St Therese's Prayer

St Therese's Prayer

May today there be peace within.
May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.
May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith.
May you use those gifts that you have received,
and pass on the love that has been given to you.
May you be content knowing you are a child of God.
Let this presence settle into your bones,
and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love.
It is there for each and every one of us.

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Isn't this a beautiful prayer? It was by St Therese of Liseux. St Therese was known for her small acts. Seemingly small acts can make a huge difference in anther's life. The little flower a child brings to a parent, the offer being there to listen or simply letting someone in front of you at the checkout... You may never know what one small act of kindness can do for another.

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Do you like Chocolate? Then be an Angel...

I don't know about you, but I love Chocolate. However, only just recently I found out that thousands of people have been sold into slavery to produce it for me to eat. Now that kind of took the fun out of my Chocolate bar. Call me slow, but I didn't know. Now I am not really a betting kinda gal, but I sort of thought that if I didn't know that there are also lots and lots of other people out there who don't know either.

So I am asking you to do something... I am asking you to go to the www.stopthetraffik.org website to sign a petition that is going to the UNITED NATIONS to abolish the slave trade.

12,000 children - 12 thousand children have been traffiked into slavery to produce chocolate... 12 thousand children are working on Africa's Ivory Coast to produce cocoa beans to be made into chocolate... let's get together and stop this... write to your favourite Chocolate company and tell all the friends you can. You see once you find out this sort of thing, chocolate just doesn't taste the same any more. There is Chocolate you can buy that is slave free and it is certified under the Fair Trade logo... the Stop The Traffik site has a lists of stockists where you can buy them.

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE... inform everyone you know about this from the stores where you buy chocolate to your local politican... get your emails working... lets work together. Be an Angel to those kids today.

Double Rainbow over Ballina

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. John Muir

Last night was one of those special evenings that you get once in a while... an evening where you feel that you have been aparty to something very, very special... To see these double rainbows last night was quite simply breath catching. The Northern Rivers are such a beautiful place to live and as the quote above says... are places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul.

This morning I read in my daily calendar... 'the first job God gave humans was to manage and take care of God's 'stuff' on earth'. Moments such as last night reinforce to me how our purpose as humans, is that of caretakers of our earth, and how important it is - that each one of us - take responsiblity to be stewards of this wonderful land we live in.

Daily Calendar Quote from The Purpose Driven Life Daily Calendar 2008

Listening

Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk. Doug Larson

How good is it when someone listens to us, really gives us their full attention and actually looks as though they are interested in what we are saying. Especially at times when we really need someone to hear us. Times when we may be going through grief - if you know of someone who has lost another person recently, or not even another person, perhaps they have lost an animal that they held dear to them. Then I ask you to take some time and actually listen to their feelings... you don't actually have to DO anything... just let them know that you are there for them by paying attention, and be caring.

It can really shatter a person when they lose someone. I have read once - I think it was Virginnia Satir who said - that our family system can be likened to a mobile... one of those pretty things that hangs above a baby's cot or out on your veranda. Normally the mobile moves around in a balanced way moving in the wind... but if you were to take one of the pieces out... it sort of clunks around and bangs up against itself. Well our lives are like this... if you take one of the pieces out that makes up our lives, we clunk around a lot. Things can take a while to rebalance, to get used to life without a part. What friends and family can do is offer their support, and I don't mean saying to someone, 'here's 40cents ring lifeline tell someone who cares'.

Take time to sit with that person. Take time to listen. Take time to develop some skills in listening... who knows maybe one day you will need someone to listen to you and just maybe that person you took time to listen to will be there for you.

If you would like to learn some listening skills or have a session where you can talk over issues in your life you can do this at Frangipani House Click here