Unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven

Working on these to become more child like:

1. Forgive quickly.
2. Express love with abandon
3. Make friends easily
4. Be joyous
5. Be generous with your things and time
6. Be honest
7. Talk to your Father often

Being honest with myself and with God being the hardest, along with being easy to forgive--especially when the offense makes me feel like I am stupid, unloved and evil.

Chicks

A progress on our new chicks.

June 11th received our new chicks. 27 of them. 5 Red Leghorns, 6 Red Star, 5 Buff Orpingtons, 5 Dominiques, 5 Araucana and one Free Rare Exotic chick (No idea what it is :))

June 12: our first chick died. A wee little red colored chick. I noticed that early this morning it was listless so I tried to get him to drink and I washed her bottom with a warm wed towel in case it’s bottom was pasted over. She died anyway.

Class warfare and the idea that we all need to be FAIR.

...the Italian philosopher Vilfredo Pareto wrote that equality "is related to the direct interests of individuals who are bent on escaping certain inequalities not in their favor, and setting up a new inequalities that will be in their favor, this latter being their chief concern."
Pat Buchanan

When faith dies, the culture dies, the civilization dies, and the people die. People stop believing in God and his words (bible) so the culture rots, then the civilization dies and the people eventually die because they are chasing consumerism, hedonism, etc and not having or raising children to the glory of God; perpetuating their culture and religion.

Democrats

I see an innumerable crowd of like and equal men who revolve on

themselves without repose, procuring the small and vulgar pleasures

with which they fill their souls.

Over these is elevated an immense, tutelary power, which takes sole

charge of assuring their enjoyment and of watching over their fate.

It is absolute, attentive to detail, regular, provident, and

gentle. It would resemble the paternal power if, like that power,

it had as its object to prepare men for manhood, but it seeks, to

the contrary, to keep them irrevocably fixed in childhood....it

provides for their security, foresees and supplies their needs,

guides them in their principal affairs....

    The sovereign extends its arms about the society as a

whole; it covers its surface with a network of petty regulations--

complicated, minute, and uniform--through which even the most

original minds and the most vigorous souls know not how to make

their way...it does not break wills; it softens them, bends them,

and directs them; rarely does it force one to act, but it

constantly opposes itself to one's acting on one's own...it does

not tyrannize, it gets in the way; it curtails, it enervates, it

extinguishes, it stupefies, and finally reduces each nation to

being nothing more than a herd of timid and industrious animals, of

which the government is the shepherd.

Alexis de Tocqueville

Thought:

The bread basket of the US should be the GOP's bastion of strength but alas it is faced with politicians who have succumbed to the democrats idea of power via crippling the people with entitlements so that they become enslaved to the politicians who have heroinized there lives with handouts and sucked their coffers dry with ever more burdensome taxes to be spent on their whims, cronies, and make believe projects.

Summer in the Gila Wilderness

Summer in the Gila Wilderness with Gary

Listening

How we affect others in our lives. What is our responsibility toward others and how we affect their lives. As you live your life with all the agendas that are out there-- God, family, job, friends, children, exercise, diet, organization, personal education, personal growth, relaxation--how do you then keep up with and be fully aware of those around you and how you affect their lives for good. We touch people with our lives daily, hourly whether we are aware or not, sometimes we think we touch and influence others but we have very little influence and we just aren't aware of that either.

I've begun to look at who influences, hurts (unintentionally), changes me ...who I LET influence me for good or for bad, and then I wonder who influences me with out my knowledge.

Then that begs the question--if I'm really in control of my life how do I control those influences that come into my life but also the kind of influence I have in other people's lives.

I've always been told "do unto others as you would have done unto you" a good philosophy to live by generally. Until you ask yourself "do I know whats good for me or what I'd like done unto me if I'm in need a solid reprimand? And when is it the "right" time to "gently" give a stern warning to yourself or others that they are being destructive or harmful? It seems to be a job for someone more powerful, knowledgeable than I for the most part. But even as I say that I can hear myself saying "what a wimp, what a lazy way of looking at things" I'm can be responsible for and be aware of others needs without being Herculean.

I'm at a point in my life where the "agendas" have lessened, no husband, grown children who have their own life, pretty solid job, dependence on God (a job that is never complete, huh?) so now I wonder about others and their walk on terra firma, how is it for them and what can I do to help others who can't, don't or aren't aware that there is help out there. That there is someone else out there who is knows about hurt and wants it to be different for others.

So what brought about these thoughts?
A book of course, a powerful book for teens, who don't think about the influences they have on others and the power they have to influence others.

13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher--a pretty powerful book about influences and how we react to those seemingly small influences that affects us in different ways. A book about not giving up on yourself or others--that people can change, can weather hurts that we all sustain with help if we will only cry out for help and someone is willing to listen.

I wanna be a listener.