Barbara2
11-22-2008, 09:05 PM
Some beautiful thoughts here...had to share:
A Message of
Hope and Healing
from
The Cancer Crusade
http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs081/1011287098001/img/25.jpg?a=1102335507458 (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jf5GK6bPrhfu8e9QUztCYXgyJvNEvRwxcKINmZ G61Ra9nhNMdRC8VxDq1zSTduqLmpDvYNb0x0-k-TeU5NyUugnCFYLYxZrZLnJblRk6hy7rtxmou_KXdg==)
The Survivor Movie has been viewed more than
two million times
in every state in the United States and in more than 89 countries
around the world.
Please keep it going around the world by using the forwarding link at the end of the movie.
This movie and these affirmations are our gifts to you. We hope you will share them by forwarding to everyone for whom you feel they might have meaning.
View
"The Survivor Movie"
here (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jf5GK6bPrheKSgXdQYJvpzffB5PtZbagQCZIK0 JuRJ8XHuffMI9942kEJIXKP7Cg7bujHbay2cDXnLtHqNBFqEkV MbSSY-smPQq5lVo2zf2dqavAFBdkJg==)
http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/spacer.gif
We hope The Cancer Crusade's weekly affirmations bring you comfort, hope, healing and smiles, and that you will forward them to others for whom you feel they might have meaning. We also invite you to submit ideas for future affirmations.
http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs081/1011287098001/img/230.jpg?a=1102335507458
If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice.
~ Meister Eckhart ~
(Editor's Note: Today's affirmation was written by the editor's husband. For that -and for him-
she is very thankful.)
Many have called former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani "America's Mayor" for his courageous leadership on 9/11 and throughout the horrifying days that followed. I'll never forget the photographs of the mayor striding confidently through the rubble that had been the World Trade Center towers, comforting the injured and terrified, thanking the firefighters, police officers and aid workers. When he put his arms around those who had lost loved ones on that most awful of days, his compassionate touch reached out to every American and reminded us that we were all in this together and that there were people in charge who would work hard to make things right again.
I recently had the opportunity to hear Guliani speak. I expected he would talk about 9/11, terrorism and how we must find new and better ways to fight the epidemic of hatred and violence that threaten our world.
I think he did mention those things. No, I'm sure he did, but I don't remember much of what he said about them. I don't remember much about those words because there were others that meant so much more to me personally, words that hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks that day and will resonate within me for the rest of my life.
He said that his battle with prostate cancer had been a blessing because hearing the diagnosis gave him the opportunity to go home and hug his loved ones, to tell them how much he loved them and how thankful he was to have them in his life.
The victims of 9/11, he pointed out, never had that chance. Three thousand people got up on a beautiful, clear September morning and went to work. How many of them, we wonder, had unfinished personal business? How many walked out the door without speaking to the husband or wife they had argued with the night before? How many left a crying child reaching out for one more hug? How many hadn't spoken to a family member for weeks, months, years because of some disagreement that had been allowed to smolder?
He was thankful for his diagnosis of cancer, said Guliani, because it gave him a chance to be more thankful every single day! It reminded him to savor the many blessings in his life and to love his loved ones harder and more deeply than ever before.
With Thanksgiving coming up next week, being thankful is on most everyone's minds right now. I have always loved Thanksgiving Day for many reasons. I love the food and the football. I love family and friends. I love getting up early and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I was in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade once when I was a young man, and it holds a special place in my memories and in my heart. I still get excited when Santa Claus comes into view. I love gathering around the table covered with wonderful food, and I love the ritual of saying the special grace. I love having the day off and lying around the house, stomach too full, and napping. I love napping and I hardly ever get to do it,
except on Thanksgiving Day.
We have a tradition on Thanksgiving Day that I especially love. In the evening, my wife, Kathy, and I pick up my sister, Mary, and her two beautiful daughters, Tina and Amy, and we take a drive through the local park's "Celebration In Lights." We always go through twice. We take some hot chocolate along for the ride, turn on the radio and sing along (badly) to the holiday songs. I love that.
I love my wife on Thanksgiving Day. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife every day. But I especially love her on Thanksgiving Day because she makes Thanksgiving Day, and every holiday, so very special. My wife loves holidays and she gives them a special "feel" with her enthusiasm. She always decorates and plays music and bounces around the house being happy. And she makes
everyone else happy. I love that.
I love Thanksgiving Day for a lot of reasons. But, mostly I love Thanksgiving Day because it reminds me to be thankful. Not just thankful for the food, although I always am. And not just thankful for family and friends who are so near and dear to me. No, it reminds me to be thankful for life itself.
You see, Thanksgiving Day has a way of making me stop, for just a moment, and reflect, really reflect on the many blessings that I have in my life. They say you should count your blessings, but I have too many to count, too many to name them all. My wife, Kathy, my sons, my mom and dad and brothers and sister, many nieces and nephews, and Meemaw and Deeda, and football, and music, and turkey, and that breath of air that I just took, and life itself. And my God.
It wasn't always that way. There was a time when I wasn't quite so thankful. Like Rudy Guliani and millions of other Americans, I will never forget hearing the words, "You have cancer." My life, as I knew it, ceased to exist, and was immediately replaced with one filled with confusion, questions and doubt. Doubt about everything,
including my God.
But my doubt did not last very long. After the initial shock, the awful diagnosis began to work a strange kind of transformational magic. It reminded me on a daily basis - now and forever - that I have so much to be thankful for. I am alive, at least for now. I am still standing, my wife at my side.
I am thankful for that.
And I still have my God. Always did, of course. What is it they say? "If you don't feel close to God, guess who moved." I am very thankful for that.
I am thankful for the chance I was given. I had a chance to survive, even if just for another day. And that was enough to be thankful for.
Suddenly, I "got it". Everything had changed and it was OK. My wife says that there are two kinds of people in the world. "Those who 'get it'"
and "those who don't."
It shouldn't be this way, but it seems it takes some kind of life-altering event to make people "get it." The people who miraculously walked out of the Twin Towers in New York City told TV reporters that they were going to go home and hug their wives and kids. Suddenly, they "got it". A diagnosis of cancer, or any life-threatening illness, suddenly makes you so aware of life, and time, and, everything. And you appreciate it. You finally appreciate everything. And you are so thankful for whatever time you have been granted.
You become so thankful.
For me, every day is Thanksgiving Day.
Dear God, Thank you.
Amen
Roger and Kathy Cawthon
The Cancer Crusade
email: cawthons@thecancercrusade.com (cawthons@thecancercrusade.com)
web: http://www.thecancercrusade.com (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jf5GK6bPrhfu8e9QUztCYXgyJvNEvRwxcKINmZ G61Ra9nhNMdRC8VxDq1zSTduqLmpDvYNb0x0-k-TeU5NyUugnCFYLYxZrZLnJblRk6hy7rtxmou_KXdg==)
A Message of
Hope and Healing
from
The Cancer Crusade
http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs081/1011287098001/img/25.jpg?a=1102335507458 (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jf5GK6bPrhfu8e9QUztCYXgyJvNEvRwxcKINmZ G61Ra9nhNMdRC8VxDq1zSTduqLmpDvYNb0x0-k-TeU5NyUugnCFYLYxZrZLnJblRk6hy7rtxmou_KXdg==)
The Survivor Movie has been viewed more than
two million times
in every state in the United States and in more than 89 countries
around the world.
Please keep it going around the world by using the forwarding link at the end of the movie.
This movie and these affirmations are our gifts to you. We hope you will share them by forwarding to everyone for whom you feel they might have meaning.
View
"The Survivor Movie"
here (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jf5GK6bPrheKSgXdQYJvpzffB5PtZbagQCZIK0 JuRJ8XHuffMI9942kEJIXKP7Cg7bujHbay2cDXnLtHqNBFqEkV MbSSY-smPQq5lVo2zf2dqavAFBdkJg==)
http://img.constantcontact.com/letters/images/spacer.gif
We hope The Cancer Crusade's weekly affirmations bring you comfort, hope, healing and smiles, and that you will forward them to others for whom you feel they might have meaning. We also invite you to submit ideas for future affirmations.
http://ih.constantcontact.com/fs081/1011287098001/img/230.jpg?a=1102335507458
If the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is "thank you," that would suffice.
~ Meister Eckhart ~
(Editor's Note: Today's affirmation was written by the editor's husband. For that -and for him-
she is very thankful.)
Many have called former New York City Mayor Rudy Guliani "America's Mayor" for his courageous leadership on 9/11 and throughout the horrifying days that followed. I'll never forget the photographs of the mayor striding confidently through the rubble that had been the World Trade Center towers, comforting the injured and terrified, thanking the firefighters, police officers and aid workers. When he put his arms around those who had lost loved ones on that most awful of days, his compassionate touch reached out to every American and reminded us that we were all in this together and that there were people in charge who would work hard to make things right again.
I recently had the opportunity to hear Guliani speak. I expected he would talk about 9/11, terrorism and how we must find new and better ways to fight the epidemic of hatred and violence that threaten our world.
I think he did mention those things. No, I'm sure he did, but I don't remember much of what he said about them. I don't remember much about those words because there were others that meant so much more to me personally, words that hit me like the proverbial ton of bricks that day and will resonate within me for the rest of my life.
He said that his battle with prostate cancer had been a blessing because hearing the diagnosis gave him the opportunity to go home and hug his loved ones, to tell them how much he loved them and how thankful he was to have them in his life.
The victims of 9/11, he pointed out, never had that chance. Three thousand people got up on a beautiful, clear September morning and went to work. How many of them, we wonder, had unfinished personal business? How many walked out the door without speaking to the husband or wife they had argued with the night before? How many left a crying child reaching out for one more hug? How many hadn't spoken to a family member for weeks, months, years because of some disagreement that had been allowed to smolder?
He was thankful for his diagnosis of cancer, said Guliani, because it gave him a chance to be more thankful every single day! It reminded him to savor the many blessings in his life and to love his loved ones harder and more deeply than ever before.
With Thanksgiving coming up next week, being thankful is on most everyone's minds right now. I have always loved Thanksgiving Day for many reasons. I love the food and the football. I love family and friends. I love getting up early and watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I was in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade once when I was a young man, and it holds a special place in my memories and in my heart. I still get excited when Santa Claus comes into view. I love gathering around the table covered with wonderful food, and I love the ritual of saying the special grace. I love having the day off and lying around the house, stomach too full, and napping. I love napping and I hardly ever get to do it,
except on Thanksgiving Day.
We have a tradition on Thanksgiving Day that I especially love. In the evening, my wife, Kathy, and I pick up my sister, Mary, and her two beautiful daughters, Tina and Amy, and we take a drive through the local park's "Celebration In Lights." We always go through twice. We take some hot chocolate along for the ride, turn on the radio and sing along (badly) to the holiday songs. I love that.
I love my wife on Thanksgiving Day. Don't get me wrong, I love my wife every day. But I especially love her on Thanksgiving Day because she makes Thanksgiving Day, and every holiday, so very special. My wife loves holidays and she gives them a special "feel" with her enthusiasm. She always decorates and plays music and bounces around the house being happy. And she makes
everyone else happy. I love that.
I love Thanksgiving Day for a lot of reasons. But, mostly I love Thanksgiving Day because it reminds me to be thankful. Not just thankful for the food, although I always am. And not just thankful for family and friends who are so near and dear to me. No, it reminds me to be thankful for life itself.
You see, Thanksgiving Day has a way of making me stop, for just a moment, and reflect, really reflect on the many blessings that I have in my life. They say you should count your blessings, but I have too many to count, too many to name them all. My wife, Kathy, my sons, my mom and dad and brothers and sister, many nieces and nephews, and Meemaw and Deeda, and football, and music, and turkey, and that breath of air that I just took, and life itself. And my God.
It wasn't always that way. There was a time when I wasn't quite so thankful. Like Rudy Guliani and millions of other Americans, I will never forget hearing the words, "You have cancer." My life, as I knew it, ceased to exist, and was immediately replaced with one filled with confusion, questions and doubt. Doubt about everything,
including my God.
But my doubt did not last very long. After the initial shock, the awful diagnosis began to work a strange kind of transformational magic. It reminded me on a daily basis - now and forever - that I have so much to be thankful for. I am alive, at least for now. I am still standing, my wife at my side.
I am thankful for that.
And I still have my God. Always did, of course. What is it they say? "If you don't feel close to God, guess who moved." I am very thankful for that.
I am thankful for the chance I was given. I had a chance to survive, even if just for another day. And that was enough to be thankful for.
Suddenly, I "got it". Everything had changed and it was OK. My wife says that there are two kinds of people in the world. "Those who 'get it'"
and "those who don't."
It shouldn't be this way, but it seems it takes some kind of life-altering event to make people "get it." The people who miraculously walked out of the Twin Towers in New York City told TV reporters that they were going to go home and hug their wives and kids. Suddenly, they "got it". A diagnosis of cancer, or any life-threatening illness, suddenly makes you so aware of life, and time, and, everything. And you appreciate it. You finally appreciate everything. And you are so thankful for whatever time you have been granted.
You become so thankful.
For me, every day is Thanksgiving Day.
Dear God, Thank you.
Amen
Roger and Kathy Cawthon
The Cancer Crusade
email: cawthons@thecancercrusade.com (cawthons@thecancercrusade.com)
web: http://www.thecancercrusade.com (http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001jf5GK6bPrhfu8e9QUztCYXgyJvNEvRwxcKINmZ G61Ra9nhNMdRC8VxDq1zSTduqLmpDvYNb0x0-k-TeU5NyUugnCFYLYxZrZLnJblRk6hy7rtxmou_KXdg==)