The Tear of A Woman

A little boy asked his mother, "why are you crying?' "Because I'm a woman," she told him. "I don't understand,” he said. His Mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will." Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?" "All women cry for no reason," was all his dad could say. The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to God. When God got on the phone, he asked, "God, why do women cry so easily?" God said, "When I made the woman she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world, yet gentle enough to give comfort. I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children. I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up, and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining. I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt her very badly. I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart. I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him. And finally, I gave her a tear to shed. This is hers exclusively to use whenever it is needed." "You see my son," said God, "the beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart the place where love resides."

Courage What A Big Word!

Courage by definition is 'the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, without fear."

I believe that acts of courage are not absent of fear but happen in spite of it.

A soldier goes into battle, a firefighter enters a burning building, people battle life threatening diseases, a child faces a bully... all acts of courage that happen because fear is embraced, relinquished and conquered.

We don't have to look to larger than life acts to see courage because it exists in every moment.

A child let's go of a mother's hand on the first day of school;

A teenager walks into an new high school not knowing a single person;

A father walks his daughter down the aisle;

A man learns to walk again after a car accident.

Our lives are filled with defining acts of courage. 

What are yours?

Inspired Day Seven

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8451524@N08/5427930544/

I'm sorry I'm late with this one. Sometimes inspired falls behind hectic.

A comment on the radio caught my attention this morning, 

"Woman are often times so busy measuring up to the expectations placed on them by all the people in their lives;spouses, family, children, that  they forget about, or place their own dreams on the back burner."

Do we do this?

I'm inspired by women that follow their stars.

It's never too late and you're never too old to grab a hold of what makes you feel happy.

Inspired day Six-Free to Be Me!

It's a great day when you wake up and think, "Today is my day and I'm free to do whatever I please."

Now that's inspiring!

Inspired Day Five-Wedding Day

An old photograph opens the gateway to our memories; moments, days, years. As they come flooding through you're overwhelmed with how clearly you can recall the sounds, smells and thoughts you had.  Time passes, inevitably we all get older and life changes. Our hair turns grey, soft wrinkles form around our eyes, we lose our youthful appeal but in exchange we have gained a lifetime of love. Now that leaves me feeling inspired.

Inspired Day Four

My oldest son, Daniel calls me, every day, on his way to the office to say good morning.  On those rare occasions when he's busy or forgets, I call him. Life is so hectic, for all of us, and those few minutes of time devoted to the people we love are so important. 

This leaves me feeling inspired, that no matter where life leads my children, I will always have a special place in their hearts, a place that was not my given right but earned from the love, respect and nurturing I shared with them. 

Inspired Day Three

I stopped by my brother's company this morning to pick up my mom (73), who incidentally works for him a few days a week when she isn't helping me in my preschools or babysitting her younger grandchildren. She is having some tests done this afternoon at Sunnybrook Hospital. I looked at her smiling face as we hopped into the car,

calm, confident and full of chatter.

I thought wow what a woman. She taught me how to be a good mother, how to work tirelessly to raise a family, to be patient and accepting of people's shortcoming. She's full of zest. She'll ride a catamaran,  try snorkeling, ride the coasters at Universal Studio with her teenage granddaughters and I thought how lucky am I to still have her in my life.

Inspired Day Two

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the first post for what inspires you everyday. 

 Here is mine for day two of seven.

My niece running to me to give me a leaping hug. That leaves me feeling inspired, knowing that I matter to a child!

Children remind us how to dream with open eyes.

Inspired?

How many situations, people, events do we encounter in a day that leaving us feeling awed or inspired?

The truth is that on most days we would most likely say none.

But shouldn't we be able to say many?

I suppose, if we wait for huge monumental events, they would be few and far between.

But consider this, if a co worker, who rarely looks your way, smiles at you, is that not inspiring.

When you drive to work and the warmth of the sun caresses your face, is that not inspiring or better yet when the sun breaks through the clouds, casting rays across the landscape, is that not inspiring.

Your child's hug before school, you puppy licking your face, your husband making you a coffee, a good morning call from your son when he arrives at his office, an invitation to a birthday dinner.......

So I ask you to consider this, each day for the next seven days, find one thing that inspires you and post it in the comment box. Pass the challenge onto your friends and family and watch the seed of inspiring moments grow!

The Sands of Time

This is the sand glass that holds the "time" that is our lives. 

How much sand will be used depends on how we live and how we treat the vessel that is given to us that house our souls. 

When a day is done, 

 a tiny grain drops marking the passage of time. What does that grain hold; our thoughts, feelings, experiences, joys, sorrows, and all the things that defined us on that given day.

And so it goes on, each day another grain falls and lands upon the others that formed the foundation.
These are our memories and we must be grateful for them.

"Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future is not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires."
~Charles Caleb Colton