A Different Course

"In a world that's often unnecessarily cruel, strive to be unfailingly kind."     ---C. Marie Byars

O Tannenbaum: New Translation

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, How steadfast are your branches! Your boughs are green in summer's clime And through the snows of wintertime. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, How steadfast are your branches! O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, Your boughs can teach a lesson That constant faith and hope sublime Lend strength and comfort through all time. O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, Your boughs can teach a lesson. --More direct translation from the German (and more meaningful)

More for Lexophiles

•  To write with a broken pencil is . . . pointless.   ✐       
•  When fish are in schools they sometimes . . . take debate.     🐟🎣    
•  A thief who stole a calendar . . . got twelve months.     

                                       

•  When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , . . . U.C.L.A.   🌆      
•  The professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes . . . was on shaky ground.        
• The batteries were given out . . . free of charge.  🔋
•  A dentist and a manicurist got married. .. . . They fought tooth and nail.  💅 🦷
•  A will is a . . . dead giveaway.        
•  With her marriage, she got a new name . . .  and a dress.
•  Show me a piano falling down a mineshaft and I'll show you . . . A-flat miner.
• You are stuck with your debt if . . . you can't budge it.
•  Local Area Network in Australia : . . . The LAN down under.
• A boiled egg is . . . hard to beat.   🥚
• When you've seen one shopping center . . . you've seen a mall.
• Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was . . .resisting a rest.   👮🚨🧒🚸      
• If you take a laptop computer for a run you could . . . jog your memory.
• A bicycle can't stand alone; . . .it is two tired.
• In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes. 🧛🤴
•  When a clock is hungry . . .. it goes back four seconds.
•  The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine . . . was fully recovered.
•  He had a photographic memory . . . which was never developed.  📷📸
•  Those who get too big for their britches will be . . . exposed in the end. 👖
•  When she saw her first strands of gray hair, . . . she thought she'd dye.   👵

---From an anonymous e-mail circular 

A Time for Everything

To paraphrase from words more divinely eloquent than mine:

"There is an appointed time for everything.  
And there is a time for every event under heaven ~

 A time to economize, and a time to expand;
A time to plant, and a time to uproot what is planted.
 A time to regulate, and a time to deregulate;
A time to criticize opponents, and a time to build consensus.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to be merciful , and a time to close borders;
A time to embrace, and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search for truth, and a time to give up searching;
A time to expand business, and a time to support the environment.
A time to debate, and a time to bring together;
A time to be silent, and a time to speak.
 A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time for war, and a time for peace. 
What profit is there to the populace from our toils?  I have seen the task which God has given the sons of men: to be wise stewards of earthly resources to use in the Kingdom of God.  He has made everything appropriate in its time."   

          ----Marie Byars, from Ecclesiastes 3:1-11

"Summer ends, and autumn comes, and he who would have it otherwise would have high tide always and a full moon every night.”   — Hal Borland

What Do You Call....

...twins?  👶👶🥕🥕🥕
Infant replay.

...a male surfer? 🏄🌊
Man overboard.  👣

...carrot juice?  

Hare tonic.  🐰🐇     (Junior High Humor) 

Holy Humor

During these serious and troubled times, people of all faiths should remember these four great religious truths:

1. Muslims do not recognize Jews as God's Chosen People.

2. Jews do not recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

3. Protestants do not recognize the Pope as the leader of the Christian world.

4. Baptists do not recognize each other at the liquor store.

 

GOOD SAMARITAN

A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan.

She asked the class, "If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?"

A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, "I think I'd throw up."

 

DID NOAH FISH?

A Sunday school teacher asked, "Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark ?"

"No," replied Johnny. "How could he, with just two worms?

 

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

A Sunday school teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible - Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the chapter.

Little Rick was excited about the task - but he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line.

On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, "The Lord is my Shepherd, and that's all I need to know.

 

UNANSWERED PRAYER

The preacher's 5 year-old daughter noticed that her father always paused and bowed his head for a moment before starting his sermon. One day, she asked him why.

"Well, Honey," he began, proud that his daughter was so observant of his messages. "I'm asking the Lord to help me preach a good sermon."

"How come He doesn't answer it?" she asked.

 

BEING THANKFUL

A Rabbi said to a precocious six-year-old boy, "So your mother says your prayers for you each night? That's very commendable. What does she say?"

The little boy replied, "Thank God he's in bed!"

 

ALL MEN / ALL GIRLS

When my daughter, Kelli, said her bedtime prayers, she would bless every family member, every friend, and every animal (current and past). For several weeks, after we had finished the nightly prayer, Kelli would say,

"And all girls."

This soon became part of her nightly routine, to include this closing. My curiosity got the best of me and I asked her, "Kelli, why do you always add the part about all girls?"

Her response, "Because everybody always finish their prayers by saying 'All Men'!

 

SAY A PRAYER

Little Johnny and his family were having Sunday dinner at his Grandmother's house. Everyone was seated around the table as the food was being served.

When Little Johnny received his plate, he started eating right away.

"Johnny! Please wait until we say our prayer." said his mother.

"I don't need to," the boy replied.

"Of course, you do "his mother insisted. "We always say a prayer before eating at our house."

"That's at our house." Johnny explained. "But this is Grandma's house and she knows how to cook. 

 

---anonymous e-mail circular