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Inspirational Stories
a selection of my personal favorites
Mother
The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long way?" she asked. And the guide said: "Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."
Lunch With God
A little boy wanted to meet God. He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and a six-pack of Root Beer and he started his journey.
When he had gone about three blocks, he met an elderly man. The man was sitting in the park just feeding some pigeons...
God Lives Under the Bed
I envy Kevin. My brother Kevin thinks God lives under his bed. At least that's what I heard him say one night.
He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, "Are you there, God?" he said. "Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed..."
Becoming the BC Earth Angel
The most memorable experience I can recall was when I worked on Canada's #1 Psychic telephone line. I had become known as the most requested male psychic and the company decided to do a commercial about us all. I was asked to be in the commercial and it was being shot in a shopping center in Kelowna, BC.
I had been going through some tough personal times with answers to what it was I was suppose to be doing with my life. I just felt things weren't going well working for this company and I was in one of those moods where I was wondering if I was doing any good at all. I was always refereed to as Dr. Ron the love doctor to anyone who knew me, yet wasn't finding my own place. Great at helping everyone else but never could find my own answers.
So when I went to bed the night before the shot a small picture of the Arch Angel Michael suddenly just glowed a brilliant orange. I had even forgotten I had placed the picture behind my toaster and had forgotten about it. But as I turned out the light in the kitchen it glowed a brilliant orange color...
It's Not About The Presents!
"There are presents and then there is your presence, the gift of yourself you share with others..."
Read this beautiful poem by Tim Connor for an inspired Christmas!
The Daffodil Principle
"Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in these clouds
and fog, and there is nothing in the world except you and these
children that I want to see badly enough to drive another inch!"
My daughter smiled calmly and said, "We drive in this all the time,
Mother."
"Well, you won't get me back on the road until it clears, and then I'm
heading for home!" I assured her.
"I was hoping you'd take me over to the garage to pick up my car."
"How far will we have to drive?"
"Oh...just a few blocks," Carolyn said. "But I'll drive. I'm used to
this."
After several minutes, I had to ask, "Where are we going? This isn't
the way to the garage!"
"We're going to my garage the long way," Carolyn smiled, "by way of the
daffodils."
"Carolyn," I said sternly, "please turn around."
"It's all right, Mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if
you miss this experience."
The Fun Is In The Getting Of The Goal...
Today as I watched my cat Macho do one of his favorite things – turn the trash over to get something out of it – it reminded me of a great Truth – The Fun Is In The Getting Of The Goal.
In order to not have trash strewn all over the floor, I gave him what he was fishing for. He ignored it. I tossed another item he had been fishing for and it accidentally landed inside an open box. So I threw another one on the floor beside him. He continued to fish the one out of the box.
He had a great time fishing that trinket out of the box. When he finally got it out, he then noticed that there was an identical one lying on the floor beside him all the time, the second one I had thrown. He immediately went back to the full trash basket to fish again.
The point is...
No Better Way to Kill Time...
Sometimes we hear things from those we love and trust, and what we've heard becomes a fact without question, when it truly was a lie. It's worse when the lie was never intended as a lie, but as a true belief passed on as training.
I've been haunted for years by one of my dad's oft-repeated old sayings when I was growing up:
There's no better way to kill time
than work it to death.
I never questioned the truth of that statement. First, I love my dad. He's a really good man. Second, work is good. Third, work is what we're all about, right. Right?
Carpe Diem
Because life deserves to be cherished.
My friend opened his wife's drawer and found a small package wrapped in paper. "That's not just a package. That's lingerie!" he exclaimed. He unfolded the paper and looked at the silk and lace.
"The first time we went to New York, eight or nine years ago, I bought this. She never used it. She wanted to keep it for a special occasion. I believe this occasion has come now."
He went over to the bed and lay the lingerie with the other things the undertaker would come to collect. His wife had just died. As he turned to me he said: "Never save anything for special occasions. Each day you live IS a special already!" These words are now written in my heart and have changed my life forever.
All Good Things
A story about the power of appreciation.
He
was in the first third-grade class I taught at Saint Mary's School in
Morris Minnesota, and Mark Ecklund was one in a million. All of my 34
third-grade students were dear to me, but Mark had a happy-to-be-alive
attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful.
Mark
talked incessantly. I continually admonished him. What impressed me so
much though was his sincere response whenever I correct him for
misbehaving: “Thank you for correcting me, Sister!”
I
didn't know what to make of it at first, but I became accustomed to
hearing it. One morning I made a novice teacher’s mistake. “If you say
one more word, Mark, I am going to tape your mouth shut!”
Ten seconds later, Chuck blurted, “Mark is talking again.”
The Power of Never Quitting
With the recent passing of Ray Charles and the release of a compelling film about his life, called RAY, I thought I would share a few insights regarding Ray's persevering spirit with you. There is an old adage that says, "The arrow that hits the bull's eye is the result of a hundred misses." And that is so reassuring to those of us who are pursuing a dream and along the way things don't go as fast or exactly as we'd hoped.
Ray Charles was a testament to the power of never quitting.
The Rabbi's Gift
The story concerns a monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Once a great order, as a result of waves of anti-monastic persecution in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and the rise of secularism in the nineteenth, all its branch houses were lost and it had become decimated to the extent that there were only five monks left in the decaying mother house: the abbot and four others, all over seventy in age. Clearly it was a dying order.
Carrots, Eggs and Coffee Beans
A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans.
The Invitation
One night, after an evening spent at an unsatisfying social gathering, Oriah Mountain Dreamer sat down and wrote her heartfelt poem.
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
The Rescuing Hug
Five years ago, 19-year NICU Nurse Gayle Kasparian unwittingly became involved in a case that melted hearts nationwide when she suggested putting two premature twin girls in the same incubator. Brielle and Kyrie Jackson were born 12 weeks early at a hospital in Worcester, Mass. Brielle weighed 2 pounds and was struggling with a battery of problems ranging from breathing issues and troubling blood-oxygen levels, to heart rate difficulties. Her sister, 2 pounds 3 ounces, was considered the stronger of the two.
When they were a little less than a month old, Brielle had a very difficult day, according to Kasparian. "She was frantic," the nurse recalled, saying that neither she nor the baby's parents could calm Brielle down as her condition worsened and she became increasingly stressed...
Story Overview
Click the link to jump to the story intro.
- Mother
A loving tribute to mothers...
- Lunch With God
Did you know God likes Twinkies...
- God Lives Under the Bed
Living the bliss of a simple life...
- Becoming the BC Earth Angel
The Day I Found Clarity About My Mission In Life...
- It's Not About The Presents!
How about your presence this Christmas...
- Plant One Today!
The Daffodil Principle...
- The Fun Is In The Getting...
Remembering a great truth!
- No Better Way to Kill Time...
The beliefs we're brought up with.
- Carpe Diem
Because life deserves to be cherished.
- All Good Things
A story about the power of appreciation.
- The Power of Never Quitting
Hold on to your dreams and they will come true!
- The Rabbi's Gift
An old monastery is dying. When the Abbot seeks advice from a rabbi, he gives a teaching that changes all...
- Carrots, Eggs and Coffee Beans
When life is giving you a hard time, how do you deal with it? Like a carrot, like an egg or like coffee beans?!
- The Invitation
Oriah Mountain Dreamer's heartfelt poem and challenge to you...
- The Rescuing Hug
How a premature baby saves the life of her twin sister.
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My Happy Heart © 2004 Patricia Ritsema van Eck