Rita Levi Montalcini, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, said even though she is about to turn 100, her mind is sharper than it was she when she was 20. "At 100, I have a mind that is superior — thanks to experience — than when I was 20,"."Above all, don't fear difficult moments," she said. "The best comes from them."

Heros dont leap tall buildings or stop bullets with an outstretched hand; they dont wear boots and capes. They bleed and they bruise and their superpowers are as simple as listening or loving.

 Heros are ordinary people who know that even if their own lives are impossibly knotted, they can untangle someone elses and hope that maybe that one act can lead someone to rescue them right back
- Jodi Picoult -

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.
- Leo Buscaglia  

Everone you meet deserves to be greeted with a smile

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone that can do him absolutely no good.

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

 He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

 Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a stepping stone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

 . . . The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

 MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON: When you do something wrong, and try to cover your a**, it always comes back to bite you.

 Research validates that generous people seldom have emotional and mental problems-at least they have fewer than most. It seems that generous, loving people who are interested in others get their eyes off themselves. You know when we constantly focus on ourselves, our view is more and more drawn to our own weaknesses, our own frailties, our own failures.

Take a lesson from research please, and set your attention on people out there! Be generous to them; be grateful and loving to others. Not only will you feel better, but you'll make others feel better too. Proverbs 11 in the Good Book says, "A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed." That was true then, and it's still true. Dr. Paul Faulkner

A smile is an inexpenisve way to improve your looks :-)

   The only survivor of a shipwreck washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect him from the elements, and to store his few possessions. But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky. The worst had happened; everything was lost. He was stung with grief and anger. "God, how could you do this to me!" he cried.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island. It had come to rescue him. "How did you know I was here?" asked the weary man of his rescuers. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

It is easy to get discouraged when things are going bad. But we shouldn't lose heart, because God is at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering.

Remember next time your little hut is burning to the ground- - it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.

The whole of life is but a moment of time. It is our duty, therefore to use it, not to misuse it.Plutarch

"When it comes time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home." - Chief Aupumut, Mohican. 1725

  A grandmother was telling her grandson a story about his granfather. It went like this: When your grandfather was a little boy he wanted a toy gun for Christmas that costed $50.00 dollars. And everyday he would tell his daddy what he wanted and how much it costed. Well, Christmas morning came and he unwrapped his gift and it was a Bible. He was so upset that he never even opened the box the Bible was in. Years later, after his fathers death, he was going through some stuff in the attic and found that old Bible. And he opened it, flipping through the pages and a 50 dollar bill fell out.

The little boy looked up at his grandmother and said, 'Why didn't he just tell him there was money in there?' and his grandmother said, 'Why didn't he just read the Bible?'