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

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

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!

[MEG33]

I loved it and thought it went with Dolly's theme.


I still am neglecting my "duties"..trying out frames and colors. I decided that one stood on it's on for the moment anyway.
Yesterday was fun with all the lesson helps!

I finally learned how to post a link using words instead of the "address" yesterday,too. ;)
There are a lot of helps posted on FR..I just failed to utilize them.

[apackof2]

Wonderful story/lesson and the pictures are beautiful, thanks!

[purpleland]

I call this rule the John Kerry Rule. It is known throughout Boston that John Kerry is very arrogant and rude in his treatment of the "lower levels." He cuts into lines and responds with "Don't you know who I am?" John Kerry is not a man for the people. I suspect that John Kerry only likes French waiters.

[purpleland]

"Welcome aboard, purpleland."


Thanks, Diver Dave.

[DollyCali]

That is a lovely pix Meg.. and it is a common site here (in hospitable weather) on the trails with various little trees, plants finding their way thru the cracks in rock. That a lovely example of survival & making the best with what you have & then coming forth with such beauty. Can you see the detail on the little flower? It is "orchid like" in its formation.

[DollyCali]

One of my men friends son worked with the SS for both 42 & 43. what a difference. He said that 42 & WHOLE family had the same attitude. Really spoke down & treated the SS & any other "underlings" like last weeks sour milk.

When a president leaves office, the SS are asked to volunteer to be with pres /family. For the first time EVER, there was no volunteers. My friends son was "assigned. He lasted about 3 months & resigned. Now is an air Marshall. His stories would make you cry with the arrogance of the entire three of them. he loved Laura & POTUS.. said they were so real & loving & considerate. He said he truly felt GWB would take a bullet for HIM!

[DollyCali]

You are more than welcome. Glad you stopped by & enjoyed them. I did a bit more research on the "pup tent" movie.. think for sure I will be passing.. your FReepMail was right on. Thank you.

[DollyCali]

I have been thinking of you too ma'am. First Christmas with hubby in new home & WAY across the country from California to the deep south. thanks for stopping by & you are more than welcome for the ping. I have a ping list that I rarely use.. when I post the Finest, I use it in addition to the Finest Ping list. At one time there were several duplications. I HOPE I have eliminated them.. annoying to receive a graphic ping more than once for same thread.

[JustAmy]

Welcome to the Finest, Purpleland.
Glad that you found us.

Hope you stop by often.

[JustAmy]

Thank you ..... it is nice to please the teacher; but I only get a B+ this time. Maybe the next one will be worth at least and A-. :)

[DollyCali]

Oh Amy, that is sooooo very pretty.. and lookie all the layers on your table.....in spring /summer green!. Interesting flower arrangement.. lilies, looks like the fall/winter flowering cabbage??? and the bloom on long stem, I don't recognize. I loved my courses in college in local flora & plants.. I was NOT into the dissection, experimentation of college biology.. and took the minimal for degree.. but did take all the botany courses available.

thank you darling.. and what is Prissy Missy up to on vacation? take her to any movies? some great kiddie ones out now. She would have loved the two gals I was with Christmas...

[DollyCali]

Thanks Miss G... I wish I had more time to work on the story/script.. NOW my mind is fertile.. but when the pressure of getting the thread up (and all the tables, HTML, graphics), I was drawing zipperoo...

[Billie]

Thank you ..... it is nice to please the teacher; but I only get a B+ this time. Maybe the next one will be worth at least and A-. :)

DANG! Post #89 doesn't need the minus!!! It's beautifuller than the green - and the li'l ruler/guide is gone, too! LOL

[apackof2]

your FReepMail was right on. Thank you.

Your welcome & so was the lesson on this thread

[Billie]

I loved it and thought it went with Dolly's theme.

It does work great with Dolly's theme for today. I'm so pleased that you're having fun working with the tables and links! Whoo Hoo! We'll do more maybe next week?

Have got to get away from here and think about what we're having for dinner tonight. See ya!

[Billie]

Your Happy New Year post and table background combinations are terrific! Great job, Miss Dolly!

[JustAmy]

Thank you, DollyC.

PrissyMissy will not go back to school until Jan. 9th. That is a loooong vacation.

She gets bored but MrJust has been very patient with her. He lets her play teacher while he listens to her read.

My Sis took 4 kids to see Narnia on Monday. It was a little much for the 5 and 6 year olds but the older boys loved it.

Next week, I'm hoping to take Marissa and Michael to McDonald's and meet their two little sisters so they can visit. Will probably try for Tuesday after PT.

[DollyCali]

Calling all disc jockeys.. we need the song from Sunday School days.. Deep & Wide.. (deep & wide(repeat) there's a fountain flowing D & W.. etc.) remember it?

(bad joke Billie?)

To keep everyone in the loop. Billie is working VERY hard with her worst student to get good results. I apologize if the thread is too wide for most of your screens.

This AM I awoke to find the normal chaos here with too many cats including my new 19" flat screen monitor on floor & seemingly NOT working. I did the thread on a13" screen that had poor resolution & color. It is a miracle I have anything done. The colors were all bad (thus the additional confusion as to what was really there w/colors).

so without trying to draw more sympathy, lets all sing a verse or two of Deep & Wide & at the same time Praise the Lord that a bit ago, I got the 19" monitor to work!!!

[DollyCali]

thanks teach!

[MEG33]

OHHHHhhh That is so pretty, Amy!

Welcome to the Finest, purpleland!