Inspiration

A frazzled Mrs. Melnik sprang to the telephone when it rang and listened with relief to the kindly voice in her ear.

"How are you, darling?" it said. "What kind of a day are you having?"

"Oh, mother," said the housewife, breaking into bitter tears, "I've had such a bad day. The baby won't eat and the washing machine broke down. I haven't had a chance to go shopping, and besides, I've just sprained my ankle and I have to hobble around. On top of that, the house is a mess and I'm supposed to have two couples to dinner tonight."

My daughter and I planted four trees in our backyard recently. They were little more than twigs when she brought them home. She was able to hold all four of them in the palm of one hand. Still, with faith in the future I dug the holes in our backyard and with loving care my daughter planted each one of the saplings.

When I look out on them now I smile. They are so small and yet so full of life.

As they stretch towards the morning sun and slowly grow upward to the sky I can see the hundreds of glorious years that lie ahead of them. Soon they will be filling the air around them with life giving oxygen. Soon they will be blessing the world with their sweet smell and comforting shade. Soon they will be changing the world for the better just by being in it.

- photo by Susan Page"Never do the flowers of grace grow more than in the showers of repentant tears"

- Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance

Two elderly gentlemen met up on the way to the funeral of one of their longtime buddies.

The deceased was thought to have accumulated much wealth. On the way to the cemetery, one old fellow asked the other, "How much did he leave?"

The other old fellow replied, "All of it."