The New Serenity Prayer by Fr. James Martin, SJ

I found this a year or two ago and cannot remember from where...but here is hoping that you'll find a smile creeping across your face as you read it!

God, grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, which is pretty much everyone, since I’m clearly not You, God.  At least not the last time I checked.

And while you’re at it, God, please give me the courage to change what I need to change about myself, which is frankly a lot, since, once again, I’m not you, which means I’m not perfect.

It’s better for me to focus on changing myself than to worry about changing other people, who, as you’ll no doubt remember me saying, I can’t change anyway.

Finally, give me the wisdom to just shut up whenever I think that I’m clearly smarter than everyone else in the room, that no one knows what they’re talking about except me, or that I alone have all the answers.  

Basically, God, grant me the wisdom to remember that I’m not You.  Amen.

I always close this blog the same way: If you have a pulse, you have a purpose.  Make your life count!

Make it Funny!

 My motto is: If you can't make it FUN...make it FUNNY!

I had some surgery on a toe in January.  You'd think a toe wouldn't be that big of a deal, but it is if you have a four-inch pin going through the toe and only a smidgen of the pin is visible.  Can you guess where the rest of the pin is?  It's in my foot, keeping that toe straight so it won't keep sticking up higher than all the others.  My foot will look better in sandals next summer!

Having the third toe on your right foot in a perpetual 'bird' position can be funny, if you think about it.  Joe would be teasing me about something for just a little too long and I'd tell him I was flipping him off in my shoe!  

That'd always get a laugh.  But now my toe will be laying down next to the other four, behaving itself.  

My stitches are out, but I still have to walk on my heel in a special open-toed, hard sandal/shoe until four weeks post-surgery.  I use crutches most of the time, but when I'm around a lot of people I use a walker so no one can get close enough to bump my foot.  

Just for fun, I made a 'Caution: Slow Moving Vehicle' sign that looks like a bumper sticker, and taped it to my walker.  Folks smile when they see it.  I also made another sign that looks like a bumper sticker that reads, 'Caution: Driver Singing' which gets a few laughs. I have that same sign on my car's rear window.

Like my motto says: If you can't make it fun, then make it funny!  

If you have a pulse...you have a purpose.  Make your life count!

Sisters

 I miss Vangie.

I miss my sister so much sometimes that I actually ache inside.  But then something happens or I run across an object that makes me smile and gives me comfort.  Vangie didn't write this poem, but I found it in her things when I opened her Bible case.  It's faded, but I hope you can read it...

She had lots of handwritten notes in her Bible and this is one of them that makes my heart happy.

Remember: If you have a pulse, you have a purpose.  Make your life count!