by journey-on 9 Replies latest jw friends
I can't help it.....call me what you will, but I like some of those books. My dil gave me one called "Chicken Soup for
the Gardener's Soul" and I have really enjoyed the short stories and quotes. "Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot
see the shadows."
They should come out with one called "Chicken Soup for the Ex-JW Soul". Boy!...the stories and quotes that one would contain!
OK, let's do it! It can be a coroborative effort. I love those books, too! There is something for everyone in them.
Chicken Soup for the Pagan's Soul:) I haven't seen that one, yet.
I love the books. I even bought one for Julian and got him a book on CD from the library, too. Sometimes life can feel so painful, I need to read uplifting stories. Something that really touched my soul was this poem. It brought me comfort when Mickey was abused. It's hard to read without weeping. I typed it out from my book.
A Prayer for Children
by
Ina J. Hughs
We pray for children
Who give us sticky kisses,
Who hop on rocks and chase butterflies,
Who stomp in puddles and ruin their math workbooks,
Who can never find their shoes.
And we pray for those
Who stare at photographers from behind barbed wire,
Who've never squeaked across the floor in new sneakers,
Who've never "counted potatoes,"
Who are born in places we wouldn't be caught dead,
Who never go to the circus,
Who live in an X-rated world.
We pray for children
Who bring us fistfuls of dandelions and sing off key
Who have goldfish funerals, build card table forts
Who slurp their cereal on purpose
Who put gum in their hair, put sugar in their milk
Who spit toothepaste all over the sink
Who hug us for no reason, who bless us each night.
And we pray for those
Who never get dessert,
Who watch their parents watch them die,
Who have no safe blanket to drag behind,
Who can't find any bread to steal,
Who don't have any rooms to clean up,
Whose pictures aren't on anybody's dresser,
Whose monsters are real.
We pray for those
Who spend all their allowance before Tuesday,
Who throw tantrums in the grocery store
And pick at their food,
Who like ghost stories,
Who shove dirty clothes under the bed
And never rinse out the tub,
Who get quarters from the tooth fairy,
Who don't like to be kissed in front of the carpool,
Who squirm in church and scream on the phone,
Whose tears we sometimes laugh at
And whose smiles can make us cry.
And we pray for those
Whose nightmares come in the daytime,
Who will eat anything,
Who have never seen a dentist,
Who aren't spoiled by anybody,
Who go to bed hungry and cry themselves to sleep,
Who live and move, but have no being.
We pray for children
Who want to be carried,
And for those who must.
For those we never give up on,
And for those who don't have a chance.
For those we smother,
And for those who will grab the hand of anybody kind
enough to offer.
Thanks for sharing that FHN. Kids are my thang...I love 'em all. This was sad and beautiful at the same time.
Thanks for sharing that FHN. Kids are my thang...I love 'em all. This was sad and beautiful at the same time.
The children who are unfortunate, if we stop and think of the horrible things these children are going through, it will make us want to hug our pampered, normal kids, even when they are driving us nuts and on our last nerves. Because of some twist of fate, normal children enjoy a relatively easy life, compared to the sad children mentioned in this poem.
Out there somewhere tonight, with his abusive father, is my grandson Mickey. He will turn seven at the end of the month and we last hugged him about a year ago, mid June. We do not hear from him now, his father does not allow us contact. I pray that he somehow feels some comforts where ever he is and that he remembers how much we love him.
FHN....keep sending those vibes to him. Say his name and picture his face and tell him you love him. Do it every
single day. I don't know your story as to why his father doesn't allow you contact, but whatever the reason, I know
it must hurt to be separated from him like that. I'm sure you continue to seek a solution, but meantime keep telling
him you love him and think about him every day. There is something called "Grandparent's Rights" now and the courts
may be able to get involved in order to locate him through SS numbers. I'm not an attorney, but I have heard about this.
Best wishes to you.
One of the authors, Mark Victor Hansen, used to work with me for the same company...............he did motivational speeches, and also sales along with the rest of us. He is a great guy, so positive...........he taught me to be a goal setter, and make outrageous goals...........and to dream big (he wrote that in a card he gave me). I met him after we left the JW's.
I have several of the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books, autographed of course.
Mulan, that is wonderful.
Maybe a little corny, but I remember reading "Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul", and it helped me out alot, as a confused teenager.
