Tag Archives: Joy Jar

The 12/05/13 Joy Jar

6 Dec

Moi is going to spend tomorrow pampering herself and simply enjoying the day. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the occasional act of pampering one’s self.

Appreciate yourself and take the time to deeply love yourself. We all have amazing talents and gifts that no one else has.
Kemmy Nola

The thing that is really hard, and really amazing, is giving up on being perfect and beginning the work of becoming yourself.
Anna Quindlen

Healthy Expectations has some great thoughts about self-care:

Our bodies are our gardens to which our wills are gardeners.
William Shakespeare

As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed.
Vincent van Gogh

Being extremely honest with oneself is a good exercise.
Sigmund Freud

Health is certainly more valuable than money, because it is by health that money is procured.
Samuel Johnson

By your thoughts you are daily, even hourly, building your life; you are carving your destiny.
Ruth Barrick Golden

When men speak ill of thee, live so that nobody will believe them.
Plato

You are unique, and if that is not fulfilled, then something has been lost.
Martha Graham

Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.
Mahatma Gandhi

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
Leonardo DaVinci

The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think – rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory
with thoughts of other men.
James Beattie

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
Helen Keller

There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You will find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
Dolly Parton

All that we are is the result of what we have thought.
Buddha

An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest.
Benjamin Franklin

It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.
Aristotle
http://www.healthyexpectations.gmu.edu/old/compass_cd_versions/gmu_compass_2007/QuotesSelfCare.htm

Pampering one’s self is a building block of the foundation of optimism.

Keep your dreams alive. Understand to achieve anything requires faith and belief in yourself, vision, hard work, determination, and dedication. Remember all things are possible for those who believe.
Gail Devers

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The 12/04/13 Joy Jar

5 Dec

Moi was walking through Seattle Center tonight. The City of Seattle describes Seattle Center:

First built for the 1962 World’s Fair, the 74 acre Seattle Center campus is located just north of downtown Seattle, and offers everyone a fairground, park, and arts and entertainment center all year round.
Journey skyward for a 360 degree view of Puget Sound from the Space Needle, hop on the Monorail for an elevated glide to downtown Seattle, or cavort in the shooting waters of the International Fountain.
Enjoy science and culture at the Pacific Science Center, sports and concerts at KeyArena, ballet and opera at McCaw Hall, world and classic film at SIFF Cinema, and exciting plays and events at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.
Other attractions include the shops and restaurants of the Center House, The Children’s Museum, the Experience Music Project and the Science Fiction Museum, and the Intiman Playhouse. Seattle Center hosts hundreds of festivals each year, including the music festival Bumbershoot, the Northwest Folklife Festival,… https://www.seattle.gov/tour/center.htm

Like most of downtown Seattle, Seattle Center has Christmas lights everywhere and that gives the Center a magical feel. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ are the Christmas lights which herald the Christmas season.

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.
Norman Vincent Peale

There has been only one Christmas – the rest are anniversaries.
W.J. Cameron

“The whole of Paris was lit up. The tiny dancing flames had bespangled the sea of darkness from end to end of the horizon, and now, like millions of stars, they burned with a steady light in the serene summer night. There was no breath of wind to make them flicker as they hung there in space. They made the unseen city seem as vast as a firmament, reaching out into infinity.”
Émile Zola, Une page d’amour

The sincere friends of this world are as ship lights in the stormiest of nights.
Giotto di Bondone

There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast.
Charles Dickens

The light of lights looks always on the motive, not the deed, the shadow of shadows on the deed alone.
William Butler Yeats

A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our worlds; it seems to magically connect us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change.
Earl Nightingale

I love Christmas, not just because of the presents but because of all the decorations and lights and the warmth of the season.
Ashley Tisdale

We say God and the imagination are one… How high that highest candle lights the dark.
Wallace Stevens

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love!
Hamilton Wright Mabie

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The 12/03/13 Joy Jar

2 Dec

The Buddha is not of moi’s faith tradition, but she recognizes him as a great and very wise man.

Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth.
Chanakya

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is a continuing education which comes from observing the world around one.

Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.
Buddha

An insincere and evil friend is more to be feared than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind.
Buddha

Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

The way is not in the sky. The way is in the heart.
Buddha

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.
Buddha

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
Buddha

The tongue like a sharp knife… Kills without drawing blood.
Buddha

We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think. When the mind is pure, joy follows like a shadow that never leaves.
Buddha

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and the truth.
Buddha

To enjoy good health, to bring true happiness to one’s family, to bring peace to all, one must first discipline and control one’s own mind. If a man can control his mind he can find the way to Enlightenment, and all wisdom and virtue will naturally come to him.
Buddha

You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.
Buddha

However many holy words you read, however many you speak, what good will they do you if you do not act on upon them?
Buddha

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.
Buddha

Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.
Buddha

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.
Buddha

The mind is everything. What you think you become.
Buddha

To keep the body in good health is a duty… otherwise we shall not be able to keep our mind strong and clear.
Buddha

There is nothing more dreadful than the habit of doubt. Doubt separates people. It is a poison that disintegrates friendships and breaks up pleasant relations. It is a thorn that irritates and hurts; it is a sword that kills.
Buddha

In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then believe them to be true.
Buddha

It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles. Then the victory is yours. It cannot be taken from you, not by angels or by demons, heaven or hell.
Buddha

Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
Buddha

Hatred does not cease by hatred, but only by love; this is the eternal rule.
Buddha

To be idle is a short road to death and to be diligent is a way of life; foolish people are idle, wise people are diligent.
Buddha

Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.
Buddha

In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves.
Buddha

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The 12/02/13 Joy Jar

1 Dec

Advent began yesterday on Sunday. Share Faith has a great explanation in What is Advent?

Prior to the Nativity Celebration of Christmas Day, Advent refers to the holy season of the Christian church which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. It begins on the Fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on the 25th of December. As the commencement of the Christian year, the Advent Season holds a special place in the Christian tradition.
The History of Advent
The word “advent” comes from the Latin term for “coming,” and refers to the first and second Comings of Jesus Christ, in the senses of Savior and Judge, respectively. The first authoritative mention of Advent appears in the Synod of Lerida (AD 524), and the season has been recognized since as the beginning of the western ecclesiastical (church) year. The celebration originally began as a period of fasting, similar to Lent. Although the practice of abstention was later relaxed, Advent retains the spirit of atonement and penitence.
Advent Wreaths and Calendars
In western cultures, the four Sundays of Advent are often celebrated with Advent wreaths decorated with four candles. Made from evergreens, the circular wreaths symbolize eternal life and the endless nature of God’s love. Three of the candles are purple or blue while the fourth is typically rose-colored or pink.
One candle is lit each Sunday of the season. The rose-colored candle is lit on the third Sunday, which is considered to be a more festive day than the others. On Christmas Day, a fifth candle (known as the “Christ Candle” and often white in color) is lit in the center of the wreath, or may replace it altogether.
Advent calendars are also popular during the season. About 25 small compartments are created, often through the use of multiple sheets of cardboard or through sewn pockets. These are filled with seasonal messages, religious pictures, small chocolates, stories, or toys, depending upon the particular calendar.
Advent Traditions and Customs around the World
There are many ways Advent is celebrated. In English history, poor women would carry “Advent images” — two dolls dressed as Christ and the Virgin Mary. Upon showing these images to passersby, the women would be gifted with small amounts of money or trinkets. Failing to donate was considered bad luck.
In Normandy, children under 12 were sent through farmers’ fields with torches, setting fire to straw to drive off vermin. Italy supported the tradition of bagpipe players entering into Rome during the last days of the season. They played music before shrines of the Blessed Virgin, just as shepherds played pipes at the manger to honor the Messiah’s coming.
The Season of Advent remains one of the most important times of the Christian year. It celebrates the blessing of the birth of Christ, and reminds the faithful of his eventual return.
“A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes – and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer quotes (German Lutheran Pastor and Theologian. His involvement in a plot to overthrow Adolf Hitler led to his imprisonment and execution. 1906-1945) http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Holidays/advent_season.html

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the Advent Season.

Healthy Spirituality has some great insights about Advent:

“Advent, like its cousin Lent, is a season for prayer and reformation of our hearts. Since it comes at winter time, fire is a fitting sign to help us celebrate Advent…If Christ is to come more fully into our lives this Christmas, if God is to become really incarnate for us, then fire will have to be present in our prayer. Our worship and devotion will have to stoke the kind of fire in our souls that can truly change our hearts. Ours is a great responsibility not to waste this Advent time.”
Edward Hays, A Pilgrim’s Almanac

“The season of Advent means there is something on the horizon the likes of which we have never seen before… .What is possible is to not see it, to miss it, to turn just as it brushes past you. And you begin to grasp what it was you missed, like Moses in the cleft of the rock, watching God’s [back] fade in the distance. So stay. Sit. Linger. Tarry. Ponder. Wait. Behold. Wonder. There will be time enough for running. For rushing. For worrying. For pushing. For now, stay. Wait. Something is on the horizon.”
Jan L. Richardson, Night Visions: Searching the Shadows of Advent and Christmas

“You keep us waiting. You, the God of all time, Want us to wait. For the right time in which to discover Who we are, where we are to go, Who will be with us, and what we must do. So thank you … for the waiting time.”
John Bell, quoted in The Westminster Collection of Christian Prayers, compiled by Dorothy M. Stewart

“Christmas is fast approaching. And now that Christ has aroused our seasonal expectations, he’ll soon fulfill them all!”
St. Augustine, Sermon 51

“God is coming! God is coming! All the element we swim in, this existence, Echoes ahead the advent. God is coming! Can’t you feel it?”
Walter Wangerin, Jr., from “The Signs of the Times,” in The Manger Is Empty

“How can God stoop lower than to come and dwell with a poor humble soul? Which is more than if he had said, such a one should dwell with him; for a beggar to live at court is not so much as the king to dwell with him in his cottage.”
William Gurnall

“Advent: the time to listen for footsteps – you can’t hear footsteps when
you’re running yourself.”
Bill McKibben

“This Advent we look to the Wise Men to teach us where to focus our attention. We set our sights on things above, where God is. We draw closer to Jesus… When our Advent journey ends, and we reach the place where Jesus resides in Bethlehem, may we, like the Wise Men, fall on our knees and adore him as our true and only King.”
Mark Zimmermann in Our Advent Journey

“One of the essential paradoxes of Advent: that while we wait for God, we are with God all along ,that while we need to be reassured of God’s arrival, or the arrival of our homecoming, we are already at home. While we wait, we have to trust, to have faith, but it is God’s grace that gives us that faith. As with all spiritual knowledge, two things are true, and equally true, at once. The mind can’t grasp paradox; it is the knowledge of the soul.”
Michelle Blake, The Tentmaker

“Christmas has lost its meaning for us because we have lost the spirit of expectancy. We cannot prepare for an observance. We must prepare for an experience.”
Handel Brown

http://www.healthyspirituality.org/2009/12/advent-15-inspirational-quotes-about.html

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The 12/01/13 Joy Jar

30 Nov

Today is the first day of December. December is a transition month. The shortest day of the year occurs in December, Christmas is in December, the last day of the calendar year is in December and the ‘Joy Jar’ ends on December 25th . Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the month of December which represents transitions and new beginnings.

How did it get so late so soon? Its night before its afternoon. December is here before its June. My goodness how the time has flewn. How did it get so late so soon?
Dr. Seuss

God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.
James M. Barrie

“October. This is one of the peculiarly dangerous months to speculate in stocks in. The others are July, January, September, April, November, May, March, June, December, August, and February.”
Mark Twain

“From December to March, there are for many of us three gardens –
the garden outdoors,
the garden of pots and bowls in the house,
and the garden of the mind’s eye.”
Katherine S. White

“O cruel cloudless space,
And pale bare ground where the poor infant lies!
Why do we feel restored
As in a sacramental place?
Here Mystery is artifice,
And here a vision of such peace is stored,
Healing flows from it through our eyes.”
May Sarton, Nativity

“I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December
A magical thing
And sweet to remember.

‘We are nearer to Spring
Than we were in September,’
I heard a bird sing
In the dark of December.”
Oliver Herford, I Heard a Bird Sing

“Come, come thou bleak December wind,
And blow the dry leaves from the tree!
Flash, like a Love-thought, thro’me, Death
And take a Life that wearies me.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1772-1834, Fragment 3

“That’s no December sky!
Surely ’tis June
Holds now her state on high
Queen of the noon.

Only the tree-tops bare
Crowning the hill,
Clear-cut in perfect air,
Warn us that still

Winter, the aged chief,
Mighty in power,
Exiles the tender leaf,
Exiles the flower.”
Robert Fuller Murray (1863-1894), A December Day

“In drear-nighted December,
Too happy, happy tree,
Thy branches ne’er remember
Their green felicity:
The north cannot undo them
With a sleety whistle through them;
Nor frozen thawings glue them
From budding at the prime.

In drear-nighted December,
Too happy, happy brook,
Thy bubblings ne’er remember
Apollo’s summer look;
But with a sweet forgetting,
They stay their crystal fretting,
Never, never petting
About the frozen time.

Ah! would ’twere so with many
A gentle girl and boy!
But were there ever any
Writhed not at passed joy?
The feel of not to feel it,
When there is none to heal it
Nor numbed sense to steel it,
Was never said in rhyme.”
John Keats, In Drear-Nighted December

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The 11/30/13 Joy Jar

29 Nov

Today is the Saturday of the Thanksgiving holiday. After yesterday or ‘Black Friday,’ today is ‘Small Business Saturday.’ MSN Money reported in the article, SBA Encourages Americans to Support Their Local Communities by Shopping Small On Small Business Saturday November 30:

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) is encouraging Americans across the country to shop small this November 30 as part of Small Business Saturday, a day that is dedicated to supporting the small businesses that anchor our local communities and strengthen our economy.
“From the Main Street shops to the high-tech startups, small businesses are the backbone of our economy and the cornerstones of a diverse and thriving marketplace,” said Acting SBA Administrator Jeanne A. Hulit. “By shopping small and supporting local business, we all have a role to play in giving millions of families the opportunity to achieve the American dream.”
America’s 28 million small businesses create two out of every three net new private sector jobs and are the backbone of our economy, with half of working Americans either owning or working for a small business. Small Business Saturday is a nation-wide initiative that brings Americans together to support small businesses, with the money you spend going right back into your local economy.
Started in 2010, Small Business Saturday has boosted holiday sales for Main Street businesses around the country. Last year, nearly 70 million people shopped small in their communities for an estimated $5.5 billion in sales to independently-owned small businesses. This year, we can do even more.
Small Business Saturday falls on November 30 and there are a number of ways people can get involved. For more information on how to support Small Business Saturday in your area, or to get great Small Business Saturday marketing tips and resources, check out http://www.sba.gov/saturday or visit http://www.smallbusinesssaturday.com.
Release Number: 13-56
Contact: Caroline Ciccone (202) 205-6948
Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook & Blogs
SOURCE U.S. Small Business Administration
http://money.msn.com/business-news/article.aspx?feed=PR&Date=20131126&ID=17147086&topic=TOPIC_ECONOMIC_INDICATORS&isub=3

No matter whether one is rich or poor, we all can choose how and where we spend our money. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is small business.

Digital Sherpa has 15 Inspirational Quotes For Small Businesses and Marketers:
1. I didn’t get there by wishing for it or hoping for it, but by working for it.
Estee Lauder

2. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. –
Steve Jobs

3. Inspiration exists, but it must find you working. –
Pablo Picasso

4. Forget all the reasons it won’t work and believe the one reason that it will.
Unknown

5. Give them QUALITY. That’s the best kind of advertising.
Milton Hershey

6. Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off the goal.
Henry Ford

7. Successful people are always looking for opportunities to help others. Unsuccessful people are always asking, “What’s in it for me?” –
Brian Tracy

8. Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.
Arthur Ashe

9. The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.
Walt Disney

10. In order to succeed, your desire for success should be greater than your fear of failure.
Bill Cosby

11. Tell a story. Make it true. Make it compelling. And make it relevant.
Rand Fishkin

12. The future of business is SOCIAL
Barry Libert

13. It is never too late to be what you might have been.
George Eliot

14. You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.
Beverly Sills

15. Don’t wait. The time will never be just right.
Napoleon Hill
http://digitalsherpa.com/15-inspirational-quotes-for-small-businesses/
Small businesses are the backbone of our local communities.

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The 11/29/13 Joy Jar

28 Nov

Today is the day after Thanksgiving or in the shopping world, ‘Black Friday.’ Ryan Goodrich of Tom’s Guide wrote in What Is Black Friday?

The origins of Black Friday
Historically, starting the holiday shopping season on the day after Thanksgiving is largely due to the Santa Claus parades of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Department stores like Macy’s sponsored such events, which they used as advertising vehicles. It then became a common practice to never advertise for holiday shopping prior to the conclusion of such parades.
While parades are no longer as commonly used as the herald to holiday shopping, they’ve succeeded in establishing the day after Thanksgiving as the first day for holiday shopping.
MORE: Amazon to Offer Black Friday Deals Every 10 Minutes
The use of the term “Black Friday” to describe this shopping holiday dates back to 1961 in Philadelphia. It was used to describe the crowded pedestrian and vehicle traffic that resulted the day after Thanksgiving. By 1975, the term gained traction and use outside of the city.
These days, retailers have a different explanation for the term. For many companies, Black Friday marks the point in the calendar year when companies go “in the black,” or finally begin to turn a profit for the year.
Outside of shopping, the use of Black Friday has a lengthy history. Traditionally, the term signaled that something had gone horribly wrong with the economy. “Black Friday” was first used to describe Sept. 24, 1869, when several financiers tried to corner the gold market and instead crashed the market and caused a depression. In 1873, another panic in the financial markets also began on a Friday.
The Great Depression began after the stock market collapsed on Oct. 29, 1929, but that was Black Tuesday. Another bad day for the stock market, Oct. 19, 1987, was called Black Monday.
The negative connotation of the phrase prompted several officials to try and rename the day to “Big Friday” as a description of the types of deals available. However, such attempts were unsuccessful and the name has stuck.
When Black Friday starts
For years, it was common for retailers to open their doors as early as 5 or 6 a.m. to kick off a lengthy day of extreme sales. Between 2005 and 2010, the opening time shifted earlier each year, until stores such as Target and Best Buy were opening their doors at midnight on Thanksgivingnight.
Several retail stores, such as Toys R Us and Walmart, have now taken things a step further to begin their Black Friday deals as early as 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving evening….
http://www.tomsguide.com/us/what-is-black-friday,review-1952.html

If the stores are open, that means that many employees will have the hours they can spend with their loved ones limited.

Karin Klein wrote in the L.A. Times article, Retailers abusing workers: Black Friday’s just the tip of the iceberg:
Retail stores commonly hire as many part-time employees as possible so they won’t have to give benefits as basic as a sick day off. They require employees to keep their time free for the days they’re scheduled to work the next week — but the store thinks nothing of calling them on slow sales days to tell them not to bother coming in. Or worse, after the sales clerks have dressed for work and spent the time and money to commute to the job, the store sends them home mid-shift because too few customers are showing up. Those aren’t hours of paid vacation, you can be sure. People who already earn low, low wages are suddenly stripped of work hours with no opportunity to arrange in advance for other ways to make money.
No one would remain employed very long if he or she called in to the boss minutes before the work day was to start, saying, “Someone else will pay me 50 cents more an hour today, so I’m not showing up.”
It’s basic courtesy, right? Maybe at the social level, people feel more comfortable canceling plans on one another at the last moment. But when it comes to business, time is money — and at these wages, money for basic sustenance. On both sides, schedules should be honored.
People have always worked holidays — gas station attendants, nurses, police, journalists — when they were needed. And with families so scattered and overwhelmed, I’m seeing more friends whose Thanksgiving gatherings are held the weekend before or two weeks after. What matters isn’t the formally declared holiday but the feasting time together in service of gratitude.
I’m no fan of the Thanksgiving shopping trend, but the outrage over holiday work hours seems like one of those easy hits, full of the symbolism that gets people posting on Facebook, talking boycott or calling for new work laws. Yes, the creep into this family and national tradition is a sad sign of greed, but it’s a smaller one than the really damaging effects of greed on low-wage retail workers all year long. Let’s not allow the easy outrage to distract us from the bigger picture.
http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-thanksgiving-shopping-20131127,0,2718184.story#ixzz2luxhtkON

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is reflecting on our buying choices affect the lives of others.

Black Friday: Because only in America, people trample others for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have.
Unknown

Sorry shoppers on Black Friday will block and tackle better than your football team on Thanksgiving.
Unknown

Let’s spend Thanksgiving spilling food on our clothes, and Black Friday buying new ones.
Unknown

Happy Thanksgiving to someone I’d have no problem stomping to death on Black Friday.
Unknown

Make sure the clothes you buy on Black Friday take into account how fat you got on Thanksgiving.
Unknown

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The 11/28/13 Joy Jar

27 Nov

Today is Thanksgiving. Christian Answers.net describes the history of Thanksgiving:

In 1789, following a proclamation issued by President George Washington, America celebrated its first Day of Thanksgiving to God under its new constitution. That same year, the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which President Washington was a member, announced that the first Thursday in November would become its regular day for giving thanks, “unless another day be appointed by the civil authorities.” Yet, despite these early national proclamations, official Thanksgiving observances usually occurred only at the State level.
Much of the credit for the adoption of a later ANNUAL national Thanksgiving Day may be attributed to Mrs. Sarah Joseph Hale, the editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book. For thirty years, she promoted the idea of a national Thanksgiving Day, contacting President after President until President Abraham Lincoln responded in 1863 by setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Day of Thanksgiving. Over the next seventy-five years, Presidents followed Lincoln’s precedent, annually declaring a national Thanksgiving Day. Then, in 1941, Congress permanently established the fourth Thursday of each November as a national holiday.
Lincoln’s original 1863 Thanksgiving Proclamation came—spiritually speaking—at a pivotal point in his life. During the first week of July of that year, the Battle of Gettysburg occurred, resulting in the loss of some 60,000 American lives. Four months later in November, Lincoln delivered his famous “Gettsysburg Address.” It was while Lincoln was walking among the thousands of graves there at Gettysburg that he committed his life to Christ. As he explained to a friend:
When I left Springfield [to assume the Presidency], I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.
As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving each year, we hope they will retain the original gratefulness to God displayed by the Pilgrims and many other founding fathers, and remember that it is to those early and courageous Pilgrims that they owe not only the traditional Thanksgiving holiday but also the concepts of self-government, the “hard-work” ethic, self-reliant communities, and devout religious faith… http://christiananswers.net/q-wall/wal-g007.html

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is Thanksgiving;

“After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, even one’s own relations.”
Oscar Wilde, A Woman of No Importance

“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.”
Erma Bombeck

Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”
W.T. Purkiser

“I am grateful for what I am and have. My thanksgiving is perpetual…O how I laugh when I think of my vague indefinite riches. No run on my bank can drain it, for my wealth is not possession but enjoyment.”
Henry David Thoreau

“Eucharisteo—thanksgiving—always precedes the miracle.”
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

“Thanksgiving-giving thanks in everything-prepares the way that God might show us His fullest salvation in Christ.”
Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are

“The Christian who walks with the Lord and keeps constant communion with Him will see many reason for rejoicing and thanksgiving all day long.”
Warren W. Wiersbe

“I always think it’s funny when Indians celebrate Thanksgiving. I mean, sure, the Indians and Pilgrims were best friends during the first Thanksgiving, but a few years later, the Pilgrims were shooting Indians.
So I’m never quite sure why we eat Turkey like everybody else. (101)”
Sherman Alexie, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

To give thanks in solitude is enough. Thanksgiving has wings and goes where it must go. Your prayer knows much more about it than you do.
Victor Hugo

The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.
William Blake

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The 11/27/13 Joy Jar

27 Nov

This is the day before Thanksgiving which is a holiday to reflect upon life’s Blessings. Dictionary.com defines giving thanks:

thanks•giv•ing
noun
1.
the act of giving thanks; grateful acknowledgment of benefits or favors, especially to God.
2.
an expression of thanks, especially to God.
3.
a public celebration in acknowledgment of divine favor or kindness.
4.
a day set apart for giving thanks to God.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/thanks-giving

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the reflection before Thanksgiving.
Great Inspirational Quotes.com has a great selection of Thankful Quotes, Thank You Quotes , and Gratitude Quote:

A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all other virtues.
Cicero

At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us.
Albert Schweitzer

Blessed are those that can give without remembering and receive without forgetting.
Unknown

Gratitude is something of which none of us can give too much. For on the smiles, the thanks we give, our little gestures of appreciation, our neighbors build their philosophy of life.
A. J. Cronin

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.
Melody Beattie

Develop an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you, knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and better than your current situation.
Brian Tracy

Every time we remember to say “thank you”, we experience nothing less than heaven on earth.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.
Epictetus

If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.
Meister Eckhardt

If you concentrate on finding whatever is good in every situation, you will discover that your life will suddenly be filled with gratitude, a feeling that nurtures the soul.
Rabbi Harold Kushner

In ordinary life we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer

It is impossible to feel grateful and depressed in the same moment.
Naomi Williams

Let us rise up and be thankful, for if we didn’t learn a lot today, at least we learned a little, and if we didn’t learn a little, at least we didn’t get sick, and if we got sick, at least we didn’t die; so, let us all be thankful.
Buddha

No one who achieves success does so without the help of others. The wise and confident acknowledge this help with gratitude.
Alfred North Whitehead

None is more impoverished than the one who has no gratitude. Gratitude is a currency that we can mint for ourselves, and spend without fear of bankruptcy.
Fred De Witt Van Amburgh

People who live the most fulfilling lives are the ones who are always rejoicing at what they have.
Richard Carlson

There is a calmness to a life lived in Gratitude, a quiet joy.
Ralph H. Blum

Things turn out best for people who make the best of the way things turn out.
John Wooden

You simply will not be the same person two months from now after consciously giving thanks each day for the abundance that exists in your life. And you will have set in motion an ancient spiritual law: the more you have and are grateful for, the more will be given you.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

You won’t be happy with more until you’re happy with what you’ve got.
Viki King
http://www.great-inspirational-quotes.com/thankful-quotes.html

Practice an attitude of gratitude.

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The 11/25/13 Joy Jar

25 Nov

Thanksgiving should be the OFFICIAL start of the Holiday Season which includes Christmas and Hanukkah. If you have no faith, then just celebrate being alive. Florida’s Natural has an interesting discussion of holiday traditions in Holiday Traditions. Why We Do What We Do:

Ever wonder how fruitcake became a holiday tradition? Why standing under the mistletoe means pucker up? We’ve uncovered the origins of some of the holiday’s most popular traditions.
Issue: December 2009
Why fruitcake during the holidays?
In 18th-century England, fruitcake had become so prevalent, there were laws enacted to restrict its consumption to Christmas, Easter, weddings, christenings, and funerals. Over time, the popularity of the fruity cake waned at the other occasions, leaving Christmas to be the lone holiday it’s associated with.
What’s the story behind the dreidel game?
When the Syrian Greeks prohibited Jews from practicing their religion, Jewish parents painted Hebrew letters on four-sided spinning tops called dreidels (from the German word, drehen, which means to spin) as a way to preserve their faith. The Greeks thought the Jews were just playing an insignificant game. The Hebrew letters on the dreidel stand for the phrase “A great miracle happened there.” This refers to the miracle celebrated at Hanukkah.
Why do people kiss under the mistletoe?
According to Scandinavian folklore, Baldur, god of light, was killed by a dart made of mistletoe. The tears of Baldurs mother, Frigga, became the white berries of the plant. Frigga decreed that mistletoe would never again be used as a weapon and that she would, instead, kiss anyone who passed under it.
How did the tradition of the Christmas tree begin?
Legend has it that in the seventh century a monk went to Germany to spread the Word of God. He used the triangular shape of a fir tree to illustrate the Holy Trinity. The converted people in Germany then began to revere the evergreen fir. By the 12th century, firs were being hung upside down from ceilings at Christmas as a symbol of Christianity. The first decorated tree is said to have been in Latvia in 1510.
Why light a menorah during Hanukkah?
Hanukkah is the “Festival of Lights”. The Hanukkah Menorah commemorates the Jews’ miraculous victory over the Greek-Syrian army (thousands of years ago) and the one-days-worth of pure oil that miraculously lasted for eight days in the Temple. Jewish custom insists that every family should light the wicks of the Hanukkah Menorah each night for eight days of the festival. The Hanukkah menorah contains nine candleholders — eight for each of the eight nights of the celebrations and the ninth, called Shamash, used only for lighting the others.
Why do people kiss at midnight on New Year’s Eve?
A centuries-old legend claims that the first person you come in contact with when the clock strikes twelve sets the tone for your happiness and fortune in the New Year. A kiss with one you love equals good things, but kiss someone other than your true love, or no one at all, and misfortune is said to be heading your way….http://www.floridasnatural.com/lifestyle/household-advice/holiday-traditions-why-we-do-what-we-do

Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is the Holiday Season.

“In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukkah’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!”
Dave Barry

“Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence.”
Erma Bombeck

“Humanity has always conquered the flux of natural time by means of a rhythm between active and passive time-spans. To reconquer his holidays, to establish a new and better time schedule for life, has been the great endeavour of man ever since the days of Noah.”
Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, Out of Revolution: Autobiography of Western Man

“You know if the U.S. Government wanted to boost the economy there’s a simple solution make Black Friday the refund date for your state and federal taxes”
Stanley Victor Paskavich, Return to Stantasyland

I once wanted to become an atheist, but I gave up – they have no holidays.
Henny Youngman

Holidays are about experiences and people, and tuning into what you feel like doing at that moment. Enjoy not having to look at a watch.
Evelyn Glennie

I celebrate everyone’s religious holidays. if it’s good enough for the righteous, it’s good enough for the self-righteous, I always say.
Bette Midler

All holidays can be good times.
John Clayton

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