The old inspirational stories thread was getting long so I went ahead and unpinned it.  When I started to put up a new one, I thought I'd make it a little more general.  I enjoy poetry and often find poems that are beautiful.  So I called this 'Bits of Inspiration"  and we can post other things besides stories without wondering if it fits the thread. 

I'm starting it off with a poem and scripture.

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Psalm 27:4

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

Oh, Thou art beautiful! and thou dost bestow

Thy beauty on this stillness:

Still as sheep the hills lie under Thee;

The waters deep murmur for joy of Thee;

The voids  below mirror Thy strange

fair vapors as they flow;

And now afar upon the ashen height,

Thou sendest down a radiant look of light,

So that the still peaks glisten,

and a glow rose-color

tints the little snow cloud that poises

on the highest peak of all.

Oh, Thou art beautiful!--the hills are bowed

Beneath Thee;

On Thy name the soft winds call,--

The monstrous ocean trumpets it aloud,

The rains and snows intone it as they fall.

~Robert Buchanan~

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"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail my ship."

-Louisa May Alcott

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 BEST DAY OF MY LIFE

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I saw the Conquerors riding by
With cruel lip and face wan:
Musing on kingdoms sacked and burned
There rode the Mongol Genghis Khan;

And Alexander, like a God,
Who sought to weld the world in one:
And Caesar with his laurel wreath;
And like a thing from hell, the Hun;

And leading, like a star the van,
Heedless of upstretched arm and groan,
Inscrutable Napoleon went
Dreaming of Empire and alone…

Then all perished from the earth
As fleeting shadows from a glass,
And, conquering down the centuries,
Came Christ, the Swordless, on an ass.

— Harry Kemp I saw the Conquerors riding by
With cruel lip and face wan:
Musing on kingdoms sacked and burned
There rode the Mongol Genghis Khan;

And Alexander, like a God,
Who sought to weld the world in one:
And Caesar with his laurel wreath;
And like a thing from hell, the Hun;

And leading, like a star the van,
Heedless of upstretched arm and groan,
Inscrutable Napoleon went
Dreaming of Empire and alone…

Then all perished from the earth
As fleeting shadows from a glass,
And, conquering down the centuries,
Came Christ, the Swordless, on an ass.

— Harry Kemp

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I just realized it posted twice!!  Sorry!

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It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God's design;

But I cannot unfold the petals

With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I..

GOD opens this flower so easily,

But in my hands they die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,

This flower of God's design,

Then how can I have the wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust in God for leading

Each moment of my day.

I will look to God for guidance

In each step of the way.

The path that lies before me,

Only my Lord knows.

I'll trust God to unfold the moments,

Just as He unfolds the rose.

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That was beautiful, Vondi

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Yes, absolutely beautiful !

Many thanks...

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This is awesome and puts our lives in perspective.    Click within the yellow.

It's in the Valleys I Grow

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Here's another poem.. I posted a brief verse of it on my greeting graphic tonight, but it is so touching I want you all to enjoy the whole thing.

Let Evening Come

Let the light of late afternoon
shine through chinks in the barn, moving
up the bales as the sun moves down.

Let the cricket take up chafing
as a woman takes up her needles
and her yarn. Let evening come.

Let dew collect on the hoe abandoned
in long grass. Let the stars appear
and the moon disclose her silver horn

Let the fox go back to its sandy den.
Let the wind die down. Let the shed 
go black inside. Let evening come.

To the bottle in the ditch, to the scoop.
in the oats, to air in the lung.Let evening come

Let it come, as it will, and don't
be afraid. God does not leave us
comfortless, so let evening come

Jane Kenyon

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'Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.'      Bobby - age 7 (Wow!)

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