I was sitting at my office computer waiting for the room to warm up after 4 days of reduced heat over the New Year Holiday, trying to think of something positive and HEART WARMING as well as body warming...and trying to think of business producing thoughts...getting into the right frame of mind for the new year!!! You know, how to make the phone ring instead of just waiting for it to ring...!!!
Think Spring, Not Think Snow...
SIGNS like these paraded and scrolled across my mind...Pick your own Strawberries...Pick your own Apples...Pick your own Peaches...Pick your own friends...Pick your own Title Company...
Well OK, the last two were the results of a wild and wishful imagination...
What kind of thoughts are parading through your mind this morning...???
Back to school always signals the official end of a holiday or holiday season...and so tomorrow, the twelfth day of Christmas, the kids are back to school...!!! Christmas is officially over...or is it...???
The Spirit of Christmas, which we have been celebrating for twelve days now, should remain with us each and every day...Remember, that historical Christmas occurred over 2000 years ago, but the celebration and recollection of it brings it present each year...
So, each year we have the chance to buy into the Spirit of Christmas and adopt its JOY into our lives each day...JOY is the signal gift of Christmas...is there anyone out there who wishes to return it...even regifting JOY doesn't lose it...only a firm resolve NOT to participate cancels it out for us!!!
The kids are back to school, we will be back to work...will the JOY of Christmas be evident in our lives...!!!
Lord, help me to reopen your gift of JOY each day...!!!
I've heard many former alcoholics proclaim, "Today is my nth anniversary"...When pursued they proudly admit that's how long they have been 'on the wagon'...without a drink of alcohol...they're celebrating their victory over an addictive and destructive substance, while at the same time they're celebrating the change in their lives and the lives of their loved ones brought about by this victory...
I've experienced others celebrating an anniversary marking the number of years a particular form of cancer has been in remission...
Both of these situations have been celebrated in my family...
Today, however, we CELEBRATE the first anniversary of the passing of my mother...She happened to die on the birthday of one of her favorite grandchildren...all her grandchildren were her favorites, including, and maybe especially, those who were adopted...
While we commemorate, deliberate, meditate, contemplate, and yes, celebrate her passing, we are refreshed by many, many fond memories of both her and other family members who went before her...!!!
We must reject the urge or notion that her passing was an 'evil' thing...She lived almost 90 years, most of them happily, joyfully, and enthusiastically...
We are all on a JOURNEY...the journey of life...we take each step with care, thanksgiving, and joy, and leave the rest up to our FATHER in Heaven...!!!
On January 3, 2008 my mother was born into everlasting life!!!
So it's the second day of the New Year, how many resolutions have you broken already...!!!
It's not that resolutions are made to be broken, and its not that resolutions should be avoided at all costs, and it's not that resolutions don't serve to bring constructive change into our lives...NO...
Unless we resolve to improve by recognizing the areas in our lives that need to be refined, sharpened, and tweaked, we deceive ourselves by tacitly believing we are perfect...plain & simple!!! Stop reading here if you fall into the category of being perfect...this blog is not for you...but if you're like the rest of us, knowing and admitting our imperfections and realizing that condition is not only normal, but healthy...welcome aboard...!
Catholics have a Sacrament called Confession or Reconciliation during which a brief review of our lives are recalled and reflected against the moral standards of the Ten Commandments...leading to the desire to amend our behavior and aim for perfection...not achieve perfection, but aim for it...if we aim for nothing, we'll hit nothing...
In our workplaces and homes we can adopt a similar practice whereby we make a mental list of qualities we admire or wish to emulate in the successful people around us, then resolve to actively pursue improving in those areas...
The only skill that is required to accomplish this is to carve out some time and place to allow this phenomenon to happen...
It doesn't need to become a hardship or burden...only 10 to 15 minutes are needed...and a car or home bathroom may serve as an ideal 'chapel'...!!!
Writing may help, but just THINKING is sufficient...!!! Give it a try...!
P.S. This post script has nothing at all to do with this post...I had been wondering why my right shoulder has been causing me pain lately...so I began to think quietly about this situation when it popped into my mind the fact that when I blog, and I do it intensely, I type only with my right index finger...as many of you already know...sooooo...could I possibly have 'carpal tunnel shoulder'...I will have to work on that...:)
It dawned on me yesterday that New Years Day 2009 would be those tragic numbers we so often remember...911...only backwards...119...!!!
Is that some kind of omen? Not really!
But, it is a subtle reminder that what is past is past and there's no way we can change anything in the past!
That's Good News, however...Let me explain...
My Grandmother would warn us every New Years Day to behave properly, lest we should misbehave the rest of the year..."However you behave on New Years Day", she would say, "is how you'll behave the rest of the year"...
I'm not sure whether that was to serve as a warning, admonition, encouragement, or all of the above! Gentle fear was a great motivator, however, few have mastered the art, as my grandmother did, of how to apply it in love!!!
At any rate, many will establish resolutions today, many will even go so far as trying to predict future events, and some will make a year of attempting to figure out the market or the economy...
Me? I take the easy way out! As a believer in Divine Providence, I trust everything to The Lord, including all of 2009...!
Is this a copout?
No way! I plan on working harder this year than ever, I want to be able to give more 'first fruits' of my labors than ever to the Lord's Work! I want to pray more intensely, blog more intensely, live more intensely, enjoy life more intensely...all without being intense or overbearing...!!!
There are no coincidences in life...the Great Spaceship Earth is being steered by a noble pilot...come with me and let us enjoy THE JOURNEY together...!!!
I have been blogging now for about a year and a half...2008 was my first full calendar year of blogging!
So.......while sitting in front of my Google Docs blank screen, I was trying to come up with an ingenious title that would announce an ingenious post!!!
As often happens when your ready to stir the ingredients before you decide on the recipe...nothing was coming forth...a total blank...UNTIL...
A wee light began to trickle in through the corner of my brain...how about a review of my favorite posts of 2008...not necessarily featured posts, but posts I myself was proud of and deserving of maybe more consideration than they may have received...
In any case, to commemorate one full calendar year of blogging, and to memorialize some of my own favorite posts, and to give readers another shot at a good post which may have fallen through the cracks of the Active Rain Clouds...I offer for further perusal...
These are more or less in chronological order...from oldest to newest in descending order!!!
I hope you enjoy some, and please leave comments on your favorites in this comment thread!!! Thanks, and have a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year...!!!
I just happened to get a late start on my blog post today, and I have always enjoyed unusual words to express a particular point, so I thought I would just post a few words to illustrate my point!!!
Tomorrow is the last day of 2008!
Thursday, will be the first day of 2009!!
Today is the PENULTIMATE day of 2008!!! The next to the last day of the year!!!
According to Webster...pe-nul'ti-mate is an adjective meaning next to the last...!
There can be a penultimate sentence in a paragraph! There can be a penultimate paragraph in a post or letter!!!
Hope you had as much fun as I with an unusual but powerful English word!!! Use it!!!
Yesterday, Catholics around the world celebrated the feast of The Holy Family...Holy Family Sunday...!
The Holy Family, of course, was Jesus, Mary, & Joseph...!!!
They, more or less, serve as a model for the rest of us, and so we have Holy Family Sunday...!
Does anyone reading this think there is such a thing as a perfect family??? If so, stop reading this now...it will be a waste of your time...!!!
Holy families aren't perfect families,,,there is no such thing as a perfect family, but all families are called to be Holy...!
The priest giving the homily yesterday brought out many aspects of that statement!!!
Recalling how even in the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph each had their challenges and crosses to bear...Jesus bearing the ultimate cross that saves all humanity...!
I discuss often on this blog how life itself seems like a great juggling act...a constant walk on a high wire struggling to maintain balance...always improving, but always slightly missing the mark...nevertheless, never giving up...tomorrow is always another day...!!!
So what should we as parents be busy about doing...the more we try to sharpen our parenting skills, the more those skills seem to need sharpening...!!!
Like a person addicted to a substance or bad habit or negative behavior, we need to take a long hard look at ourselves, always ready to admit our failings and shortcomings...that is where we find the victory over these matters...in admitting that the problem is far beyond the ability for us to solve alone...hence the term 'family' or 'team'...A family of 3 or 5 or 17 can be Holy, but they'll never be perfect...
Let's use the yardstick I am most familiar with...one is either a peacemaker or a troublemaker...a giver or a taker...a saint or a sinner...aha, that last one I put in to trick you...!!!
We are all sinners, capable of doing wrong things...those that repent and change become saints...and not by their own doing, but with the help of Him who created us...you see, he does not leave us orphaned...a good parent wouldn't...
It might be how we weave our shortcomings into common cloth that is the measure of our family's holiness...it certainly isn't about amassing a bunch of perfect people together, calling them a family, and attempting to acquire holiness on our own according to our combined intelligence or pooled abilities...
No, the Holy Family is the family that takes each step selflessly...subordinating each's need to those of the family...sometimes that brings happiness, and sometimes that brings pain...both are needed to grow into Holiness...
Aha, the grand experiment...take up your cross each day and follow HIM...cast your cares on HIM and HE will care for you...for our cross is easy and our burden is light...!!!
My father's oldest sister, my Aunt Molly, has been coming to mind lately...she has been gone for over 15 years now, but she is still sorely missed by many family members...
She was a special lady...!
Very petite in stature, but very suave in appearance, she tended to overdress for most family occasions...mink coat and all...but nevertheless she liked a good celebration and became an interesting part of every festive occasion...she was the traveler in our family...The only one of our family who attended the 1939 World's Fair in New York...
She made several trips to shrines in Canada as well...!
And if you ever wanted to get caught up on those daytime soaps, she didn't miss a trick...!!!
What made Aunt Molly special, however, was the fact that she was deaf...It was not so much her deafness that was special, but how she dealt with it and the example she gave to her whole family...!!!
You see, as a child...I'm not sure at what age, but certainly preteen, she developed a severe case of spinal meningitis and almost died...she recovered, but would never hear again...typical in many meningitis survivors, I'm told...!!!
Fortunately, she had already learned how to read, write, speak, and do simple math before stricken with this disability to hear, but it never deterred her from writing prolifically and reading intensely...!
What made Aunt Molly unique (her real name was Amelia), was her refusal to make aware her deafness...at least in public...She never used sign language, if it even existed then...she learned quickly how to lip read, and taught each one of us the art...for example, we always faced her directly, spoke simply and slowly, enunciated carefully, and closely observed her facial and non verbal expressions to assure clear communication, using many of these skills ourselves...
Reread that last sentence and you'll know what prompted me to write this post...
In some very strong, but subtle ways, she may have been the one family member who planted and nurtured the seeds of good communication needed to effectively compete in the business world...with a sprinkling of good manners added in...
Aunt Molly, we miss you, but we know you are still with us in spirit!!!
Now that we have had a couple of days to engage in, enjoy, and celebrate this Holiday we call Christmas, we can now make some valued reflections...
Christmas is for kids...and there had better be a kid in all of us...!
Christmas is for giving...yes, Christmas is FORGIVING...gotcha...!
Christmas is for SHEPHERDS and WISE MEN...only the humble or smart need apply...which are you...!!!
It is still the Christmas SEASON...still time to get rid of the grinch in us...JOY should be what we experience...perhaps there is one last gift that needs to be opened...check under the tree again...!!!
Fran 'The Title Man' Gaspari Title Insurance-PA & NJ (Patriot Land Transfer, Inc.)
I was sitting at my office computer waiting for the room to warm up after 4 days of reduced heat over the New Year Holiday, trying to think of something positive and HEART WARMING as well as body warming...and trying to think of business producing thoughts...getting into the right frame of mind for the new year!!! You know, how to make the phone ring instead of just waiting for it to ring...!!! 
own Strawberries...Pick your own Apples...Pick your own Peaches...Pick your own friends...Pick your own Title Company... 
officially over...or is it...??? 
regifting JOY doesn't lose it...only a firm resolve NOT to participate cancels it out for us!!! 
drink of alcohol...they're celebrating their victory over an addictive and destructive substance, while at the same time they're celebrating the change in their lives and the lives of their loved ones brought about by this victory... 
already...!!! 
Writing may help, but just THINKING is sufficient...!!! Give it a try...! 
so often remember...911...only backwards...119...!!! 
I'm not sure whether that was to serve as a warning, admonition, encouragement, or all of the above! Gentle fear was a great motivator, however, few have mastered the art, as my grandmother did, of how to apply it in love!!! 
Me? I take the easy way out! As a believer in Divine Providence, I trust everything to The Lord, including all of 2009...! 
intensely, enjoy life more intensely...all without being intense or overbearing...!!! 
I have been blogging now for about a year and a half...2008 was my first full calendar year of blogging! 
As often happens when your ready to stir the ingredients before you decide on the recipe...nothing was coming forth...a total blank...UNTIL... 
Is that a goofy title or what??? 
Thursday, will be the first day of 2009!! 
Sunday...! 
The priest giving the homily yesterday brought out many aspects of that statement!!!
It might be how we weave our shortcomings into common cloth that is the measure of our family's holiness...it certainly isn't about amassing a bunch of perfect people together, calling them a family, and attempting to acquire holiness on our own according to our combined intelligence or pooled abilities... 
members... 
You see, as a child...I'm not sure at what age, but certainly preteen, she developed a severe case of spinal meningitis and almost died...she recovered, but would never hear again...typical in many meningitis survivors, I'm told...!!! 
then...she learned quickly how to lip read, and taught each one of us the art...for example, we always faced her directly, spoke simply and slowly, enunciated carefully, and closely observed her facial and non verbal expressions to assure clear communication, using many of these skills ourselves... 
Now that we have had a couple of days to engage in, enjoy, and celebrate this Holiday we call Christmas, we can now make some valued reflections... 
Christmas is for SHEPHERDS and WISE MEN...only the humble or smart need apply...which are you...!!! 
