Maribeth’s World

Maribeths hub for thoughts, people, places, interests and other things…

Archive for November, 2008

Thanksgiving Memories, Thoughts and Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving Day and Weekend to All. I am most grateful and thankful for everyone who has touched my life at some point. I hope everyone is thankful to our Maker for all of the many blessings. Someone once said that they were not thankful because they were having trouble at work (so something of that nature)… The response was, well, at least you have a job to complain about. So, no matter what our issues are, there is always somethihng or some reason to be thankful…

This week, I found it interesting that some people feel that Thanksgiving does not include God. They treat it as a day so different that Secretaries Day, etc where one thanks their staff. And others are just plain clueless as to the origins of Thanksgiving….
I just hope everyone had enough to eat and a table and people to share their gratitudes with….
 

 

Here are some of the lyrics that always touch my heart on Thanksgiving and other days…. Perhaps due to some of the farming blood in my veins… As a child, I remember going to family farms at harvest time and how very thankful the families were for their harvests…

 

We Plow the Fields (There are 2 melodies to this one… The traditional one and then the one from Godspell… I like the Godspell melody better.)Listen to the 1782 Melody at  Cyberhymnal,: Mat­thias Clau­di­us, Paul Erd­mann’s Fest, 1782 (Wir pflü­gen und wir streu­en); Clau­di­us heard the words sung by lo­cal farm­ers; Jane M. Camp­bell trans­lat­ed them from Ger­man to Eng­lish in 1861; her ver­sion first ap­peared in A Gar­land of Songs, by Charles S. Bere, 1862.
We plow the fields, and scatter the
    good seed on the land,
But it is fed and watered by God’s
    almighty hand;
He sends the snow in winter, the
    warmth to swell the grain,
The breezes and the sunshine, and
    soft refreshing rain.Refrain:
All good gifts around us
Are sent from heaven above,
Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord
For all His love.

He only is the Maker of all things near and far;
He paints the wayside flower, He lights the evening star;
The winds and waves obey Him, by Him the birds are fed;
Much more to us, His children, He gives our daily bread.

Refrain

We thank Thee, then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seed time and the harvest, our life, our health, and food;
No gifts have we to offer, for all Thy love imparts,
But that which Thou desirest, our humble, thankful hearts.

Refrain

I also like this one…

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing:
Sing praises to his Name; he forgets not his own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning:
Thou, Lord, wast at our side: all glory be thine!

We all do extol thee, thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our Defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation:
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Bias Against Older People in America

“Researchers who study prejudice say that Americans are more biased against the elderly than against any other group, including those identified by their race or sexual orientation. Even the elderly are biased against the elderly.” Excellent article that should be read by Baby Boomers ! It appears as if experience is not as important as age and charisma. Society has always feared that which is different. Remember the phrase from “our youth”: “Never trust anyone over 30″… Was that because we never expected to reach 30 back then…  The time is now for us Baby Boomers who are not only over 30, but will soon be mostly over 60. I am finding more and more of my colleagues are electing to NOT retire. They are keeping their brain’s active and minds young. I worry about many of today’s under 30 crowd that all too easily accepts false information without the benefit of critical analysis of history and fact. I have many questions today that have yet to be answered. Congratulations to those who are happy today about the election results and Condolences to those who are not happy. With the popular vote almost down the middle, there are a great many American’s out there that are not happy. This is not the time to gloat if your candidates won… Nor is it the time to be angry if your candidates lost. It is again a time to agree to disagree. Hope and pray that things go well for our nation as we move forward. Thank God that we are a Democratic Republic and that we can elect our officials every 2 and 4 years. Right now we should all be looking at provisions for checks and balances as starting in January, they no longer exist. Beware and watch for the upcoming Filibusters!

Lincoln Quote

You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.


You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.


You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.


You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.


You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.


You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.


You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.

 

Abraham Lincoln