Inspiration

“A lovely thing about Christmas is that it's compulsory, like a thunderstorm, and we all go through it together.”

- Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home

The late Peter Marshall was an eloquent speaker and for several years served as the chaplain of the US Senate. He used to love to tell the story of the "Keeper of the Spring," a quiet forest dweller who lived high above an Austrian village along the eastern slope of the Alps.

The old gentleman had been hired many years earlier by a young town councilman to clear away the debris from the pools of water up in the mountain crevices that fed the lovely spring flowing through their town. With faithful, silent regularity, he patrolled the hills, removed the leaves and branches, and wiped away the silt that would otherwise have choked and contaminated the fresh flow of water.

“Learning to love and be kind to ourselves is a lifelong journey.”

- Brené Brown, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead

The men convalescing at a veterans' hospital during World War II were encouraged to use a nearby golf course.

Not all of the patients were strong enough to complete nine holes, but most of them managed to make it to the fifth fairway, which adjoined a tomato farm. These "off the vine" tomatoes were about the most delicious things the men had ever tasted. Consequently, much grumbling accompanied the installation of fence posts along the farm's property line.

But imagine the vets' delight the next morning when, instead of the fence they expected, they found a saltshaker atop each post.