Tag Archives: Joy Jar

The 01/09/13 Joy Jar

8 Jan

Is a sunset art? What about a rainbow? Can a sea shell be art? Dictionary.com attempts to capture the meaning of the term ‘art’ with the following definition:

art

noun

1. the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

2. the class of objects subject to aesthetic criteria; works of art collectively, as paintings, sculptures, or drawings: a museum of art; an artcollection.  See fine art, commercial art.

3. a field, genre, or category of art: Dance is an art.

4. the fine arts collectively, often excluding architecture: art and architecture.

5. any field using the skills or techniques of art: advertising art; industrial art.

Art, is whatever provokes the soul to a response in awareness of its presence. Today’s deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ is art.

“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
Pablo Picasso

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious – the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and true science.”
Albert Einstein, Albert Einstein

“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”
Edgar Degas

“Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”
C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

“Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn’t matter. I’m not sure a bad person can write a good book. If art doesn’t make us better, then what on earth is it for.”
Alice Walker

“The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance.”
Aristotle

“All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up.”
James Baldwin

“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
G.K. Chesterton

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The 01/08/13 Joy Jar

7 Jan

The are sides and parts of each person’s personalty. Each person has a soul and a spirit. Music can affect not only the personalty by bringing out different emotions like calm, relaxation or excitement. Music can touch a soul or collectively, souls. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is music.

“Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent”

Victor Hugo

“And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.”
Friedrich Nietzsche

“A man should hear a little music, read a little poetry, and see a fine picture every day of his life, in order that worldly cares may not obliterate the sense of the beautiful which God has implanted in the human soul.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

“A quiet secluded life in the country, with the possibility of being useful to people to whom it is easy to do good, and who are not accustomed to have it done to them; then work which one hopes may be of some use; then rest, nature, books, music, love for one’s neighbor — such is my idea of happiness.”
Leo Tolstoy, Family Happiness

“The devil, the originator of sorrowful anxieties and restless troubles, flees before the sound of music almost as much as before the Word of God….Music is a gift and grace of God, not an invention of men. Thus it drives out the devil and makes people cheerful. Then one forgets all wrath, impurity, and other devices.”
Martin Luther

“Music is an agreeable harmony for the honor of God and the permissible delights of the soul.”
Johann Sebastian Bach

“I would teach children music, physics, and philosophy; but most importantly music, for the patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning”
Plato

“Words make you think. Music makes you feel. A song makes you feel a thought.”
Yip Harburg

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The 01/07/13 Joy Jar

6 Jan

Most people want to be on the receiving end of acts of generosity, although a tiny minority may curse the giver. Dictionary.com defines generosity:

gen·er·os·i·ty

noun, plural gen·er·os·i·ties.

1. readiness or liberality in giving.

2. freedom from meanness or smallness of mind or character.

3. a generous act: We thankedhim for his many generosities.

4. largeness or fullness; amplitude.

Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is generosity.

“Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. ”
Khalil Gibran

“Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day. Teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life.”
Confucius

“You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.”
John Bunyan

“Give what you have. To someone, it may be better than you dare to think.”
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

“That’s what I consider true generosity: You give your all, and yet you always feel as if it costs you nothing.”
Simone de Beauvoir

“Among the rich you will never find a really generous man even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egotistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it.”
G.K. Chesterton

“The wise man does not lay up his own treasures.
The more he gives to others,
the more he has for his own.”
Lao Tzu

New Living Translation (©2007)
Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it!
Hebrews 13:2

“True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity. False charity constrains the fearful and subdued, the “rejects of life,” to extend their trembling hands. True generosity lies in striving so that these hands–whether of individuals or entire peoples–need be extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they become human hands which work and, working, transform the world.”
Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

“It is well to give when asked, but it is better to give unasked, through understanding.”
Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet

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The 01/06/13 Joy Jar

5 Jan

Like colors, ambition has shades. Dictionary.com defines ambition:

am·bi·tion

noun

1. an earnest desire for some type of achievement or distinction, as power, honor, fame, or wealth, and the willingness to strive for its attainment: Too much ambition caused him to be disliked by his colleagues.

2. the object, state, or result desired or sought after: The crown was his ambition.

3. desire for work or activity; energy: I awoke feeling tired and utterly lacking in ambition.

verb (used with object)

4. to seek after earnestly; aspire to.

Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is positive ambition.

“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
Maya Angelou

“Too many people out there tell us what we can and cannot do but…they don’t know who we are, what’s put in us.”
Alex Rogers, I’m Only Human After All

“As long as I am breathing, in my eyes, I am just beginning.”
Criss Jami

“The credit belongs to those who are actually in the arena, who strive valiantly; who know the great enthusiasums, the great devotions, and spend themselves in a worthy cause; who at best know the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if they fail, fail while daring greatly, so that their place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”
Theodore Roosevelt

“There was no more dangerous kind of madman than one who devoted a good brain and a courageous heart to unhealthy ambitions.”
Michael Moorcock, The City In The Autumn Stars: Being A Continuation Of The Story Of The Von Bek Family And Its Association With Lucifer, Prince Of Darkness, And The Cure For The World’s Pain

“Yes the truth is that men’s ambition and their desire to make money are among the most frequent causes of deliberate acts of injustice.”
Aristotle, Politics

“Prayer, faith, and vision, plus real effort too.
Blend them together for one potent brew;
The magical spell to your dreams coming true.  ”
Richelle E. Goodrich

“Find a purpose to serve, not a lifestyle to live.”
Criss Jami, Venus in Arms

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The 01/05/13 Joy Jar

4 Jan

The universe has rhythms and cycles. One of the most famous acknowledgments of the cyclical nature of time is Ecclesiastes 3:1:

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven

Just as each year has distinct seasons, each life also has distinct seasons. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ deals with the rhythm and flow of life called seasons.

“In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.”
Albert Camus

The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.
Paramahansa Yogananda

A human life has seasons much as the earth has seasons, each time with its own particular beauty and power.  And gift.  By focusing on springtime and summer, we have turned the natural process of life into a process of loss rather than a process of celebration and appreciation.  Life is neither linear nor stagnant.  It is movement from mystery to mystery.  Just as a year includes autumn and winter, life includes death, not as an opposite but as an integral part of the way life is made.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Rachel Naomi Remen                                                                                                                            

You may not win the Super Bowl. Your kids may not go on to be doctors and lawyers and everything may not go perfectly. That doesn’t mean it was a bad plan or the wrong thing. It’s just like a football season. Everything’s not going to go perfect.
Tony Dungy

“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

Anne Bradstreet (British poet, 1612-1672)

Expect to have hope rekindled.  Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last.  The spring rains will come again.

Sarah Ban Breathnach


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The 01/04/13 ‘Joy Jar’

3 Jan

What makes the difference between those who are successful and those who could have accomplished what they intended. There are two two traits, perseverance and endurance. Today’s deposit into the “Joy Jar’ is endurance.

“Endurance: It is the spirit which can bear things, not simply with resignation, but with blazing hope. It is the quality which keeps a man on his feet with his face to the wind. It is the virtue which can transmute the hardest trial into glory because beyond the pain it sees the goal.”
Anonymous, Come Be My Follower

“On the second floor was the office in which Houston pounded an ancient typewriter with two fingers, always setting an example of unceasing hard work for his admiring students. They had no hint of the fact that their hard-driving dean had contracted tuberculosis while serving as a GI in France in Word War I. Houstan always seemed vibrant and impassioned in the chase for justice as he tried to expose his students to everything relating to the law that might give them an advantage.
. . .
“I never worked hard until I got to the Howard Law School and met Charlie Houston,” Marshal told me. “I saw this man’s dedication, his vision, his willingness to sacrifice, and I told myself, ‘You either shape up or ship out.’ When you are being challenged by a great human being, you know that you can’t ship out.”
So Houston rescued Marshall and launched him into a career as one of the greatest lawyers in American history.”
Carl T. Rowan, Dream Makers, Dream Breakers: The World of Justice Thurgood Marshall

Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.
William Barclay

“If God sends us on strong paths, we are provided strong shoes.”

Corrie Ten Boom

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The 01/03/13 ‘Joy Jar’

2 Jan

What makes the difference between those who are successful and those who could have accomplished what they intended. There are two two traits, perseverance and endurance. Today’s deposit into the “Joy Jar’ is perseverance.

“You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it.”
Maya Angelou

“Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day.”
A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.”
Confucius

“Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence.”
Ovid

“People are unreasonable, illogical and self-centered.
Love them anyway.

If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives.
Do good anyway.

If you are successful, you will win false friends and true enemies.
Succeed anyway.

The good you do today will be forgotten tomorrow.
Do good anyway.

Honesty and frankness make you vulnerable.
Be honest and frank anyway.

The biggest person with the biggest ideas can be shot down by the smallest person with the smallest mind.
Think big anyway.

What you spend years building may be destroyed overnight.
Build anyway.

People really need help but may attack if you help them.
Help people anyway.

Give the world the best you have and you might get kicked in the teeth.
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.”
Dr. Kent M. Keith

“Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree.”
Martin Luther King Jr.

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The 01/02/13 ‘Joy Jar’

1 Jan

The ‘Joy Jar’ is a year-long exercise based upon the proposition that one can choose to have a good attitude no matter one’s circumstance or whatever events life throws at a person. As many athletes play through pain, a successful attitude means that one plays through feelings and circumstances. Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is wisdom.

Proverbs 16:16  “How much better is it to get wisdom than gold! and to get understanding rather to be chosen than silver!”

I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life.” I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

Maya Angelou

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
Confucius

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.
Nelson Mandela

The art of being wise is the art of knowing what to overlook.
William James

Be happy. It’s one way of being wise.
Sidonie Gabrielle Colette

Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.
Lao Tzu

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The 01/01/13 ‘Joy Jar’

1 Jan
Moi started her ‘Joy Jar’ in response to what some interpreted as ‘The Mayan Apocalypse ‘ which was supposed to occur on December 21, 2012. This is the deposit into the ‘Joy Jar’ for January 1, 2013:
Jeremiah 29:11
“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. (NLT)
Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The object of a new year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul”
G. K. Chesterton
Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!
This bright new year is given me
To live each day with zest . . .
To daily grow and try to be
My highest and my best!
I have the opportunity
Once more to right some wrongs,
To pray for peace, to plant a tree,
And sing more joyful songs!
– William Arthur Ward

New Year’s Day now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
Mark Twain
Let’s begin the year hoping Mark Twain will not be proved right.

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The 12/31/12 ‘Joy Jar’

30 Dec
The first definition of enthusiasm in the Merriam-Webster dictionary is:
: belief in special revelations of the Holy Spirit
Today’s deposit in the ‘Joy Jar’ is enthusiasm.

Chief Tecumseh’s words of wisdom

So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
Trouble no one about their religion;
respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours.
Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people.
Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
even a stranger, when in a lonely place.
Show respect to all people and grovel to none.When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living.
If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.

Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
and robs the spirit of its vision.

When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled
with the fear of death, so that 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 Tecumseh 1768-1813 Shawnee Nation

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