Springfield Extension Gardeners
Sept 2009
Bummy…
Dad: spanked: 10cent vs. 15cent coke. Fire: $500 Wasting resources is a sin. And failing to give is even worse. Giving of ourselves.
Like many of you. Blessed to be raised by giving parents in a giving community. But sometimes we need to be reminded.
Today I’d like to speak on a subject that’s seldom covered in Extension Service workshops like this one.. Constipation. Moral Constipation.
Self-Help books… be nice to yourself, don’t feel as if you have to say yes to everything, take care of your inner child… a whining brat.
Givers are the happiest people I know. Most worn out? Maybe… But the happiest.
I watched my dad lay down culverts for years. We had lots of farm roads and they nearly all involved traveling over a ditch. So.. you lay down a culvert, cover it with rock and dirt, and build your road over the top. Finally.. Dad let brother Keith and I build our own culvert. It was on a little-traveled field road and if it caved it, it wouldn’t hurt much. Dad called it “Ken’s culvert.” Other people have libraries and mountains and art galleries named after them. I had a culvert.
Went to check on it one year after planting..culvert was there. Trouble was…The road was gone. It had become clogged and the creek did not stop flowing. It just went around it. It’s a simple equation: The river will not stop flowing. It’ll just go around the obstruction.
If you’re losing your umph…your energy to serve…to volunteer…to lead.., it probably isn’t because you’re getting older or more tired. It’s because you’ve stopped giving. You’ve got a clogged culvert. Moral constipation. Your time, your money, your effort. The river won’t stop flowing. The only question is whether you choose to be a part of it.
Carbondale..Devil’s Tower.. maps: two different routes for the Illinois River.. For some reason the river was blocked but it did not stop flowing. It just went around the big rock in the other direction. Today, the river side of the rock is lush, fertile and teaming with wildlife. The other side is just plain old stony ground.
Greatest killer in nursing homes…not cardiac problems or cancer, but lack of purpose… Giving of ourselves is the best Health Care Plan.
Marie…Salt and pepper shakers.
α7th grade nursing home project … Got a donation one year, bought our gifts… I’ve never seen a deader bunch of clowns. αI know a church...huge endowment...spirit of church stopped once they stopped struggling and giving αNHS..used to party...now, service
If you’re getting tired, chances are you aren’t giving enough of yourself.
Self-centeredness : depression. A quick test: Want to get depressed? Think about only yourself for five minutes. Becky...funeral... Carl Menninger JHS girl: CFS
A. Sweitzer: “The only ones among you who will be truly happy as those who will have sought and found out how to serve.”
People…getting to know people…establishing people…serving people.
Tony Compello “Five years from now you’ll be pretty much the same as you are now except for two things: The books you’ve read and the people you’ve met.”
Despite the thousands of new challenges coming at us economically and internationally.. People must still remain our number one concern. The people we’re around every day.
To truly use your talents for others, stop taking yourself so seriously. If you look around, you’ll notice nobody else is.
Cerro Gordo…famous authors’s Day.
Matt…baritone.
James Kearn: Mrs. Brown
3 things in life are real...WHEN YOU’RE BORN, WHEN YOU DIE WHEN YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN ANOTHER PERSON’S (CHILD’S) LIFE… in everything else...LIGHTEN UP.
Church Lady…music at her funeral.
architect Johnstone: (Charlie Rose show) 90 years old. Hottest place in hell for whiners and complainers ..... “If life were 100 times longer, there would still excuse for every getting bored by it.”
Every year, my college fraternity meets… 1 lawyer, 1 prison administrator, 2 bankers, 1 contractor, 1 insurance salesman… I’m by far the lowest paid.. a teacher… But the happiest!
Of course you can’t please everyone, but there’s one you can please..that little voice deep inside you that tells you when people need help…
Ask Yourself: Who are you trying to please? Hiney The Mule
Simple as this: the happiest people I know are givers. Not talking about those who give out of guilt or obligation..they’re missing most of the fun.. but those who give because of the joy they receive. Take a quick inventory of the happiest people you know…I’ll bet they are servants…volunteers.
I’m talking about the sort of giving like you saw in your father or your grandmother at Christmas who’d sit there with a pile of packages and completely forget about opening them because they were too busy watching you open yours.
Dale Carnegie: “You will make more friends in one day by being truly interested in other people than in an entire month of trying to get other people interested in you.”
A volunteer…a great leader…is simply a person who realizes that nothing is more important than people…not programs, not money, not great accomplishments…
James Dobson….monopoly
And...don’t worry if you don’t receive much reward... Conway Twitty
The work will go on. You can be a part of it by being a cheerful giver or you can sit there with a clogged pipe. It’s your choice. Let ‘er flow! Amen.
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