thoughts

life is like an onion: you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep. -- carl sandburg

in regards to our struggling with challenges of life, think of how delicious the soup will be in the end because the onion was added. for as king david wrote "weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning" (Psalms 30:5)

a psalm of life

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,

Life is but an empty dream!

For the soul is dead that slumbers,

and things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!

And the grave is not its goal;

Dust thou art; to dust returnest,

Was not spoken of the soul.

...

Let us, then, be up and doing,

With a heart for any fate;

Still achieving, still pursuing,

Learn to labour and to wait,

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

my friend marsha is a good soul. on july 8, 2008 we celebrated with her. she had a birthday. with joy and gratitude she embraced her years. it was a birth and a rebirth party. for on this day the doctor's gave her the "all clear" notice. she is a survivor of pancreatic cancer! note: less than 5% of patients diagnosed with this disease are still alive five years after diagnosis, but for some reason the Lord does not need her yet and has allowed her to linger longer with us. how lucky we are and how grateful we are. marsha lives life fully. she serves, she works, she plays, she honors the Lord. here's to marsha - and to numerous more decades!

the dreaded yellow tray - take 2

have i mentioned how much i hate going to the dentist? oh yeah, i have - re: june 13, 2008 post! well yesterday was take two of my trip to hell. (one more to go) steve's (of morgan family dentistry) staff were bubbly and cute when i arrived and welcomed me with warm friendly conversation and smiles. i wanted to smack them. i will spare the reader the disgusting, gory details of the procedure and just say that after digging and drilling from my mouth clear to my eye socket the decay and bad root are now gone. why don't i feel better?