A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....12-29-05....The Pear Tree: Lessons in Life

DollyCali | December 29, 2005 | DollyCali

[DollyCali]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

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A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

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~ Billie, Dutchess, DollyCali, Mama_Bear, GodBlessUSA ~

The Pear Tree

Day’s End, Year’s End, Life’s End
Lessons in Life

There was a man who had four sons. They were all different and he wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. It looked dead. The harsh winter showed the bare bones existence of a difficult time, where little was nice & all around was cold & painful,

The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The warmth of sunshine & new life was unfolding but the ground around was muddy & dirty. Some of the surrounding trees did not survive the harsh winter.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen, it was surrounded with beauty and there was a rich carpet of soft emeralds underneath the boughs. The dead trees around had been removed & just beauty was there.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment. There were people around enjoy the bounty.. So much bounty that some was rotting on the ground below giving off fermenting odors. The tree was giving to all who wanted but some of the leaves were already falling & brown. It seemed perhaps the tree was dying.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season/one event/one time, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

resulting lessons:

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest. Don’t let the pain of one event cloud the present joys available. Therefore don't judge life by one difficult season.

Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later. Don’t judge a person by some things that are out of your comfort zone.

Look at the whole picture of the person. See the spring, summer, fall and winter of this person to see them as God does. Respond to them as God does. Love them as God does.

Understand that the “tickling of your comfort zone” is God’s way of helping you grow as a person

In the year ahead look to yourself to have more patience, more compassion, more forgiveness, more joy, more godliness. Let your life be the tree of beauty, promise & bounty. The tree that will produce fruit.

The end of a day, the end of a year, the end of a life are all milestones & all can be measured. Try to see them each through the eyes of your creator and live them in a worthy manner.

Ecclesiastes 3 -- A Time for Everything

1 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

2 a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3 a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

4 a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5 a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

6 a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7 a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8 a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

12-28-05 ~ Hall of Fame #14

Click on the photo to view the album. To submit your photo, please contact dansangel or .45Man at danbh59@yahoo.com and include Freeper Photo Album in subject line.

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' Every Thursday at the Finest The guy's good, folks!

[snugs]

Orange liquor do you have contreau in the States? I know it is French but it is lovely

[snugs]

We have Bucks Fizz at most weddings in England (Champagne and orange juice).

[EsmeraldaA]

Don't you love them? ;-)

They are addictive......hehe hehe hee

[snugs]

My thoughts are with you must be so hard how is your mother now?

[snugs]

Not my favourite drink but very nice at special celebrations. I remember drinking quite a few when our Company won an Export Award, I was one of the people invited to go to the reception/award ceremony on the ferry. A great evening.

[snugs]

Time I turned in night all

[EsmeraldaA]

Of course I prefer plain Champagne (I don't know why) LOL!

Good night! ;)

[lonestar]

We are fine now. There was help from all over the country helping put utility lines back up.

I wasn't here during the bad part--when people lined up for water, ice, MRE's and gas. Temps were 96-98 everyday. Those with generaters only used them at night--no gasoline for almost a week-- so they were hot all day. Those with pools couldn't get in them because they were full of limbs.

People were all the same; no matter one's financial situation, they all stood in the same lines.

I lived in Houston when Alicia hit but it wasn't as big as Rita. Rita and Katrina both came in as catagory 3. We are 70 miles inland--never expected anything like this. The heavily populated areas south of here were really hit hard.

My mother has dementia and I put sun-glasses on her and she enjoyed the ride. About 20 miles from our destination she said, "I want to go home now. I want to sleep." And then the car died! DEAD! I had a cell phone and AAA; called my brother who came to where we were. By the time we got our stuff into his car, the wrecker was there. Turned out the battery cable had come off and nothing else was wrong with the car.

I slept well that night!

My cousin lives near Beaumont and it took them 5 hours to go to their farm which is a 45 minute drive under normal conditions. The roof blew off, the beds got wet and they had to sleep in lounge chairs until they could get out.

The guy who's contracting our repairs went 50 miles north and the roof blew off where they were and their house here wasn't harmed. There are a lot of funny stories like that. A man I know took generators to elderly people and when the lights came back on, he went to get one and the elderly woman's son got after him with a baseball bat because he thought he was trying to steal his mother's generator. Son took the generator back to Dallas with him.

Everybody has a lot of firewood! LOL!

[Mama_Bear]

Sorry I am late getting here. This was a beautiful post and truly something to think about. I love the photos of the four seasons.

Thank you, Dolly, for all you do.

[WVNan]

That makes two of us. I just now finished reading the thread. That is usually what happens to me. When I get to the thread I want to read the whole thing and by the time I get caught up everybody is already zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I had a wonderful post-Christmas tonight. Maggie called and we talked for a long time.

[Mama_Bear]

I had a wonderful post-Christmas tonight. Maggie called and we talked for a long time.

Awwww.......that's wonderful, Nan.

I am off to bed. It has been a long day. Sweet dreams, sweet friend.

[purpleland]

Oh, my gosh! How beautiful! You know, I cry at beautiful.

[DollyCali]

the children still here do deep & wide & a slew of other songs.. do you know the one 10 men went to spy on Jordan? they are a lot of fun & a way to children to learn simple spiritual truths if the story/message is talked about after wards. There are so many joys in childhood. Nice to work with them on occasion to stir up the good memories & remember the "WORK" that comes w/kids.

I love contreau .. and like it;s friend Courvoussier quality stuff. I recall taking my mom to an Irish pub outside DC a few years back. My cousin who is a folk fiddlin' champion(dropped out of med school to pursue music) was performing with an Irish group. Mom loves Apricot or blackberry brandy, which they didn't have so I ordered her a courvioussier..(SP?) she sipped on it the entire 4 hours . fortunate as it was $15.00.. my bloody Mary's were considerably less as I recall!

[DollyCali]

Thanks for stopping by Nan! and wonderful news that you got to talk to your Sistah maggie. I am hoping she is okay.. didn't see her today here. (always worry about the regulars when they are AWOL)

:-)

Love ya hon... we need to look to the next three months for a WV/Ohio get together. Might be short notice as the weather will of course be a factor

[DollyCali]

Thanks for stopping in Lori.. sorry I missed you. I was pretty tired when I finally turned in last night & did get a few good hours (which is all I hope for recently) What do you & Jeff have planned for New Years?

[DollyCali]

I will try one of those for sure over the weekend~! I like you prefer good champaign ALONE.. if it is less quality/ add the chaser!!!! rather like martini's etc. A freind makes martinis with rock bottom priced gin/vodka.. terrible! what a difference to have grey goose or skye..

[DollyCali]

It is amazing how tragedy(hurricanes, 911) are the great levelers of humanity. Pain, injury, inconvenience, loss.. The same for all.. and all the money in the world cannot restore life, limb, or bring back the "before"..

Hang in there FRiend.. keep us in loop. Your FRiends are here & FRiends want to know how you are doing.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

dc-What a beautiful thread and story! Happy 2006. It is going to be a great year!

[DollyCali]

Well diva, thanks for checking in. I also enjoy the work you do at the Canteen.. seems not enough hours in day to FReep as much as I would like & try to keep up with activites/state of mind of FRiends here & there on the FR forum.

Yes, let us all pray for a great 2006. 2005 was NOT a good year for me in SOOOO very many ways.

[Mama_Bear]

What do you & Jeff have planned for New Years?

We were wanting to be able to go up to our son's house (he lives about 4 hours away) for his annual New Years Eve party/open house that he hosts for his non-drinking friends who want an alcohol free place to get together and celebrate. It's always a lot of fun, but JK has a late afternoon family portrait appointment on the books for Saturday. It's been scheduled since October. We tried to have it rescheduled, but there is no other time they can come in.....so, we will stay home and probably toast the new year in with a glass of white zin. That suits us fine. We are not big party people anymore. LOL.