Subject: A thousand marbles
 

The older I get, the more I enjoy Saturday mornings.  Perhaps it's the quiet solitude that comes with being the first to rise, or maybe it's the unbounded joy of not having to be at work.  Either way, the first few hours of a Saturday morning are most enjoyable.

A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the kitchen with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other.  What began as a typical Saturday morning turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time.  Let me tell you about it.

I turned the volume up on my radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning talk show.  I heard an older sounding chap with a golden voice. You know the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business himself.  He was talking about "a thousand marbles" to someone named "Tom".  I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say. 

"Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you're busy with your job.  I'm sure they pay you well but it's a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much.  Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet.  Too bad you missed your daughter's dance recital."

He continued, "Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities."  And that's when he began to explain his theory of a "thousand marbles." 

"You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic.  The average person lives about seventy-five years.  I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years."
"Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime.  Now stick with me Tom, I'm getting to the important part."
"It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail", he went on, "and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays.  I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy."
"So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round-up 1000 marbles.  I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio.  Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.”
"I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.  There is 

nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight."
"Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast.  This 

morning, I took the very last marble out of the container.  I figure if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time.  And the one thing we can all use is a little more time. "
"It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday.  Have a good morning!"

You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show's moderator didn't have anything to say for a few moments.  I guess he gave us all a lot to think about.  I had planned to do some work that morning, then go to the gym.  Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss, “C'mon honey, I'm taking you and the kids to breakfast.”
“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile. 
“Oh, nothing special, it's just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids.”
“Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we're out?  I need to buy some marbles.”

Do you know that:

1)   Psalms 118 is the middle chapter of the entire Bible?
2)   Before Psalms 118, Psalms 117 is the shortest chapter in the Bible?
3)   After Psalms 118, Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible?
4)   That there are 594 chapters each before and following Psalms 118?
5)   That if you add up all the chapters except Psalms 118, you get a total of 1188 chapters.
6)   And incidentally, 1188 or Psalms 118 verse 8 also happens to be the middle verse of the entire Bible.

The central verse should have a fairly important message, don't you think?

"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."
Let us here the conclusion of the whole matter:
Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is the whole duty of man,
For God will bring every work into judgement,
Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12 : 13

SLOW DANCE

Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain slapping on the ground?
Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?
You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
 

Do you run through each day on the fly?
When you ask "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?
When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
running through your head?
You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.
 
Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?
Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say "Hi"?
You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.
Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over.

FAMILY

I ran into a stranger as he passed by. "Oh, excuse me please" was my reply. He said, "Please excuse me too; I wasn't even watching for you."

We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and  we said good-bye. But at home a different story is told, how we treat our loved ones, young and old.

Later that day, cooking the evening meal, my daughter stood beside me very still. When I turned, I nearly knocked her down.  "Move out of the way," I said with a frown. She walked away, her little heart broken.

I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken. While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said,  "While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use, but the children you love, you seem to abuse.

Look on the kitchen floor, you'll find some flowers there by the door. Those are the flowers she brought for you.  She picked them herself, pink, yellow and blue. She stood quietly not to spoil the surprise, and you never saw the tears in her eyes."

By this time, I felt very small and now my tears began to fall. I quietly went and knelt by her bed; "Wake up, little girl, wake up," I said. "Are these the flowers you picked for me?"

She smiled, "I found them out by the tree. I picked them because they're pretty like you. I knew you'd like them, especially the blue."

I said, "Daughter, I'm sorry for the way I acted today; I shouldn't have yelled at you that way."

She said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay. I love you anyway."

I said, "Daughter, I love you too, and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

Are you aware that: If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.

And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family, an unwise investment indeed. So what is behind the story?

You know what is the full word of family?

FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER, (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU !

It is worthwhile to share more time with them as they are getting older.

The Story Behind The Picture Of The Praying Hands :

Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children.  Eighteen! In order merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the neighborhood.   Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of his son, Albert and Albrecht Durer the Elder's children had a dream. They both wanted to pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to study at the Academy.

After many long discussions at night in their crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his earnings, support his brother while he attended the  academy. Then, when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines. They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church. Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg. 

Albert went down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his commissioned works. When the young artist returned to his village, the Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate  Albrecht's triumphant homecoming.

After a long and memorable meal, punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, "And now, Albert, blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you."

All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face,  shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and repeated, over and over, "No ...no...no ...no......" 

Finally, Albert rosed and wiped the tears from his cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, "No, brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look ... look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been suffering from arthritis so badly in  my right hand that I cannot even hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on parchment or canvas  with a pen or a brush. No, brother ... for me it is too late."

More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht Durer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point sketches, watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you, like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer's works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have a reproduction hanging in your home or office.

One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's abused hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He called his powerful drawing simply "Hands,"  but the entire world almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and renamed his tribute of love,  "The Praying Hands."

The next time you see a copy of that touching creation, take a second look. Let it be your reminder, if you still need one, that no one – no one -- ever makes it alone!

In a cold dark night, A monk arrived in a small village after traveling far and wide in search for the facts of life.  On the street, few villagers hustled by quietly, busy with their everyday chores.

The monk turned into a dark alley, and he saw a dim yellowish light from the opposite dark end slowly moving towards him.  A villager walking beside him said, "Oh, Tim the blind man is coming."

The monk was puzzled.  A blind man has no idea on how day and night are like, a blind man is not able to see the beauty of the nature, the colors of the flowers and the shape of a bird, a blind man does not even know how lights should be like, is it not funny and weird that a blind man should carry a lantern ?

The lantern was approaching near and the burning light from the other end shone on the monk.  The curious monk asked the blind man who carried the lantern, "Excuse me sir, but are you really blind ?"

"Yes," answered the blind man, "I have not been able to see at all since the day I was born."

"If you cannot see anything at all," asked the monk, "then why do you carry a lantern ?"

The blind man said, "Is is not night time right now ?  I heard that during night time, without any source of light, everybody from the whole world will be as blind as myself, that is why I light a lantern."

"Oh!  You're carrying a lantern for other people's sake so that they can be provided with some source of light ?"  The monk was touched by the conclusion he came to.

But the blind man said, "No, I am doing this for my own self."

For himself ?  The monk was once again dumbfounded.  The blind man then asked the monk, "Have you ever been knocked by passers-by because it's too dark ?"

"Yes," the monk replied, "It was only minutes ago while I was walking on the other street that somebody knocked into me twice because we couldn't see each other."

The blind man was pleased with the answer, "There, I've never been knocked by anyone at all.  Although I'm blind and I can't see a soul, I carry this lantern as it does not only shines for other people, other people can see me as well.  Therefore, they will be able to avoid knocking into me because they can see me."

The monk was silent for a while, enlighten by the facts of life after hearing the simple explanation.  He sighed and said, "I have traveled all over the world searching for God, yet I have never thought that God is just beside me.  The God inside each individual is just like a lantern, and all I have to do is light it up, that way, even if I can't see God, God will be able to see me."

Help others, and in turn helped yourself.

Tips to solving problem.

1. Cure for headaches: Take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead.The throbbing will go.

2. Use of Soap Wrapper: Don't throw away the wrapper after removing a bar of soap. Place  it inside your

school cabinet or shoe box. It is a cheap way to filling the air with a nice smell.

3. Are your shoes smelly? Here's a  solution. Put some tea leaves into a pair of day or two and the smell just 

vanishes.

4. Tips for stamp collectors: Place the envelope  in the freezer for a few hours.  You'll then able to easily lift the

stamps  off with a pair of tweezers.

5. To keep buttons from  dropping off:  Dag a drop of clear nails polish onto the thread that secures the buttons.

This will harden and make it more difficult for the  thread to break off.

6. Are cockroaches in your home driving  u mad?  Try this tested trick. Fill a large bowl with cheap wine and

leave  it under the sink. The pests will drink it, fall in the bowl and drown  easy.

7. To avoid hurting your fingers while hammering metal nails into the wall, hold the nails with a wooden clothes

peg instead.  So even u miss, u won't get hurt.

8. To get rid of itch from  mosquito bite: instant  relief.

9. Ants, ants, ants, everywhere........  Well, they  are never said to never cross a chalk line. So get your chalk out

    and draw a  line on the floor or wherever ants tend to much –see for yourself.

10. Don't panic if your soup's too salty:  Add  cut raw potatoes and throw them away once they are cooked as

they have  absorbed the salt. Your soup's saved!

11. Use  air-freshner to clean mirrors:   It does a good job and better still, give a  lovely smell to theshine.

12. If u have problem wit slippery  shoelaces which refuse to stay:   Rub them with a candle and make them less

  slippery so that knot stay put.

13. If u have stubborn  grease stains on your work clothes:  Add a bottle of Coke with detergent.  It'll help loosen

the grease.

14. Dirty marks on your  white court shoes:  Just add some medicated oil on a piece of cloth and clean  off the

dirty marks on your white court.  They'll be looking as new  again.

Listed below are some common problems which can be cured by honey :

HONEY A few of the very many cures from honey have been outlined:

For burns

Apply freely over burns. It cools, removes pain and aids fast healing without scarring. Apart from being a salve and antibiotic, bacteria cannot live in honey.

Bed Wetting

A teaspoon of honey before bed aids water retention and calms fears in children.

Sleeplessness

A teaspoon of honey in a mug of hot milk aids sleep and works wonders!

Hyperactivity

Honey is a mild sedative with minerals, vitamins, amino acids etc. Replace all white sugar with honey.

White sugar is highly stimulating with no food qualities!

Nasal Congestion

Place a teaspoon of honey in a basin of hot water and inhale fumes after covering your head with a towel over the basin. Very effective.

Wounds or Grazes

Cover wound with honey and a bandage. Excellent healer.

For Fatigue

Dissolve a teaspoon of honey in warm water or quarter honey balance of water in a jug and keep in the fridge.

Honey is primarily fructose and glucose and so it is quickly absorbed by the digestive system.

(Honey is a unique natural stabilizer - ancient Greek athletes took honey for stamina before competing and as a reviver after competition.)

Facial Deep

Cleanser Mix honey with oatmeal approx. 50/50 till thick and apply as a cream. Leave on for half an hour then wash off.  Great as a deep cleanser for acne etc.

Poor Digestion

Mix honey with apple cider vinegar approx. 50/50 and dilute to taste with water. This aids digestion.

(Also reputed to be wonderful for the joints.)

Hair Conditioner

Mix honey with equal quantity of Olive Oil and cover head with a warm towel for half an hour then shampoo off.  Feeds hair and scalp. Hair will never look or feel better!

Sore Throats

Let a teaspoon of honey melt in the back of the mouth and trickle down the throat. Eases inflamed raw tissues.

For Stress

Honey in water is a stabilizer - calms highs and raises lows. Use approx.25 percent honey to water.

Anemia

Honey is the best blood en-richer by raising corpuscle content. The darker the honey the more minerals it

contains.

Food Preservative

Cakes with honey replacing sugar stay fresher longer due to natural antibiotics.

Reduce liquids by approx. one-fifth to allow for moisture in honey.

Heart Patients

These people are well advised to replace white sugar (sucrose) with honey, natural fructose and glucose.

Hay-fever

Chewing the tops of comb honey stimulates the immune system due to minute amounts of pollen.

During the season chew for 20 minutes a teaspoon of bee capping (tops) five to six times per day.

Highly effective and useful for asthma sufferers as well.

Baby's Bottle

Four teaspoons of honey to a baby's bottle of water is an excellent pacifier and multivitamin additive.

If baby's motions are too liquid then reduce by half a teaspoon; if too solid increase by half a teaspoon.

Teething

Honey rubbed on a baby's gums is a mild sedative and anaesthetic.

Osteoporosis

English research has shown that a teaspoon of honey per day aids calcium utilization and prevents

osteoporosis. Essential from age 50 onwards.

Long Life

One common fact worldwide is that the most long-lived people are regular users of honey.

An interesting fact yet to be explained is that beekeepers suffer less from cancer and arthritis than any other occupational group worldwide.

Migraine

Use a teaspoon of honey dissolved in half a glass of warm water. Sip at start of attack.

If necessary repeat in 20 minutes. Always effective (so tip goes) as migraine is stress related.

Conjunctivitis (pus in the eye)

Honey dissolved in equal quantity of warm water. Apply, when cooled, as lotion or eye bath.

Cough mixture

6 oz. liquid honey 2 oz. glycerin Juice of 2 lemons Mix well. Bottle and cork firmly. Use as required.

Important:

Keep honey in first aid cupboard for emergency use, and another in the kitchen cupboard.

"Do you like my dress?" she asked of a passing stranger.  "My mommy made it just for me." She said with a tear in her eye. 

"Well, I think it's very pretty, so tell me little one, why are you crying?" 

With a quiver in her voice the little girl answered, "After Mommy made me this dress, she had to go away." 

"Well, now," said the lady, "with a little girl like you waiting for her, I'm sure she'll be right back." 

"No ma'am, you don't understand," said the child through her tears, "my Daddy said that she's up in heaven now with Grandfather."  Finally the woman realized what the child meant, and why she was crying.

Kneeling down she gently cradled the child in her arms and together they cried for the mommy that was gone.  Then suddenly the little girl did something that the woman thought was a bit strange.

She stopped crying, stepped back from the woman and began to sing.  She sang so softly that it was almost a whisper. It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard, almost like the song of a very  small bird.  After the child stopped singing she explained to the lady, "My mommy used to sing that song to me before she went away, and she made me promise to sing it whenever I started crying and it would make me stop."  "See," she exclaimed, "it did, and now my eyes are dry!"

As the woman turned to go, the little girl grabbed her sleeve, "Lady, can you stay just a minute? I want to show you something."

"Of course," she answered, "what do you want me to see?" 

Pointing to a spot on her dress, she said, "Right here is where my Mommy kissed my dress, and here," pointing to another spot,  "and here is another kiss, and here, and here," "Mommy said that she put all those kisses on my dress so that I would have her kisses for every boo-boo that  made me cry."

Then the lady realized that she wasn't just looking at a dress, no, she was looking at a Mother who knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away the hurts that she knew her daughter would get.  So she took all the love she had for her beautiful little girl and put them into this dress, that her child now so proudly wore.  She no longer saw a little girl in a simple dress, she saw a child wrapped in her Mother's love.

I asked the Lord to bless you

As I prayed for you today,

To guide you and protect you

As you go along your way...

His love is always with you

His promises are true,

And when we give Him all our cares

You know He will see us through.

So when the road you're traveling on

Seems difficult at best...

Just remember I'm here praying

And God will do the rest.

Master Lynn Yap's 15 Golden Fengshui Tips for the Home

1. There should be no shoes or slippers lying aroundoutside the main door of every house.  Remove it if you can.  Allow that space at the main door to be free and clear.  Now, allow me to tell you why.  The chi (energy) rides with the wind and will collect all the smell of those shoes and slippers into your house causing sickness.  These chi then travels about in your house looking for water to stay but if there are no  water fountains or fish tanks, then the chi will be dispersed by wind.

2. There should be no television sets in your bedrooms.  If  you cannot get rid of that habit then after watching the television programs, cover it with a plastic table cloth. Remember it has to be plastic and not simply cloth.

3. There should be no mirrors opposite your bed or at the side of your bed. Mirrors opposite the bed can  attract a third party to the relationship. Therefore, do not place mirrors anywhere you like and especially in your bedroom.

4. There should not be a dining table opposite your altar table.  Some people are still not aware of this concept and still have that in their dining room.  Shift the dining table.

5. If you have a fish tank in your house, be careful.  A fish tank placed correctly can bring about greater fortune as you will tap on the "Divine Water Dragon's Den".  But if you tap wrongly, it can cause you to have lawsuits, bankruptcy,  work pressure, troubles and problems.  If you noticed any of these after placing the fish tank for approximately four months, shift your fish tank to another location.  For more details, buy my 101 Fengshui Book.

6. In your kitchen, ensure that opposite your stove there is no refrigerator, washing machine, wash basin and toilet.  The fire and water crash causing family members to have disagreements.  The fengshui solution?  Remove one of them.

7. Try not to allow children to sleep on mattresses on the floor.  Yes, this allows young children not to fall off beds but it also causes young children to fall sick frequently. The reason is: chi is not able to flow underneath the bed.  Ideally, chi should circulate around the mattress where our children sleeps to allow them to be healthy.

8. For young children, try to have their back to the wall when they write.  It is important there should be a solid wall behind a children's writing table.  This allows the child to have support so that he can sit there and study longer rather than for only half an hour and then they tend to move about because there is no solid wall behind their back. Adjust your writing table.

9. Do not allow children to sleep on double decker beds even if it means saving space.  The child sleeping underneath the double decker bed will not have "fresh chi" and so his health might be weak.  But if due to space constraints, then monitor your child's health if not add in a metal 6 rods windchime to break up the "stale chi" around his bed.

10. Your bed should always have a solid wall behind you.  This is important if you wish to have a good rest.  A solid wall simply means that you can go into deeper sleep and therefore enabling you to have good rest so that when you wake up in the morning, you will feel fresh and well rested.  This also allows you to be able to concentrate on your work better.

11. There should be no beam on top of your bed, your stove, your sofa sets or the altar table. The beam above causes chi to be pressured thus enabling you to have pressures in life.  Therefore, don't place furniture underneath it or alternatively level the beam.  But make sure if you choose the latter, it is important that you have enough height for that space.

12. If you have a lot of work pressure, maybe it's the marble table that you have in your dinning room that causes you to have those problems. Remove that marble table and change to a wooden one or alternatively live with that work pressure!

13. If your child usually falls sick in that bedroom: Then either change them to another bedroom or simply hang a six rod metal wind chime as the metal element will break all the earth energies in that room.  After hanging, if the wind could not do the job for you then you will have to "chime" it yourself and then watch for the good results.

14. Do not use a red sofa set:  The colour red present the element of fire. And for fengshui, some places simply cannot have the colour red in that sector.  For example :  The wealth area or some other sectors which without a fengshui check would be unable to tell you where it is.  A red  sofa sets gives rise to heavy work pressure, troubles and obstacles.  Most people simply accept that life is like that without realising that THAT is caused by the bad fengshui of that red sofa !  Fengshui Solution? Change the colour of your sofa.

15. Always open your bedroom windows at least once 20 minutes a day to allow fresh chi to come in - Why should we do it ? We do this so that it allows fresh new chi from outside to come into your bedroom, if not you will be sleeping with stale chi every night. And if that happens, then how can you expect your life to bring in more good fortune to come to you?  So open that window and never mind if dust comes in.  The great good fortune that you can have will far exceeds the time you take to clean off the dust!  Trust me.