So whatever you’re doing, and however you are feeling, don’t give up, keep going…You can make it through!
Archive for the ‘children’ Category
See It Through
Posted: May 4, 2013 in children, depression, friendship, life, love, management, personnel characteristics, war, weather, wordsTags: Edgar Guest, God
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See It Through by Edgar A. Guest (1881-1959)
When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!
Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See it through!
Even hope may seem but futile,
When with troubles you’re beset,
But remember you are facing
Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
Don’t give up, whate’er you do;
Eyes front, head high to the finish.
See it through!
Mentoring
Posted: May 3, 2013 in blogging, children, family, friendship, language, life, management, personnel characteristics, religion, school, wordsTags: Christ, Christianity, decency, Evangelism, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Mentorship, polite, Religion and Spirituality
Well, just like yesterday (in Manners), I’m going to have a moan…
In many areas of our lives we can find ourselves “mentoring” others in what they should be saying and doing and how they should be saying or doing it, both at work, in our family lives as well as with our friends.
During our lifetimes, it’s been proven that we can be influenced the most when we are children. So here’s my question for you today…are you mentoring your children, and those you come into contact with, in your bad habits, or are you mentoring them in God‘s way?
Why am I asking this? Well (here’s my moan), my main reason is, just like yesterday, my concerns over the way our society has changed over the last years. It feels to me, that even during my lifetime, and I’m not that old, that the basic standards of decency and politeness have all but disappeared from our society.
Where is our respect for others?
Why are we no longer willing to help a stranger in need?
These are just a couple of questions to highlight my concerns, but the bottom line is, if we want our society to change for the better, it’s down to us to be the example of decency that others need to see. Jesus wants us to be Christ-like in all we do, so take up that challenge today by acting how Jesus would have acted, by being polite, honest, decent and caring in all you do.
Manners
Posted: May 2, 2013 in children, friendship, language, life, management, personnel characteristics, religion, wordsTags: child, Etiquette, Jesus, manners, teacher
Do you remember when you were young being taught to say “Please” and “Thank you”?
Do you remember being asked, “Where are your manners?”, when you forgot to say “please” or “thank you”?
Although I don’t have any children of my own, I’ve witnessed other people saying those same things to their children. How about you, have you experienced this with your own children or other people’s’ children?
I don’t know about you, but thinking about manners, and finding myself commenting on the habits (or missing habits!) of “the young”, makes me feel very old!
Do you find yourself getting annoyed when others don’t say “Please” or “Thank you” to you or is it just me?
I know I just commented that it’s the “young” that seem to be lacking manners these days, but to be honest I actually think it’s far more than just some younger folk that seem to have no manners anymore. e.g. Just the other day I was leaving one of our offices at work and stopped to hold the door on the way out for someone else who also worked there (I didn’t know them but knew they worked there too as they were wearing their id badge), she just walked through the door without uttering a word to me, or even looking in my direction!
What has happened to our society these days? Again maybe it’s just me, but I feel we’re becoming a less caring society, where many are so self-focused looking after themselves that they have no time be concerned or even consider how others feel.
Obviously what I’ve said here are generalisations, because I’m sure, like you, you can think of many younger folk who are polite and considerate to everyone. There’s plenty of folk like you and me out there who can continue to be polite and considerate towards others, and in doing so hopefully show there impolite folk that it costs nothing to show manners to others.
So go on, be polite and considerate, say “Please” and “Thank you” at all the applicable times, don’t care that some may think you’re strange or old-fashioned because you are showing your manners. After all Jesus didn’t care what others thought of Him, but instead continued to show how much He loved and cared for each one of us. We must help make this world a more caring place where everyone cares about their neighbour and goes that extra mile to help someone in need, because that’s what Jesus did!
A Missing Celebration
Posted: April 25, 2013 in bereavement, children, death, dementia, family, friendship, Health, life, love, pray, prayer, wordsTags: Aunt Mae, birthday, death, family, father, funeral, heart, home, Multi-infarct dementia, Mum, Parenting, vascular dementia
Today, the 25th April is another sad day for us, as today would have been my Dad’s 86th birthday.
It’s now just over 2 months since my Dad passed away, but just typing these words have started my tears flowing again. It really doesn’t seem like 2 months since Dad died, mind you a lot of that has to do with the fact in that interim time as many of you know, my Mum’s older sister, my Aunt Mae, also passed away. My Aunt Mae’s funeral was just over 2 weeks ago, so I’ve found that since then, I’ve finally been able to grieve for my Dad, as up until then I never really got a chance to grieve because my Aunt Mae was so ill.
Don’t get me wrong, I do not mean I am not grieving for my Aunt Mae as well as my Dad, as I most definitely am, but as you can probably understand, I am really missing my Dad.
I have thought of my Dad every day since he died.
I have shed many tears every day since Dad died.
I have missed my Dad every day since he died.
Yes, Dad’s illness in his final few years meant he was never really the Dad I knew and loved during, but even in those days when his vascular dementia meant he rarely knew us, or had any kind of conversation with us, there was still the odd time when he’d look at me and say, “Hello my lovely young lady” – something he often called me for many years. The days he said that to me became fewer and further apart, but when he did day them, they always brought tears to my eyes…and they most certainly have again tonight as I typed this post. The sad thing is no sooner would he uttered those words than he would become that vacant vessel again which didn’t understand what was going on around him, who was with him or indeed understand that he knew us.
These have been incredibly difficult months for my family, and my Mum in particular – Mum’s struggling to come to terms with the death of my Dad and Aunt Mae over these last couple of months. Therefore I’d ask today, as we remember my Dad on what would have been his birthday, that you continue to pray for us as we continue to grieve the death of two much-loved members of our family.
I love you Dad, and I miss you so much. You’ll always be in my thoughts and firmly in my heart. Dorothy xxx
Another Farewell
Posted: April 11, 2013 in bereavement, blogging, children, church, death, dementia, family, Food, friendship, Glasgow, Glasgow, Health, heaven, life, love, religion, Rutherglen, Salvation Army, strokeTags: cemetery, family, father, funeral, Gratitude, home, Parenting, Rutherglen, Salvation Army, Sandy
It’s been another sad day today, as just 5 weeks after saying our final farewells to my Dad, we said a final farewell to my Aunt Mae, Mary Waddell Gilchrist (23/10/1922 – 03/04/2013).
My intention again today, just at it had been on the day of my Dad’s funeral (see the blog post Farewell), was to write a tribute to my Aunt Mae, but I’m afraid again it’s just too soon for me to be able to write anything that would do her justice. At some point in the coming weeks I hope to write tributes to both Dad and Aunt Mae, but for today I simply want to say thank you.
Thank you to so many of you who have offered words of comfort and solace to me, Mum and Sandy over these last few weeks as first we lost my Dad, and then my Aunt Mae. I really can’t express strongly enough just how much your support in person, by phone and/or card, has meant to us all.
To those of you who have helped us get everything sorted out for today, I’d like to say a huge thank you to you.
To the many of you who shared with us today at Rutherglen Salvation Army for the service of thanksgiving, then at Rutherglen cemetery, and then afterwards back at Rutherglen Salvation Army for refreshments, thank you for taking the time to support us on this most difficult of days, as I’m sure it was very much appreciated by all my family. I’m sure my Aunt Mae would have been embarrassed by all that has been said about her today, but as far as I’m concerned, it simply shows the huge impact and influence Aunt Mae had on the many people she met during her lifetime.
I’ll miss you Aunt Mae, and just as I said about my Dad a few weeks ago, I will never ever forget you.
Rest in peace Aunt Mae xxx
Endless
Posted: March 21, 2013 in bereavement, children, death, dementia, depression, family, friendship, Health, heart, heaven, hospital, life, love, music, religion, wordsTags: Apologetics, Christianity, Dads, disease, Existence of God, family, father, God, Health, home, parent, Religion and Spirituality, suan best, support
There are some things which can seem endless. Some that are good and some not so good. Things like the love and support from family and friends can feel endless which is obviously good. While a continual string of bad or events which affect your life are the complete opposite.
I’ve felt for the last few years that my life has just been one constant struggle after another between my own health problems as well as health problems and other issues affecting other members of my family. This has all culminated in the last few weeks with my Dad passing away and now my 90-year-old aunt being admitted to hospital a couple of weeks ago with a bad chest infection and not eating or drinking, and then just a few days ago being told my aunt had probably had a stroke and it was unlikely she’d pull through.
How does that make me feel? Well at times I question God, as I’m sure we all do sometimes, “why me?”, but other times I acknowledge that God wouldn’t let me go through these experiences if he didn’t think I could handle them.
That doesn’t make me feel any better during these tough days, and it of course doesn’t make my life any easier, but it does remind me that God lives me and walks beside me in all situations, even though it may feel to me that he’s deserted me.
So when you are going through what seems like an endless string of bad things, remember God is there and is supporting you in all at all times.
The following video of Susan Best singing God is Always There will hopefully help you remember that God is always there for you:
Farewell
Posted: February 27, 2013 in bereavement, blogging, children, death, dementia, family, Father's Day, friendship, Glasgow, Health, life, love, music, religion, RutherglenTags: Arts and Entertainment, crematorium, Eddie Johnson, Edwin, Edwin Johnson, Edwin R Johnson, Edwin Robert Johnson, family, father, Fathers, funeral, God, Gratitude, home, I'm Getting Sentimental Over You, Just Me and My Dad, Parenting, Sandy, Television, Tommy Dorsey, trombone
It’s been a sad day today, as we said a final farewell to be Dad, Edwin (Eddie) Robert Johnson (25/04/1927 – 21/02/2013).
My intention had been to write a tribute to my Dad today, but I’m afraid it’s just too soon for me to be able to write anything that would do my Dad justice, so I’ll save my thoughts for another day once Mum, Sandy and me get back to some kind of normality.
So today, I simply want to express my gratitude to everyone who has offered support and love to us during these difficult days either by phoned, in person or have sent us cards. You will never now how much your support has meant to us all.
To those of you who have helped us get everything sorted out for the funeral today and helped with the funeral itself, a huge thank you.
To the many of you who shared with us today at the crematorium and then afterwards at the hotel, thank you for taking the time to support us on this most difficult of days, again it was very much appreciated by us. I’m sure my Dad would have been embarrassed by all that has been said about him today and also by the number of you who attended his funeral, but as far as I’m concerned, it simply shows the huge impact and influence my Dad had on so many lives.
I miss you Dad, but I will never ever forget you.
Rest in peace Dad xxx
Just for you Dad, one of your favourite jazz musicians, Tommy Dorsey, playing I’m Getting Sentimental Over You:
Stress and Strain
Posted: February 26, 2013 in bereavement, children, death, dementia, depression, family, friendship, Health, heaven, life, love, pray, prayer, religionTags: Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's Research UK, brain, Dementia, funeral, Multi-infarct dementia
Take from our souls the strain and stress and let our ordered lives confess, the beauty of your peace
I could really do with some of that these last few days!
As many of you will know, my Dad passed away last Thursday morning after suffering from vascular dementia for a number of years. In many ways it’s a relief that Dad has passed away as in these last few years, he’s had no life, and there was no chance of him ever getting better, only worse. Dad’s last few days were painful for us to watch, and he would never have wanted to live like this, so it’s probably for the best that he has passed away
My Dad professed no faith, but as my cousin said the other day, “He (my Dad) had many other qualities”. God has never wanted or expected us all to be good at the same things, so I believe that although Dad professed no faith, God’s qualities and talents were God-given.
It’s been a difficult time for Mum and me, so I’d like to take this opportunity to ask those of you who are praying people, to say a prayer for us tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday 27th February) as we say our final farewell to Dad. Many thanks for the love/support you have already shown my family during these difficult days, it has been very much appreciated by all of us.
Rest in peace Dad xxx
I Dare You
Posted: February 24, 2013 in children, friendship, life, love, music, religion, schoolTags: Bird's nest soup, blessing, Century egg, Fried-brain sandwich, Games, Laura Story, Midwestern United States, Suckling pig, Truth or Dare, United States
When you were younger, do you remember playing dares? Each person in turn was dared by the rest of the group to do a particular thing which they wouldn’t normally do.
I don’t know about you, but I always hated that game. Maybe it’s because I have always been quite a quiet (don’t laugh!) and shy person, but I always hated having to put myself in situations I wouldn’t normally get embroiled in, or say things to people I wouldn’t normally say.
There’s one dare however that we should all be willing to do…
Dare yourself each day to be a blessing to someone.
If God in part of our life, it should be our duty to be a blessing each day. Will you accept the challenge today?
Teacher
Posted: January 28, 2013 in children, friendship, life, management, music, religion, schoolTags: battle, casting crowns, Education, exam, examination, God, K through 12, Professional Exams, silence, Student, teacher, test, Test Preparation, Tests
Do you remember being at school and sitting exams? It was always so quiet in the exam halls wasn’t it!
Personally I always found the silence quite intimidating, so rather than it helping me concentrate, I found it distracting as every little noise seemed to be magnified 10 fold!
Could it be that life is just the same as school exams…when we’re being tested in life, our teacher, God, stays silent while we’re being tested. That of course doesn’t mean that our teacher doesn’t care how we are getting on in our test.
When we were at school, I’m sure if we’d tried to walk out on our exams, our teacher would have tried to convince us to stay and battle on through the test. Likewise in life, God may seem silent when we most need Him, but He is always there, and will help us when we need Him.
