FOR GOOD HEALTH AND A STRONG BODY - YOU SHOULD STRETCH SEVERAL TIMES EVERY DAY! 

WHEN YOU WALK IN THE DOOR OF YOUR HOME .... ARE YOU A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION OR PERSPIRATION?   More simply put, "what do you bring home with you each day?"  You know what, parents have to deal with a lot of junk every day.  They have to go to a job, worry about money, pay bills, worry about the lousy car, repair the house, or something is always on their tiny brains.  We are the same.  We have a lot of stuff on our minds too and sometimes the stuff that's on our minds clash with what's on theirs.  We want to know why they don't care about our problems and vice versa. 

Take a second to imagine the Olympic Rings.  They are separate but connected.  It's the same way in families.  All of us have our own experiences and feelings.  We have our own unique problems.  Sometimes it's hard to see that our problems impact those we live with.  Our actions have an effect on them and sometimes in a big way.  It works the other way around too.  Rather than crawl into the corner and curl up or complain to your friends or curse the day you or they (your parents) were born - open up and talk to them.  If they won't talk to you - hire a go-between.  It can be a Minister, a Teacher, a Coach, or the manager of the local bowling alley - get somebody to help you break through.  Call a cop and have veryone in the house handcuffed while you talk out your problems.

INSPIRATION VS. PERSPIRATION?  Is your room clean?  Is your homework done?  Are you "really" doing your best in school?  Did you wash the dishes without being asked?  Did you take out the crummy trash without being asked?  Did you pick up the toys and other stuff that doesn't belong to you without starting a war over it?  Did you hug your mom even though she doesn't deserve it?  Did you thank either of your parents for being there even if you hate them? 

If you start doing some of those things - watch was happens!  You are going to be pleasantly surprised.  Even your brothers and sisters might start to like you.  You might even start to like yourself and the really cool person that you're becoming.  Don't be shocked when your parents start saying YES when you ask for permission to do something.

There are millions of girls out there who are NOT moms but who might have been were it not for having chosen to end their pregnancy.  There are more millions of people who want to judge them for having done chosen termination.  It's something with which they do not agree.  This is a sensitive issue and emotions run high when it's spoken about.  There are those who believe that termination is NEVER the answer and there are others who believe that termination is ALWAYS the answer.  The two opinions stand in opposition and are intense. 

I do not know how God feels about the issue.  I hope that one day I can ask Him about it.  I do know this however ..... It is a personal choice.  Not one of us is qualififed to judge.  I can understand the life changing advent of child birth and its impact on life.  We see children born into happy environments and raised by a loving family.  We also see children born into depravity, torture, abuse, deprivation, murder, and sexual slavery.  I wonder which God considers as the untimate horrific sin?  I think it's the latter.  Lord God, save the children we give life to, then torture.  

I guess I just want to say to any woman who has had to terminate a pregnancy - for whatever reason - that your are entitled to be loved because you are of God's own hand - becuase your humanness deserves love - because we are all flawed and because we need to stand together.  

For those readers who cannot forgive the person who chose termination - remember, "separate what you perceive as a sin from the sinner"  Jesus came to heal the sick not the healthy.    That's what He taught the Elders in the Temples of Jerusalem.  That's why he embraced Mary of Magdala or so the story goes.  So He asks the same of us - with the supreme commandment:  "LOVE ONE ANOTHER AS I HAVE LOVED YOU"  

skydiver2978@comcast.net

REMEMBER MOM!  Well another year rolled by and we come to the one special day that we have set aside for remembering moms that are and moms about to be.   Some of us are feuding with our moms.  Some of us have great relationships with them.  Some of us watch dads or lovers not being too nice to our moms.  Others watch the men in mom's life treat her like royalty.  Whatever the situation is at your house -- reach out to this "mom" person in your life and give her a hug, a kiss, a kind word, a loving-tender touch and a smile. Take a moment to make peace with your mom even if it's only briefly. 

Sometimes it's hard to remember that mom is a person just like us.  She has issues with her life that may not be healed yet.  She had a childhood too.  She was a young girl too.  She went through puberty, doubt, fear, victory and defeats just like we did or are doing.  Maybe kids at her school did not accept her, or maybe they did.  Maybe her teachers were hostile maniacs and she hated them all until that one special one came along who encouraged her.  Or maybe she had none.  Try to understand her in the contect of her whole life, not just the way it is now with you!

Daughters and moms have an especially tough time because mom sees, in her daughter, the image of herself.  If mom has a wonderful life - then she will have visions of her daughter also having a wonderful life. So anything that threatens that ideal life she is going to be upset and verbal.  If, on the other hand, your mom did not attain her dreams, she is going to fear that her daughters will repeat her own mistakes.  That is a great fear.

So the message is, just remember that your mom is a human being.  She is not perfect.  She was created perfect but then life happened.  She made bad choices, perhaps, or had bad choices made for her - whatever.  Take a moment just to hug without speaking.  Take a moment to be together without judgement or anger.  Take a moment to say "I love you"

skydiver2978@comcast.net