Step 1 - Eat The Frog!

Step 1 - Eat the frog!

 I have a beautiful little Friendship Book, given to me when we first moved to Prescott by a lovely neighbour who took one of those meaningful first steps; Elizabeth and her husband, Michael came over to welcome us to the neighbourhood.  Little did she realize that reading one excerpt from that little book each day has become part of my morning ritual - It gives me a boost from sleep to smile.  I especially love its one reference to an old piece of folk wisdom that states, "If the first thing you do each day is eat a frog, then nothing worse will happen for the rest of the day."  How many of the things that we fear are as scary as that?

We will never know how far our unique ripples will flow until we take that first step into the stream each day, and carry our own personal frog to higher ground.

One Tiny Step

The first tiny step

Is the one that will lead,

That will start your whole process of growing;

It's the one to encourage,

As it breaks from its bonds

And carries us into unknowing;

Though the road be unclear,

The tools not too near,

They will come to your hand

By and by,

If you say to that step,

"I give you permission

To drive my life forward, to try";

For each tiny step

Has the power to move,

To make ripples of hope

In life's stream;

You may fall off the track,

But, at least looking back,

You'll be further ahead

Than you've been!

Lament For Friendship

Life is always both unpredictable and precious, and friendship is to be cherished.  It saddens me to see and hear the damage to the very special friendship that we have held with our neighbours to the South.  Let us pray that respect and healing will gain the upper hand.

Lament For Friendship

 What a sad thing,

When friends fall out,

And lose togetherness,

Becoming less;

When our common goals and aspirations

Become frayed - torn at the edges,

When talk is for show,

Fleeting bravado,

That weakens our bonds,

Leaves us struggling to cope,

Grasping at hope;

Why plant seeds of doubt,

What's this fear all about?

And what thanks do we send

To our struggling earth  mother,

As we feign to defend

Each from the other;

What do we gain

By inflicting pain;

In the glare of  'beware!',

How do we repair?

'Neath the weight of our words,

Our hearts long for peace,

For hurts to be healed,

For struggle to cease;

Then, let our falling out be ended,

And hands of friendship be extended;  

Around this world, our common home,

Let's build a wall of toleration,

Made up of every tribe and nation's

Hands joined together in respect and love;

That would be a wall

That we could all get behind.