I think that I was born…old!

As a child I, regularly, related to adults, better, than my peers.

My pastor told me that I had an old soul…I was seventeen at the time.

When I was young…I felt much older…and now that I am old…I feel the same.

Each year, during the early years of our marriage, I said that we should do our best to enjoy it…as it may be the best year of our lives!

If we could see the end…from the beginning…we might not take the ride!

Life brings us a sublime mixture of joy and sorrow….and we can not, always, see which is coming our way…next.

So many of life’s occurrences are beyond our control.  With our best efforts health challenges will, ultimately, come our way.

Sometimes, life partners…do not remain…until, ‘death do you part.’

Fortunes are won…and fortunes are lost.

The inherent and mysterious and majestic beauty of life…is the uniqueness and fragility of it…much like a snowflake!

We are born into a world without any life skills and helpless!  It is a miracle that, with God’s help, we become adults and husbands and wives and mothers and fathers!

Never allow someone to tell you that you can not do something!  Anything that you can conceive…you can achieve!

I admire those who have known great suffering…and yet do not allow that suffering to define who they are.

I admire the lonely…who reach out to make others feel included!

I admire the sick and the frail…who, continue, to put one foot in front of the other to provide for their families.

I admire the servant leader…who seeks the betterment of everyone that they lead…and who prefers to remain in the background and remain nameless.

On the road of life there are, beautiful mountains…much like my beloved Smoky Mountains…and there are, very dim and dark, valleys.

When we are on the mountain top…we can see so far, and in all directions.  We laugh , heartily, and we cry tears of joy!  The excitement of the moment and the brightness of the sun…blocks the clouds of despair and suffering and rejection.

However, the nice part about being in the valley…is the sight of the mountain top…when we look up!  Worry…can cloud our mind and capture our heart…until we once again…begin climbing the mountain!