BOOKS, MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, ARE YOUR BEST FRIENDS

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A rainy weather doesn't give you much to do if you plan for outdoor activities. But indoors, that's a different thing. I have about a few things lined up for this kind of weather i.e. arrange my closet (which I have been doing for the __th time because I mess it up just as quickly as I arrange it)..... sort through old clothes and move it to the donation box (the kids do the same)..... sew the frazzled seams of my favorite maong shorts..... scrub the bath tub (baking soda is a good cleaner) but I think I will dish this for another time because it's too much effort, so then na-ah to this one..... do some Tai Chi moves in lieu of the regular morning walks...... or clean up the shelves of my small personal library of selected treasured books. All three shelves filled with books I keep coming back to again and again.
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The last item on that list won over the rest, for obvious reasons.
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I love books. Mom's words and my favorite line from her was..... 'You don't stop learning just because you're done with school. Books, more than anything else, are your best friends. It won't let you down.'
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It never has. What classrooms didn't teach me I have learned from books. What teachers failed to expound upon, books gave me its better explanation or version. Confusion, fuzzy principles, insufficient insights were eased up or resolved by the right books on that subject or subjects. And if I wanted to delve deeper into the secrets of the universe certain books easily would take me there. If the what-why-where-when-and-how-or-who of life and living seem like a huge puzzle to me, books would gladly lead me to its understanding and clarity. If I wanted to know my God better to grow my faith, the bible would gently take me there. And if all I ever wanted was to be entertained, there were the word puzzles... adult coloring books... Sudoku... humor books... travel books.. hobby books... and DIY (do it yourself) books.
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Through the ups-and-downs of life's journey books have always kept me company. Mom was right.... "Books, more than anything else, are your best friends. It won't let you down."
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How did I get to be this way? Credit goes to Mom, a teacher by profession; she started us young. Mom would buy us books, picture books when we were kids. We could easily say 'railroad track' and point to its picture while the other kids in nursery were just learning their A-B-C's. (Even before we got into nursery.) As students, we would hie off to the school library at the slightest chance we could get. That love affair with books continued in and through our adult years.
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One love affair that is forever.
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May God bless you with all things good .... and great books to last you a lifetime. 

 

 

 

MUST LOVE BOOKS

 

Got this from Mr. Quote Man today..... to quote:

Readers may be divided into four classes:

1. Sponges, who absorb all that they read and return it in nearly the same state, only a little dirtied.
2. Sand-glasses, who retain nothing and are content to get through a book for the sake of getting through the time.
3. Strain-bags, who retain merely the dregs of what they read. (Dregs - residue, remains, sludge)
4. Mogul diamonds, equally rare and valuable, who profit by what they read, and enable others to profit by it also.

--Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Unquote.

I remember mom saying this about people.....  'Different strokes for different folks'. An expression meaning that everyone has their own way of doing things or approaching life.

It's the same way with books...  reading books. Anyone of us can be one or the other on that list..... or maybe even all of the above at different times in our lives. But as human nature is always wanting something beneficial or meritorious or advantageous to the self, I would say a good number of us are #4 on that list.

Here at home for lack of sufficient storage space, the books I have acquired through the years are all stored inside a huge storage plastic bin. I go back to it every now and then to be reminded once more of good book experiences. Yes, you guessed it right... I don't throw away good books. I don't borrow books either because if I happen to like it very much, I would keep it. Just fortunate that the ones kept (about two of them and three years long now) weren't even missed by its owners. :-D But I think that's absurd --- books are like family... you'll miss them if you don't see them.

There's this book I keep returning to and miss a lot when I fail my regular reading date with it. 'Good Morning.... God' by Pamela Steinke, bought in 1995. Only 8x5inches in size, about less than a hundred pages, and It's heavily lined with a green pencil marker. Sometimes it gets a ride in my tote bag on Starbucks dates with daughter. Yes, I read it while sipping my green tea frappe. :-)

Remember that movie "Must Love Dogs"? Let's tweak that a bit to ---"Must Love Books".

TODAY IS YOURS - SEIZE IT

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Moved a few books which were laid down beside the laptop and sat on top of the couch content yet still innocent of the fact that it was being eyed by my daughter for 'killer extraction' soon. Like a dentist would extract an aching bum tooth! She hates a messy sofa. So had to rush to its rescue before it was sent to the store room and be stuck there forever. In the transfer, a small book slipped out of my hands and fell down to the floor. A tiny book of about 165 pages, authored by Norman Vincent Peale, titled 'Why Some Positive Thinkers Get Positive Results'. Decided to peek through its pages which content were intermittently lined with a green marker pencil (yeah, it's a habit) here and there.

This book is already several years old but I can remember why I bought it. It was that time in my life when everything that was so-called negative assailed every most area of my life. Making it even more exasperating was being surrounded by ... yes, you guessed it right... negative people.

 
So I decided to spend time inside a book store with the aim of throwing out the turmoil-attack-on-my-senses on the dozens of books which lined up the shelves and hoped to heaven that it would all get stucked in there for good. And that I would finally come out of it free and back on track again.

Anyway to cut a long story short... I found this book. (Yeah, I needed some positivity... every wee bit of it that I could find.) I bought the book, not because it was by Norman Vincent Peale (I never knew about his other books back then) but because on its cover it said that positive thinkers get powerful results.   

 
Well, to sum up that book experience, I learned so much from that tiny book than I ever hoped to learn in a school year ..or a teeny-weenie semester of learning ..or in one portion of my life.

These lines from that big little book stuck like glue ........ to quote

"Today is yours. You must seize it because it is fleeting , only twenty-four hours that are soon gone by. If you live to be eighty years of age, you will  have only 29,200 days. Each of them, therefore, is a precious fragment of a gift called time, your time. It only makes sense to use every day well. Today is yours. Use it well"   - Unquote

Today! Seize it! Grab it! Love it! Live it!
And I will add..... Pray with it.
Love your book or books; it was once a part of you.

TUNE INTO ABUNDANCE

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On the subject of abundance, people are used to talking about it in the material sense. The having of things, possessions, money at ready disposal and caprice or whim. It's flaunted... advertised... celebrated... gossiped about... or in some instances criticized for its source or manner of use. But regardless those too are blessings.

This morning after a breakfast of fruit and oatmeal I picked up a book which I haven't read for a long time, cruised through its pages not really intending to read it and stopped on the page which had this quote...........

"Not what we have but what we enjoy 

constitutes our abundance". 

--- John Petit-Senn

What are the things you truly enjoy in life? Let's not talk of money. Let's bring it to a higher plane of understanding this time.

While you ponder on the question, I shall take the liberty to list down a few things I enjoy most. Maybe you can find some of yours too on the list.

----- Books. I have boxes full of books in storage waiting for the library I had been planning for it. Some of them might get to the donation box perhaps but most will stay for a long long time yet. There are such books which you just can't part with, which you enjoy reading again and again. Timeless.

----- EasyStitchMax sewing machine. It's perfect for sewing together a purse, shopping bag, or tote bag out of old pairs of jeans. Creative juices burst out of the flood gates of creativity which could even surprise yourself as you bury yourself in it. It's always a fun and enjoyable activity.

----- Peace and quiet. Usually in the early dawn of sunrise. This is when the world seems to stand still.... before life awakens to the usual hustle-and-bustle of life and living.

----- Serenity. Just being there in the moment... calm, untroubled. Sometimes I get this just sitting there with my dogs... together we look out to the street outside or look up to the skies of blue I so love.

----- Mother Nature. Trees swaying in the breeze, waves splashing on the shore, mountains high and mighty, meadows of green and gold... every magnificent thing in our physical world. I run to her to be healed in my soul.

----- Gratitude. Oh but so much to appreciate and be thankful for! Tangible and intangible. The list can be very long and more gets added to it day by day. Always there will be something to be thankful for.

----- Blessings. They come in all sizes, shapes, reason, unexpected, timely, and many other wonderful things which point to one Magnificent GOD. He who showers on us his favor, love, and protection unconditionally. My cup runneth over with joy!

Have a great day, folks! Thank you for your friendship. God bless you with all good things more than your kind hearts can hold.

BOOKS CONNECT US WITH ALL OF CREATION

One day a cousin of a friend came up to me at a gathering with friends and said in jest... 'ang lalim ng mga sinusulat mo' (translated...'it's hard reading you').

I looked at her and replied... 'try it from here' (pointing to her heart) in jest too. 

'Baliw ka talaga!' (translated....'you're crazy') she replied with a laugh. 

To which I countered....'O diba, nasa puso ang kabaliwan' (translated.... 'yup, crazy is right there in the heart'). 

Don't worry when among friends, close friends, you get the privilege of being crazily straightforward and funny and come out of it in one piece. In our group we do it all the time.

Books fall in different categories, don't we know that. Correspondingly we either read with the mind or with the heart. In most of my reading I lean towards those which tug gently or fiercely at any of the strings in my heart. Stories which tell of human struggles, heartaches, foolishness or sometimes stupidity, passion, inspiration, spiritual growth and everything else which resonates with my own in my tiny niche of life and the world. I want to be reminded that I am not alone in my humanity - that out there in the big wide world there is or are other souls going through the same things I do. I want to feel this connection, this oneness with the rest of creation. So I read. And, so I write.

May God pour out blessings upon you today and in the week up ahead. God bless.