Capture the Moment
I have been inspired today by our friend Audrey in NZ! She amazes me with her words of encouragement and honesty. She shared an incredible story that I want to post for those who didn’t catch it.
This is her story:
While you guys were enjoying your pig-roast over your long weekend, we in NZ had Father’s day. I want to share a special moment like those Doug has been describing – a moment of REALITY. . One of my sons brought his wife and 2 small boys to visit us. Sarah and I were left together as the ‘boys of 3 generations’ went off elsewhere to ‘do’ stuff with the kids. . We two sat in the winter sun on the verandah with a caraffe of red wine. I remember feeling a ‘distance’ in our relationship at the beginning of our conversation and put it down to that ‘mum-in-law respect’ thing, silently wishing it away. . And it went! Sarah has been through some soul-searching times, and she’s courageous. She was a solo mum for the first 8 years of her eldest son’s life – he is now 21, and it wasn’t long before she opened up and shared some of her deepest feelings and the catalysts that caused her to experience those feelings. . At one point she said, “I don’t have words to describe how I felt, happiness doesn’t fit because it’s much bigger and greater and better than any happiness I’ve had before!” . I suggested that perhaps it was a new language she was trying to express these feelings with. She very nearly bounced out of her chair, saying ‘That’s it! The old words are too cliched, they don’t present what I want to say in a ‘clean’ way. Yes, that’s it – a new song!’ . At that moment the boys returned, but that moment of REALITY was not lost – it remained as a precious insight we had together as we recognized the spirit within connecting us in it’s flow and teaching us as we journey along. . She gave me a hug as they left to travel home and said ‘we shared a pretty special moment didn’t we?
If you don’t open your heart to these points in your life then the important moments in life just pass you by and you continue going along missing the opportunities to discover who you really are and what you are made of. Don’t let it fly by…with all that is in you capture that moment.
I love this quote by Lao-tzu: "Entertain the exact opposite of what you’ve been conditioned to believe."
When we look a little deeper within ourselves and at each other I believe the truth is revealed, but we seem to condition ourselves to only see what is on the surface. We go along with what the worlds opinions and views are which seem to be judgemental and shallow. We seem to put ourselves above anyone and everything and look down at it rather than put ourselves in a position where we should look up instead. Like Lao-tzu says, "We should be willing to hear and receive. Listen intently when you’re inclined to offer advice and be a humble earth source."
Life is just a source that feeds our soul. We can’t take life too seriously and get caught up in all the french fries and cheeseburgers. You gotta see past the illusions and look at what is real and real is when you are sitting with your daughter-in-law in the winter sun on the verandah with a caraffe of red wine.
Love ya Audrey!
You got any more room on that veranda Audrey, LoL? Carpe diem quam minimum credula postero – “Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the future.” Love it, eat drink and be merry, for tomorrow my never come!
Love always
The moments of beauty in our lives are as abundant as grains of sand in the ocean, but our ability to see them is very limited because we are programmed to see the sand dune and not each grain of sand required to make it.
As I stood tonight and felt the beauty of fall approaching I thought of all the seasons that have come and gone, all the perfect moments of life I have let pass, without noticing without seeing, without feeling. I stood tonight and saw the tops of the bean fields giving up there deep green leaves to yellow, and the flowing corn fields offering rustling leaves whisper warnings of the cold winter weather approaching.
I watched the sweet maple trees and the great oaks standing like treasures adorning this earth, that God so loves, sharing colors in there leaves of crimson and gold.
I thought how much different is the beauty within the seasons of this earth, so much different then the lives of the men and women that walk upon it?
Is the purity of the first snow of Winter that blankets the earth with a glistening beauty of innocents, any different then a new born baby’s cry?
Is the excitement of Spring rains giving life to the barren lands of winter, offering new hope, and new life, any different then the child that dances the puddles of that spring rain, exploring a life filled now with hope and beauty?
Is the amazement of watching a young pine tree dance fearlessly in the face of a Summer thunderstorm twisting and turning, willing to accept all that it must, to protect its roots, any different then all the young men , women, Moms, Dad that look bravely into the eyes of tribulation and know that a brilliant warm sun will follow?
THE FALL OF OUR SEASONS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL
As the great oak and all the sister and brothers begin to change they softly whisper, that it is time to gather closer, that it is time again to prepare for harshness soon to come. They prepare us with there leaves….
LEAVES no longer supple, and soft, but ridged and stiff, but rustle in a harmony of a lifetime of wisdom.
LEAVES that offer the beauty of a rainbow, never one more perfect then the other, all aware of what has been and of what will be.
LEAVES blending together like the spices of our memories, the cinnamon browns the ginger gold’s, melting in the air with the comfort of love.
LEAVES fearless of there future, excited by the new life ahead, and proud of there past.
LEAVES ready for there last dance as they float with graceful beauty.
TO THE EARTH THEY CAME FROM
Love always
The love of a torn heart can only be felt if your willing to stand naked as a pitiful fool, in front of all that will diminish your beauty.
The pain of all that you know to be right can only be healed by the depth of your love for all that know to be wrong.
The beauty of knowing that is sweeter then the moment of birth.
love
trust your heart, till your mind explodes, believe in what others cant explain, trust in a beauty, that only Jesus can offer you, that can only be felt within your heart, that can only be offered to others when your willing to stand as as a pitiful fool in front of them…
love always
Wow Doug! Love your thoughts.
Julia
I know you hate my last thoughts, and they be my very last ones, but I was told on this site that i was going to hell, but the one who told me that said that he would pray for me next time he went to church. Well I’m good with that, but my cat is scared shitless cause hes not sure when hes going back to church!
The same person said i was a pitiful fool because i believe in a God of pure love, and that i was condemned to hell because i sin. Know that really put my cat into a tail spin because he knows that’s true.
The beautiful part of this story, is that i know he and i will sit together in the kingdom of heaven. The sad part of this story is that I’m not all that sure about my cat….
Love always and good night
Doug, whoever that person was that told you such nonsense on this site certainly was not one of it’s founders. It’s sad but true that too many “religious” people spout such things at those people they perceive as sinners….and I suppose they see them as sinners far worse than themselves. But if there was still sin….if Jesus had not put sin away and dealt with it once and for all for us ALL, then I suspect that the attitudes of people such as this one who spoke in this manner must be considered pretty grievous on the “sin scale”.
Little in this world causes more hurt, anger, distrust and division than the words of self-righteous “believers” who still believe the lie that God will unmercifully destroy the vast majority of His creation and those precious creatures that He created in His image…..as His children. We may, in most cases, be ignorant of the truth of His character but you can be sure of one thing…we are loved immensely many more times over than what we have been led to believe by so much religious tradition.
The above quote is powerful…..”Entertain the exact opposite of what you’ve been conditioned to believe.”
So many religious people have, all their lives, been conditioned to think like the one who spoke so cruely to you. It would be good for them to entertain the idea that maybe, just maybe this all powerful and all loving God that they claim to know is really loving enough to save all of His children……and powerful enough that there is nothing in hell that could prevent Him from doing so….and that the Savior they claim to know accomplished a far greater act than the acts of the fallen angel they have been told is so effectively still deceiving most of the world. They really give so very little credit to what the Savior accomplished.
Oh, and personally, if cats needed saved then I believe your buddy is well covered too…..though, like you I don’t know if your cat or my dog will rest in paradise with us…..but I hope so. Maybe that’s when lions and lambs actually lie down together….and all “believers” will be truly amazed at the fullness and the scope of God’s perfect plan.
I know one thing for sure. When I believed like the one who said you would go to hell I never came close to having the peace that I now have…since I began to entertain thoughts opposite of those I had been long conditioned to believe. I’ll take the abiding peace I now have over the confusing mess I used to hold as “peace”. And I know you have that peace too. Let no one ever rob you of it.
Thank you for the comforting words Steve, words that I know to be true, absent of hurt, anger, distrust and division, words spoken from a heart embodied by Gods love.
Love always
Ya know, my little brother couldnt say windshield wiper( he said “windshiper” instead), He couldnt say grasshopper ( he said “hassgropper instead), but he sure offered us some beautiful words from God.
I have always been there for you, and I always will be.
I will walk with you forever—-just the two of us.
I will always understand you.
I will always be kind to you.
You will always be my own personal concern.
I love you. I always have, and I always will.
miss ya bro
Love always
I wanted to stay awake tonight long enough to share the celebration of my 60th birthday.
During my 60 years Ive seen the creation of television, Ive seen men land on the moon, and the invention of computers. Ive seen presidents assassinated, and leave in disgrace. Ive seen five wars , none of which we have won, as though you can really ever win a war. Ive see the development of air conditioning and the cures for diseases, but women still contract breast cancer at a rate of one in four, and only the rich can afford the treatment to save them.
I was part of the peace movement, but i feel that i will die as part of a world still at war. I to have been a willing warrior, ready to fight and die for the desires and beliefs of my country, but in my last trimester of life i truly believe i am living in a peace movement never felt by my brothers and sisters of my youth.
If i can only send one message, to any that will listen, on my 60th birthday, it would be.
Don’t seek power or prestige, dont seek money or control, because they will only leave you without purpose and lonely. Seek the beauty that is within every man woman and child that walks this earth,(that God so loved) and you will find a peace that money or power cant give you, a peace that will rest softly under your eyelids with your last breath.
Love always
Ok, you know there is one last thought. I also felt hugs by the sweetest mother this world has ever known, I also ate oatmeal cookies baked by the greatest grama that ever walked this earth, I learned to be a man, by a father with a heart of gold, I have been sheltered like a sapling between two towering oak trees by two amazing brothers, and most of all i have been blessed by the love of a beautiful woman and the children she gave me, for 40 years. i have been pampered and loved by the most wonderful Aunts and Uncles on this earth, and i have learned the meaning of love from my precious nieces an nephews.
My love will never fail, because my family will never fail me.
This is a day many will remember in infamy, but to me (09/11) was the beginning of a great journey. a journey of amazing memories of giant Christmas trees stacked ti to roof with beautifully wrapped gifts , of aunts and uncles laughing and cousins giggling, of a grama with a funny shaky belly when she laughed.
I have had a perfect life with the exception of the pain i have chosen to feel, a pain that will only leave me when the sun drys my eyes.
GOODNIGHT MY FRIENDS
Love always
You really do have me figured out dont you, you know there is always one more thought. My cat is trying to hit the exit key on my keyboard, my dog is already asleep, and my wife is waking periodically to try and catch me smoking, so as you can see I’m starting my birthday under extreme pressure, but with that thought in mind.
As you wake up tomorrow what will be the most important thing in your life? Getting your kids off to school , cleaning your house, paying your bills, buying groceries? Well that is all important, but it wont mean hollycrapolie to you if you dont spend a moment here and there to see the beauty of all of it…
Ok i really am done now, my cats laying on its back with a death wish in his eyes.
have a great day
love always
Happy Birthday Uncle Doug! I love you all the way to the moon and back!!!!
Happy Birthday Doug! I never tire of reading your awesome words. What a gift! And its YOUR birthday, you should be the one getting the gifts! You really do help a body know what is really important in life.
I do hope your day is especially wonderful. I love you!
Your cuz,
Lisa
Uncle Doug,
What can I say……I’m so thankful to be your (favorite) niece. Had to slip that in there. YOU are AWESOME!!! I hope you have THE best birthday ever!!
(Guess how much I Love You!!)
Mandy =)
Happy Birthday Doug. I think of you and your brothers when I read this poem. Have a beautiful day.
Birches
By Robert Frost
When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy’s been swinging them.
But swinging doesn’t bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-coloured
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun’s warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You’d think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground,
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
But I was going to say when Truth broke in
With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm,
I should prefer to have some boy bend them
As he went out and in to fetch the cows–
Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,
Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone.
One by one he subdued his father’s trees
By riding them down over and over again
Until he took the stiffness out of them,
And not one but hung limp, not one was left
For him to conquer. He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise
To the top branches, climbing carefully
With the same pains you use to fill a cup
Up to the brim, and even above the brim.
Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.
So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It’s when I’m weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig’s having lashed across it open.
I’d like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth’s the right place for love:
I don’t know where it’s likely to go better.
I’d like to go by climbing a birch tree
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.
UUUHG Mandy, he told me I was his favorite and Ang…that poem isn’t enough to suck up to him so whatever…Birches.
LOL, I love you all so much. Thank you for the wonderful wishes and poems, and i do still dream of the days my brothers and I would bravely dive for the tops of sassafras sapling’s and ride them to the ground.
Love always
She can’t help it Mindy she’s one of those quirky types, isn’t that what they call it? I think so! Love you sis!
I love you too Man. I can’t help it- I yam what I yam.
When a frog winks, is it just tryin to actin cool? When a grasshopper jumps, is it just showin off? When a bird sings, is it just tryin to tell the frog and the grasshopper , that i am king of karaoke?
Day in and day out i am constantly impress by what we will do to simply say “I AM”. I was the first to wear bell bottom hip huggers at Centerville high school, I had the biggest blond Afro this side of the rocky mountains, and i wore the first all white naru jacket at Michigan christian collage, till it was stolen.
My point is that we all want to know that we are special, and we are constantly finding ways to send that message hoping that someone will acknowledge our beauty.
My ass is to big for hiphuggers now, and i dont have enough hair on my head for a minifro, but i still think i could strut my stuff in a naru jacket. The one thing i still have left , to express myself with is my smile. Its something all of us have, and its free to share it. So tomorrow try to take a moment, and look squarely into the eyes of all that you pass , and share your smile and a nod. You might just be surprised of how good you will feel time after time.
You will feel the “i am” and so will everyone you pass.
Love always
Happy Birthday, Doug!
Love from
Julia
Now cousin’s we all know who REALLY is the favorite!!!! I love you Daddy you are my friend my hero and my superman… and yes I am busting out the lyric’s to some 1980’s Warrant!
Heaven Isn’t Too Far Away”
got a picture of your house
your were standin’ by the door
it’s black and white and faded
and it’s lookin’ pretty worn
i see the factory that you worked
see you waited in the back
the memories evgarve a man are really comming back
i don’t need to be the king of the world
as long as i’m the hero of this little girl
heaven isn’t too far away
closer to it every day
no matter what your friends might say
how i loved the way you moved
the sparkle in your eyes
there’s a color deep inside you like the blue suburban skys
when i come home late at night
and your in bed alseep
i wrap my arms around you
so i can feel you breath
i don’t need to be a superman
as long as you will always be my biggest fan
heaven isn’t too far away
closer to it every day
no matter what your friends might say
we’ll find a way
now the lights are going out
along the boulivard
the memories come rushin’ back and it makes it pretty hard
like i’ve got nowhere left to go
and no one really cares
i don’t know what to do
but i’m never giving up on you
i know were gnna find a way
ohhh, heaven
ohh, heaven
heaven, it’s not too far away
ohhhh, yeahhhh
On Sept 13, 31 years ago i was given a belated birthday gift. A beautiful baby girl was born. She took a big dump on the warming tray, then went into a screaming crying fit till she passed out, because she wasn’t all that happy with her new environment, and i knew this girl would be the most beautiful woman to walk this earth, that God so loves.
Love you baby girl …..
My last thought of the night is of Love.
LOVE that holds you as tight as a boa constrictor will only crush you.
LOVE that covers you like a thousand blankets of lambs wool will only smother you.
LOVE that protects you like the thick walls of a cave will only bury you.
but love that that surrounds you with the softness of a morning fog and the warmth of a single ray sunshine, will take you to places that only your heart can imagine….
Goodnight and again thank you for today.
Love always
OK , very last thing of the night, and i call it a thing because i have never done it much or put much faith in it, but I’m gonna ask you to take a split second of your powerful energy and ask God to give my uncle Tom a fighting chance. Hes kinda in trouble after fallen off a roof, and i know if hes given a fight chance he’ll do the rest. I guess its your prays I’m asking for, or at least a split second of your time to speak to your heart.
lOVE ALWAYS
Happy Birthday Sarah! There is lots of birthdays this month. My mom turned 82 on the 8th of Sept and in just a few minutes we are going to celebrate that birthday with her in the nursing home. She is now here close to Linda and I in Hendersonville, Tn. in a place called NHC. Connie and Jackie are both coming to join us for the celebration. It’s certainly bitter sweet circumstances. I wanted to share something here with you all under this “Capture the Moment” heading. Mom recently got a roommate where she is. She’s in a semi-private room and we’re trying to make the best of it. Linda was there one evening and the woman in the other bed was moaning and groaning and carrying on and Linda asked mom if this woman was bothering her and mom said, “No, LInda, I still know how to do compassion.” Just thought that was about the coolest thing because it just showed me that even at the end when certain brain cells might be dead, when one was as compassionate as my mom, that seems to just grow. I love my mommy and am glad to get to celebrate this birthday with her even if she did give Jackie the credit for the balloon and flowers that I bought.
Just love your story Lisa. I have a friend who in trying to relate to the REAL person beneath all the ‘layers’ we wear, sees various types of fabric hanging like a veil in front of them that prevents the honest and true from flowing between. Some she says are like gossamer, others like canvas. And now and again the real person shines through a rip in the fabric. Seeing the real person beneath the external, is indeed the only way we can relate to each other.
As i consider all the moments in life that are subject to our capture I wounder how all these moments contributes to the core of our lives. Each moment offers us something, either good or bad. If it is a moment that touches you personally then you are forever changed, but if you are a casual observer of the moment, then it will only be a casual thought with not nearly the meaning.
What I’m trying to say is that our moments are either good or bad, they either offer you happiness or pain , but mostly your moments in your life will either embrace you with beauty, fear, or indifference.
My thoughts here are very difficult for me to explain, but if your stung by bees, that moment will forever be part of your life, a moment that will leave you in fear of that moment happening again. If you lay your hand on a hot frying pan your mind will always remember that pain, because you lived those moments first hand, but you observe those moment by others, if you only see someone being stung or burned, then as a casual observer you will not know what they truly feel.
If you observer the birth of a new born baby, but have never been a mother lying there with hair sopped in sweat, breasts filling with milk arms weak but aching to nurture new life, as the observer it will be a precious moment, but it will not be like the mother living the moment.
There is so much more to this thought id like to explain, but cant…yet, but i can leave you tonight with this thought.
When you dont quit understand someone else. Before you discount them remember that maybe you haven’t ever really felt the moments of there life.
Happy birthday baby girl
Love always
My last thought tonight is that i am now a tempered soul. A body of life that has gathered enough wisdom to share, and heart that is willing to give it to you without any sugar coating.
Do you think your different then JESUS?
Do you think Jesus felt hate, (no doubt in my mind)
Do you think Jesus felt anger,(no doubt in my mind)
Do you think Jesus felt fear (no doubt in my mind)
Do you think Jesus felt lost (no doubt in my mind)
Do you think Jesus felt abandon ( no doubt in my mind)
Do you think that JESUS DID NOT FEEL EVERYTHING THAT YOU FEEL OR EVER WILL?
NO DOUBT IN MY MIND
You are as special to God as he ever was (NO DOUBT IN MY MIND)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL
Love always
Doug,
If you are not working on a book then you need to be. You have so much unique wisdom and great thoughts to share. It would be a wonderfull legacy for you to leave behind a volume of words from your own awesome perpective. Think about it, I’m sure many would agree.
-Matt Perry, GA
Sarah Louise, You are for sure the favorite!
I am sorry I missed your birthday, but I would love to tell you something… and for all those reading…I thought Sarah was so weird when we were little!!!!!! SHE WAS FOR SURE A COUNTRY GIRL IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD, BUT at the same time I thought she was the coolest girl I knew because you see Sarah wasn’t and isn’t afraid of a whole heck of a lot. I mean ok, this girl would take the lightening bugs and tear the lights off their butts then paint her body with it, BUT she would go fishing with us out at “THE POND” and instead of a regular fishing pole from k-mart like I had she had her very own cane pole and ole’ girl knew how to use it to. She would be out there in her bare feet, shirt off like her older brother and she was catching fish like it was the easiest thing in the world. I was still trying to get my worm on my hook. (I think eventually Sarah probablly put the worm on for me) Sarah is the kind of person that you wish you could be. She has an amazing smile, an amazing heart and the most perfect spirit!! Now she has her own little one (Andy) and he is just like his Momma. I watched him this past Saturday night at a celebration for Andy’s Auto Sales and here he is just a couple years old out finding frogs, picking them up and giving them to everyone. He isn’t afraid of anything and I can’t wait to hang with him out at the pond. I am sure he will hook my pole for me!!
Man, do I love my family!
Happy belated B-day Sarah
love you forever and always!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Well I can’t top that Mindy, so I’m not even gonna try!!
Sarah you’re one cool chick! Hope your B-day was great!
Love ya