A few years ago a friend and I took the church van to a conference in Chicago. It was a great day. We learned a lot and we enjoyed being together. The teaching was thought provoking and on the way back we fell into the kind of easy conversation you can’t really orchestrate ahead of time… the kind of conversation that makes time pass swiftly and the miles run by.
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Why Grandpas Repeat Themselves
Have you every noticed that grandpas are almost always story-tellers? And have you ever noticed that Grandpas usually repeat the same stories over and over again? Every grandpa I know does this. I have never heard of a grandpa who did not repeat stories.
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Orville Pierpont
My Grandfather grew up near Chatham, Ohio in the days before every family owned a car. Once a week or so the family would hitch-up a buggy and drive it to town for food and supplies. He often told the story about what happened on one of those trips to town. It was winter and the ground was covered with snow. They loaded the whole family in the sleigh.
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What Does It Take To Make You Happy?
What does it take to make you happy? I think happiness depends more on what you do with what you have than it does on what you have. Let me give you an example.
Saturday night I needed the house to be quiet and eight children can make a house a very noisy place. My week had been busy and the weekend was worse. I really needed to have some quiet study time and I didn’t want to work at the church. I wanted to stay with the family so I told them that if they wanted me to stay home they would have to be especially quiet so I could study. They all agreed.
I changed into comfortable clothes, arranged my workspace for undistracted study, and got down to business on the work. Suddenly my concentration was broken by a loud, repeated banging sound. Over and over again whatever was causing the noise seemed to shake the whole house.
Not wanting to express anger or irritation I called Hannah in and said; “Would you please go downstairs and ask whoever is making that loud noise to come and see me.” “Ask them real nice,” I said, “but tell them to come right away.” She went away and the pounding noise continued to shake the whole house.
A few minutes later the Hannah came back with a funny look on her face and said; “It’s Mom making the noise. Do you want me to tell her to come up?” “No, but what is she doing?” I asked. “Oh, she’s jumpin’ on bubble wrap,” Hannah answered.
That’s what I mean when I say that happiness depends more on what you do with what you have than it does on what you have. Arranging perfect surroundings and accumulating expensive things will not guarantee satisfaction in life. My wife is a simple woman with a childlike love for life. It doesn’t take much to make her happy or she wouldn’t have put up with me for over two decades. You just have to get her out to Wal-Mart kinda’ regular, let her get to the mailbox first, and keep a fresh supply of bubble wrap on hand.
Take a lesson from my wife. Don’t be so hard to please. And cultivate the ability to find joy in simple things. Like a boy kicking a can or a kitten batting a string.
Yoder the Amish Beagle
Beagles are great dogs. They are bred to chase rabbits. But if there aren’t any rabbits around they will chase cats, cars, and boys. And if they are really bored Beagles have even been known to chase girls. Now the nice thing about beagles is that they are short and they stay short all their lives so they are just the right size for little boys. They are brown and black and white and they have long ears that flop when they run.
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The Lost Art of Skipping
I was in the bookstore and I saw a round headed, clear-eyed little black boy about seven years old easily skipping through the isles. He was an adorable little fella’ and he appeared happy and carefree. He reminded me of an equally cute little guy in our church named Andrew.
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