation at my friend's church. Maithri and the people who work with him, are all the personification of Lo...