What Will You Give?

Little Drummer Boy
Comment(s):
Please take a minute to listen to the message at the end of the music.
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On This Day In:
2019	Looking Forward To Tomorrow (2019 Version)
2018	Not One Cent!
	Looking Forward to Tomorrow
2017	Make Glad The Heart Of Childhood
2016	Sincerest Flattery
	The President-elect: Making Spirits Bright
2015	What Are You Looking At?
2014	Ite, Missa Est
2013	I Hear Voices
2012	Positive Thoughts
	Hope Works
2011	Look! Up In The Sky…
	Humility Before The Unknowable

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Keeping Christmas

There is a better thing than the observance of Christmas day, and that is, keeping Christmas.
Are you willing…
to forget what you have done for other people, and to remember what other people have done for you;
to ignore what the world owes you, and to think what you owe the world;
to put your rights in the background, and your duties in the middle distance, and your chances to do a little more than your duty in the foreground;
to see that men and women are just as real as you are, and try to look behind their faces to their hearts, hungry for joy;
to own up to the fact that probably the only good reason for your existence is not what you are going to get out of life, but what you are going to give to life;
to close your book of complaints against the management of the universe, and look around you for a place where you can sow a few seeds of happiness.
Are you willing to do these things even for a day?  Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing…
to stoop down and consider the needs and desires of little children;
to remember the weakness and loneliness of people growing old;
to stop asking how much your friends love you, and ask yourself whether you love them enough;
to bear in mind the things that other people have to bear in their hearts;
to try to understand what those who live in the same home with you really want, without waiting for them to tell you;
to trim your lamp so that it will give more light and less smoke, and to carry it in front so that your shadow will fall behind you;
to make a grave for your ugly thoughts, and a garden for your kindly feelings, with the gate open  —
Are you willing to do these things, even for a day?  Then you can keep Christmas.
Are you willing…
to believe that love is the strongest thing in the world  —
stronger than hate, stronger than evil, stronger than death  —
and that the blessed life which began in Bethlehem nineteen hundred years ago is the image and brightness of the Eternal Love?
Then you can keep Christmas.
And if you can keep it for a day, why not always?
But you can never keep it alone.
Written by:    Henry Van Dyke
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On This Day In:
2019	Looking Forward To Tomorrow (2019 Version)
2018	Not One Cent!
	Looking Forward to Tomorrow
2017	Make Glad The Heart Of Childhood
2016	Sincerest Flattery
	The President-elect: Making Spirits Bright
2015	What Are You Looking At?
2014	Ite, Missa Est
2013	I Hear Voices
2012	Positive Thoughts
	Hope Works
2011	Look! Up In The Sky…
	Humility Before The Unknowable

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Christmas Is Near

Don’t Miss Your Life
Favorite Line(s):
I missed her first day of school
Man,
What kind of crazy fool
Lets such a precious moment pass
We all know time goes way too fast
Hold on tight
’Cause it don’t happen twice
Don’t miss your life
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On This Day In:
2019	Ruff Clean
2018	Sounds Like A Blog To Me
2017	My Fear For America
2016	Proceeding Still
2015	Seeing Rainbows
	I Am A Runner
2014	The Law Of The Perversity Of Nature
2013	One Standard Deviation
2012	High Anxiety
2011	And I’m Taking Me There
2010	1,000

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I Hope She Keeps Laughing

The earth laughs in flowers.
―    Ralph Waldo Emerson
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On This Day In:
2019	Ruff Clean
2018	Sounds Like A Blog To Me
2017	My Fear For America
2016	Proceeding Still
2015	Seeing Rainbows
	I Am A Runner
2014	The Law Of The Perversity Of Nature
2013	One Standard Deviation
2012	High Anxiety
2011	And I’m Taking Me There
2010	1,000

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Tears Don’t Wash Away

Come See About Me
Favorite Line(s):
I’ve been crying
‘Cause I’m lonely
(For you)
Smiles have all turned
To tears
But tears won’t wash away
The fears
That you’re never ever gonna return
To ease the fire that within me burns
It keeps me crying baby
For you
Keeps me sighin’ baby
For you
So won’t you hurry
Come on boy,
See about me
(Come see about me)
See about your baby
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On This Day In:
2019	Foundational Pillar Of Civilized Discourse
2018	Seven Minutes. Not Six, Not Eight
2017	Falling Forward One Step At A Time
2016	And Without Expectation
2015	Just Do It
	I Am A Runner
2014	Some Things I Learned (Mostly) In The Army:
2013	Who You Are
2012	Mine Stands
2011	Aversions

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Speaking For Us

We need someone who will stand up and speak up and speak out for the people who need help, for people who are being discriminated against.  And it doesn’t matter whether they are black or white, Latino, Asian or Native American, whether they are straight or gay, Muslim, Christian, or Jews.
—     John Lewis
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On This Day In:
2019	Foundational Pillar Of Civilized Discourse
2018	Seven Minutes. Not Six, Not Eight
2017	Falling Forward One Step At A Time
2016	And Without Expectation
2015	Just Do It
	I Am A Runner
2014	Some Things I Learned (Mostly) In The Army:
2013	Who You Are
2012	Mine Stands
2011	Aversions

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Really Wheelie

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On This Day In:
2019	Word Up
2018	But Much Is Worth Learning
2017	Mr. President, About Global Warming
2016	Starting To Stumble
2015	Begin Combat
	I Am A Runner
2014	Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013	Additions
	The Object Of Instruction
2012	Telling Her
2011	On Torture

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Blew Out My Flip-Flop

Margaritaville
Favorite Line(s):
I blew out my flip flop
Stepped on a pop top
Cut my heel,
I had to cruise on back home
But there’s booze in the blender
And soon it will render
That frozen concoction
That helps me hang on
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On This Day In:
2019	Word Up
2018	But Much Is Worth Learning
2017	Mr. President, About Global Warming
2016	Starting To Stumble
2015	Begin Combat
	I Am A Runner
2014	Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013	Additions
	The Object Of Instruction
2012	Telling Her
2011	On Torture

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Sapping Joy

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy.
—    Dr. Leo F. Buscaglia
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On This Day In:
2019	Word Up
2018	But Much Is Worth Learning
2017	Mr. President, About Global Warming
2016	Starting To Stumble
2015	Begin Combat
	I Am A Runner
2014	Just Dig ‘N It, Why?
2013	Additions
	The Object Of Instruction
2012	Telling Her
2011	On Torture

Read Full Post »

Rollin’ Along

Ol’ Man River
Favorite Line(s):
Ol’ Man River,
That Ol’ Man River
He don’t say nothin’,
He must know somethin’
Ol’ Man River,
He just keeps rollin’ along
He don’t plant taters
And he don’t plant cotton
And them what plants ’em,
Are soon forgotten
But Ol’ Man River,
He just keeps rollin’ along
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On This Day In:
2019	And Integrity For Today’s Elected Republicans
2018	A Faulty Start, Too
	Honorable Resignation And Syria
2017	Beneath The Tree Of Wisdom
	The Republican Rape Of The American Middle Class
2016	Something Authentic Happened
2015	Back On The Bricks
	On, Rocinante!!
2014	Changing Frequently
2013	Trifles
2012	Simple, Ordinary And Wonderous
2011	Humane Writers

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Each Over All

Man is more interesting than men.  God made him and not them in his image.  Each one is more precious than all.
—    Andre Gide
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On This Day In:
2019	And Integrity For Today’s Elected Republicans
2018	A Faulty Start, Too
	Honorable Resignation And Syria
2017	Beneath The Tree Of Wisdom
	The Republican Rape Of The American Middle Class
2016	Something Authentic Happened
2015	Back On The Bricks
	On, Rocinante!!
2014	Changing Frequently
2013	Trifles
2012	Simple, Ordinary And Wonderous
2011	Humane Writers

Read Full Post »

Sweet Love

The Love I Lost
Favorite Line(s):
I can remember planning
Building my whole world around you
I can remember hoping
That you and I could make it on through
But something went wrong
We loved each other
We just couldn’t get along
Take a good look at me
I’m in misery, can’t you see?
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On This Day In:
2019	Curing With Salt
2018	A Politician With Skills
	And / Or A Genuine Smile
2017	A Lone, Brave Voice…
2016	Job Security
2015	For I Have Always Lived Violently
2014	We Stand !! (I Stand With George)
	Additional Requirements
2013	In The Present Day
2012	Feeling It
2011	Stretching Science

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Meet Unexpected Success

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with the success unexpected in common hours.
—    Henry David Thoreau
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On This Day In:
2019	Curing With Salt
2018	A Politician With Skills
	And / Or A Genuine Smile
2017	A Lone, Brave Voice…
2016	Job Security
2015	For I Have Always Lived Violently
2014	We Stand !! (I Stand With George)
	Additional Requirements
2013	In The Present Day
2012	Feeling It
2011	Stretching Science

Read Full Post »

A Winter’s Day

I Am A Rock
Favorite Line(s):
I’ve built walls,
A fortress
Deep
And mighty,
That none may penetrate.
I have no need of friendship;
Friendship causes pain.
It’s laughter
And it’s loving
I disdain.
I am a rock,
I am an island.
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On This Day In:
2019	I Just Remember It As Fun
	#45: IMPEACHED!!!
2018	Prediction: Morning Is Coming After A Long Night Of #LyingDonald
2017	While Congress Slept
2016	And A Fellow Who Insists On Telling Us He’s Smart?
2015	Curves Ahead
2014	Sitting?
2013	Misperceptions
2012	Essential Experience
2011	Lest We Forget Those Still In Harm’s Way
	Sound Familiar?

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And The Past Is Much Better Than It Used To Be Too

The future ain’t what it used to be.
—   Yogi Berra
[Of course, my memory is failing with age.  —  KMAB]
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On This Day In:
2019	I Just Remember It As Fun
	#45: IMPEACHED!!!
2018	Prediction: Morning Is Coming After A Long Night Of #LyingDonald
2017	While Congress Slept
2016	And A Fellow Who Insists On Telling Us He’s Smart?
2015	Curves Ahead
2014	Sitting?
2013	Misperceptions
2012	Essential Experience
2011	Lest We Forget Those Still In Harm’s Way
	Sound Familiar?

Read Full Post »