Gratitude Journal

A lovely story, I thought worth sharing…

GINGHAM DRESS

A lady in a faded gingham dress and her husband, dressed in a homespun
threadbare suit, stepped off the train in Boston , and walked timidly
without an appointment into the Harvard University President’s outer
office.

The secretary could tell in a moment that such backwoods, country hicks
had no business at Harvard & probably didn’t even deserve to be in
Cambridge

‘We’d like to see the president,’ the man said softly. ‘He’ll be busy
all day,’ the secretary snapped. ‘We’ll wait,’ the lady replied.

For hours the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would
finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t, and the secretary grew
frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it
was a chore she always regretted.

‘Maybe if you see them for a few minutes, they’ll leave,’ she said to him!
He sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance
obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them, and he detested gingham dresses
and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.

The president, stern faced and with dignity, strutted toward the couple.
The lady told him, ‘We had a son who attended Harvard for one year.
He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was
accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to erect a memorial to
him, somewhere on campus.’

The president wasn’t touched. He was shocked. ‘Madam,’ he said, gruffly,
‘we can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died.
If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.’
‘Oh, no,’ the lady explained quickly. ‘We don’t want to erect a statue.
We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.’

The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and
homespun suit, then exclaimed, ‘A building! Do you have any earthly idea
how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in
the physical buildings here at Harvard.’

For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased.
Maybe he could get rid of them now.
The lady turned to her husband and said quietly, ‘Is that all
it costs to start a university? Why don’t we just start our own?’
Her husband nodded. The president’s face wilted in confusion
and bewilderment. Mr. and Mrs. Leland Stanford got up and walked away,
traveling to Palo Alto , California where they established the university that bears
their name, Stanford University , a memorial to a son that Harvard no
longer cared about.

You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat
those who they think can do nothing for them.

………………………..A TRUE STORY By Malcolm Forbes

People will forget what you said,

People will forget what you did

But people will never forget how you made them feel’.

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Some magnificent Awards I have received lately….

This award comes from Phyl, and this is what she had to say….”I am a firm believer in Romans 8:28 which says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” I also met Mo through blogging. She came along at a time when I was fumbling around in the dark searching for a better way to live my life. I was battling the very same depression that had been a stronghold in my life since puberty. As always, I cried out to God asking Him to show me the way. He sent Mo into my life. In her introductory e-mail she explained that she had been a lurker to my blog and invited me to join her on her daily hike on the journey to living a grateful (GREATFULL) life. Well, who could refuse? It only took moments of looking around her blog for me to know how she found me. My Heavenly Father sent her to illuminate my way out of the darkness and into the joy of practicing gratitude daily. Mo challenging me to “Put my hiking boots on and come along” is something I count as one of the major moments in my life. The rest, as they say, is history! Today, I present her with this small token of my appreciation for her being my true Sister-in Christ and for coming to rescue me when Our Father sent her after me.”………all I can say is Thank You. It only proves God uses whosoever He desires and I am truely humbled to think He chose my words to touch your heart.

This one comes from Betty, who passed it out to all her blogging buddies who visit regularly. Thanks Betty it’s adorable!

This one came from Storyteller. I think this is one of the cutest awards! It says so much about what friendship ought to be. Thank you so very much! I love having you as my friend!

This one comes from Phyl as well. An adorable award and I love it. I Linky-Love you too!

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I am Thankful today for all of these lovely awards. It is so very nice to be held in such regard. I feel blessed to have so many thoughtful blogging buddies. I am back to spring cleaning again, sometimes I think I will never get done. I have been busy pouring candles so everything smells so good. I hope you all have a delightful, warm and sunny day! Remember, don’t judge the gift by the packaging, you just never know what good awaits inside!