A Poem as a Benedictine prayer

Here's another poem I read this morning and found it a perfect Benedictine prayer.

To Happiness  by Carl Dennis

 If you're not approaching, I hope at least
You're off to comfort someone who needs you more,
Not lost wandering aimlessly
Or drawn to the shelter of well-lit rooms
Where people assume you've arrived already.

If you're coming this way, send me the details—
The name of the ship, the port it leaves from—
So I can be down on the dock to help you
Unload your valises, your trunks and boxes
And stow them in the big van I'll have rented.

I'd like this to be no weekend stay
Where a single change of clothes is sufficient.
Bring clothes for all seasons, enough to fill a closet;
And instead of a single book for the bedside table
Bring boxes of all your favorites.

I'll be eager to clear half my shelves to make room,
Eager to read any titles you recommend.
If we've many in common, feel free to suggest
They prove my disposition isn't to blame
For your long absence, just some problems of attitude,

A few bad habits you'll help me set to one side.
We can start at dinner, which you're welcome
To cook for us while I sweep and straighten
And set the table. Then light the candles
You've brought from afar for the occasion.

Light them and fill the room I supposed I knew
With a glow that shows me I was mistaken.
Then help me decide if I'm still the person I was
Or someone else, someone who always believed in you
And imagined no good reasons for your delay.

"To Happiness" by Carl Dennis, from Unknown Friends. © Penguin, 2007.

Tom Hale

Again, resolve, No Grumbling

Sarah sent this to share

 

Law of The Garbage Truck 

One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport
We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black
car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.
My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed
the other car by just inches!
The driver of the other car whipped his head around and
started yelling at us.
My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I
mean, he was really friendly.
So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost
ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is
when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, 'The Law
of the Garbage Truck.'

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks.
They run around full of garbage, full of frustration,
full of anger, and full of disappointment.
As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it
and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it
personally. Consciously decide to throw off the garbage.

Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take
their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at
home, or let it ruin your day.   Think of all those who love you.

The bottom line is that people who are happiest do not let
garbage trucks take over or define their day.
Life's too short to wake up in the morning with tears or anger,
so ... Love the people who treat you right.
Pray for the ones who don't .

Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!

Have a garbage-free day!  

"Faith is not believing God can, it is knowing that God will."

Amen