The Wooden Bowl--A Life Lesson For Us All

This is a powerful little story that illustrates the need for acceptance and love, regardless of how well a person is able to perform.

The Wooden Bowl

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and four-year - old grandson.

The old man's hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered.

The family ate together at the table. But the elderly grandfather's shaky hands and

failing sight made eating difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor.

When he grasped the glass, milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess.
'We must do something about father,' said the son.

'I've had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor.'

So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner.

There, Grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner.

Since Grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl.

When the family glanced in Grandfather's direction, sometimes he had a tear in his eye as he sat alone.

Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food.

The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor.

He asked the child sweetly, 'What are you making?'

Just as sweetly, the boy responded,

'Oh, I am making a little bowl for you and Mama to eat your food in when I grow up.'
The four-year-old smiled and went back to work.

The words struck the parents so that they were speechless.

Then tears started to stream down their cheeks.

Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done.

That evening the husband took Grandfather's hand and gently led him back to the family table.

For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason,

neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

A Pre-Easter Story

Why did Jesus fold the linen burial cloth after His Resurrection?


The Gospel of John (20: 7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, and wasn't just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

Is that important? You'd better believe it! Is that significant? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.

The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master had finished eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done." But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because he knew the folded napkin meant, "I'm not finished yet." The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!".


May this truly bless you and give you peace...............
Life is Short, Live for God!!!

I'm Tired of Being Over Weight!!! It's Time to LOSE!!!!!!

I tried to find a pic of me taken recently that I could post, and can't find one. Guess I'll have to get brave and have my hubby take one. I gained 8 lbs over the Christmas holidays and was 20 lbs overweight to begin with. No, my profile pic doesn't look like it, but I don't show it in my face. Most of my excess goes to my midriff, LOL!


Sooo....I've decided to do what I've done before, go on a weight loss program. But this time is different. This time I have a PLAN!!! Rather than just try to be good and stay away from 'bad' food, I'm using the weight watchers diet. My goal is to lose 20 lbs total by our anniversary on July 1st.


I'm following the WW plan on my own, rather than joining a group. I don't have the time to spare for meetings, and found the quiz on line that tells how many daily food points I'm allowed. I also have the many pages of foods they list, with the food points allotted to each. I know that I can eat no more than 20 total food points per day if I hope to lose weight. I'm also doing a min. of 20 minutes aerobic exercise 3-4 times a week, which isn't too intimidating.


I started last Tuesday, one week ago, and have now lost 4.5 lbs!!! Yes, it may be mostly water loss, but it sure beats putting on 4 lbs. And recently, the scale has been doing nothing but creep up each week. That means I have 16 lbs. to go, which translates to less than 1 lb per week. From what I've been told, this diet (combined with some type of mild exercise plan) will cause you to lose 1.5 to 2 lbs per week...possibly more, depending on the amount you need to lose. I'm assuming the weight loss will get substantially less as I go along, but if I even lose 1.25 lbs more in the weeks to follw per week, I could potentially lose another 25 lbs!


Why am I sharing this, you might ask? ACCOUNTABILITY!!! I figure posting it on the internet where anyone can see it, makes me just a bit more apt to follow through, then if I didn't tell anyone at all.


So...you want to join me? If you'd like the link for the site that lists the food points, and the chart that tells you how many points you can eat, leave a comment on this post, with your email addy where I can send it to you. And if you want to help hold me accountable and I'll do the same for you if YOU want to try this plan, let me know that as well. I can use all the help I can get, and I'd love to do the same for you!!!!

I'll keep you posted on how I do!!!