Closing Sunday School Prayer of my Childhood

Let the words of my mouth

and the meditations of my heart,

be acceptable in Thy sight,

O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer.

Psalms 19:14

Ithaka by Cavafy- Read at Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis's funeral

Ithaka

By Constantine P. Cavafy

As you set out for Ithaka

hope your road is a long one

full of adventure, full of discovery.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

angry Poseidon--don't be afraid of them:

you'll never find the things like that on your way

as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,

as long as a rare excitement

stirs your spirit and your body.

Laistrygonians, Cyclops,

wild Poseidon, you won't encounter them

unless you bring them along inside your soul,

unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.

May there be many summer mornings when,

with what pleasure, what joy,

you enter harbors you're seeing for the first-time:

may you stop at Phoenician trading stations

to buy fine things,

mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,

sensual perfume of every kind--

as many sensual perfumes as you can;

and may you visit Egyptian cities

to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind,

Arriving there is what you're destined for,

But don't hurry the journey at all.

Better if it lasts for years,

So you're old by the time you reach the island,

Wealthy with all you've gained along the way,

Not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.

Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.

Without her you wouldn't have set out.

She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you,

Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,

You'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.

Play Ball

Never let your fear of striking out

keep you from playing the game.

What is essential?

Our lives are frittered away by detail...

simplify, simplify!

Henry David Thoreau

Blessings

One single grateful thought raised to heaven

is the most perfect prayer.

G.E. Lessing

Words to live by

Live simply

Read broadly

Think deeply

Pray constantly

Speak slowly

Desire little

Give much

And once in awhile...

Belch!

God Shed His Grace On Thee

O Beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife.

Who more than self their country loved

And mercy more than life.
America the Beautiful lyrics by Katherine Lee Bates

Epitaph

We tell our freedom backward by the land.

We tell our past by the gravestones and the apple trees.

Archibald MacLeish- "Land of the Free"

Children of the Heavenly Father

Though He giveth or He taketh,

God His children ne'er forsaketh.

His the loving purpose solely,

To preserve them pure and holy.

Hymn- Children of the Heavenly Father

Speechless

Do not the most moving moments of our lives

find us without words?

Lit From Within

People are like stained-glass windows.

They sparkle and shine while the sun is out,

but when the darkness sets in,

their true beauty is seen

only if there is light from within.

Earthly Angels

A babe in the house is a well-spring of pleasure,

a messenger of peace and love,

a resting place for innocence on earth,

a link between angels and men.

Martin Farquhar Tupper

Stepping Stones

One of the secrets of life

is to make stepping stones

out of stumbling blocks.

Singing

What in the world would I sing for, if I had it all?

Dave Matthews

And a Little Child Shall Lead Them

I'd give all wealth that years have piled,

The slow result of Life's decay,

To be once more a little child

For one bright summer day.

Lewis Carroll

Solutions

90% of the world's problems

could be solved with one thing: kindness.

What Will Your Mark Be?

We are all pencils in the hand of God.

Mother Theresa

Winnie the Pooh Wisdom

Rivers know this: there is no hurry.

We shall get there some day.

A.A. Milne

Giggling

Earth laughs in flowers.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Happy Feet

It's practically impossible

to look at a penguin and feel angry.

Joe Moore

Thorny Issue

If you scatter thorns,

don't go barefoot.
Italian Proverb?

Roads Less Travelled

I took the road less travelled by,

and that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost

Sunshine or Shadow

I am the one who chooses

whether I see sunshine or shadow.

Soaring

Refuse to be average.

Let your heart soar as high as it will.

A.W. Tozer

Nothing Lacking

Be content with what you have,

rejoice in the way things are.

When you realize there is nothing lacking,

the whole world belongs to you.

Lao Tzu

Shining

We are told to let our light shine,

and if it does,

we won't need to tell anybody it does.

Dwight L. Moody

Happy As Kings

The world is so full of a number of things,

I'm sure we should all be

as happy as kings.

Robert Louis Stevenson