The Art of Greatness

The Art of Greatness

It’s not fortune or fame
Or worldwide acclaim
That makes for true greatness , you’ll find –
It’s the wonderful art
Of teaching the heart
To always be thoughtful and kind .
Jan Bagwell
God Bless !
The greatness man is he who chooses the right with invincible
resolution ; who resist the sorest temptation from within and
without ; who bears the heaviest burdens cheerfully ; who is the
calmest in storms , and whose reliance on truth, on virtue , on God ,
is the most unfaltering

Count Your Gains and Your Losses

Count Your Gains and Not Your Losses
As we travel down life’s busy road
Complaining of our heavy load ,
We often think God’s been unfair
And given us much more than our share
Of little daily irritations
And disappointing tribulations ,
We count our losses , not our gain ,
And remember only tears and pain …
And wrapped up in our own despair
We have no time to see or share
Another’s load that far outweighs
Our little problems and dismays .
And so we walk with head held low
And little do we guess or know
That someone near us on life’s street
Is burdened deeply with defeat ..
But if we’d but forget our care
And stop in sympathy to share
The burden that our brother carried ,
Our mind and heart would be less harried ,
And we would feel our load was small ,
In fact , we carried no load at all .
Jan Bagwell
God Bless !
Bear one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ
Galatians 6:2

This Too Will Pass Away

This Too Will Pass Away
If I can endure for this minute
Whatever is happening to me ,
No matter how heavy my heart is
Or how dark the moment may be ,
If I can remain calm and quiet
With all my world crashing about me ,
Secure in the knowledge God loves me
When everyone else seems to doubt me ,
If I can keep on believing
What I know in my heart to be true ,
That darkness will fade with the morning
And that this pass away , too
Then nothing in life can defeat me ,
For as long as this knowledge remains
I can suffer whatever is happening
For I know God will break all the chains
That are binding me tight in the darkness
And trying to fill me with fear ,
For there is no night without dawning
And I know that my morning is near .
Jan Bagwell
God Bless !
To reach the port of Heaven we must sail , sometimes with the wind
and sometimes against it – but we must sail , not drift or lie at anchor .

Daily Prayers Are Heaven's Stairs

Daily Prayers Are Heaven’s Stairs
The stairway rises heaven high,
The steps are dark and steep ,
In weariness we climb them
As we stumble , fall and weep,
And many times we falter
Along the path of prayer,
Wondering if You hear us
And if You really care .
Oh , give us some assurance ,
Restore our faith anew ,
So we can keep on climbing
The stairs of prayer to You ,
For we are weak and wavering ,
Uncertain and unsure ,
And only meeting You in prayer
Can help us to endure
All life’s trails and troubles ,
Its sickness , pain and sorrow ,
And give us strength and courage
To face and meet tomorrow !
Jan Bagwell
God Bless !

Be strong and let your heart take courage , all you who wait for the Lord !
Psalm 31:24

Autumn Quest

Autumn Quest
The maples wore dresses of amber and scarlet ,
The sky clutched a silken shawl silver and grey ,
The wind left a spicy scent trailing behind her ,
And I knew at a glance it was Autumn today .
Far in the distance , the cry of the blackbirds ,
Winging their way over wide fields of brown ,
Hazy blue wood-smoke curled up from the dry leaves ,
As Autumn appeared on the outskirts of town ,
And with a footfall light as a whisper ,
Making her way over thicket and fence ,
Pensively gazing with wide eyes about her ,
Down went the last bar of Summer’s defense .
Chancing upon her , my lonely quest ended ,
And warmed by her welcome , I’ve followed her since .
Jan Bagwell
God Bless !
Please go to a church of your choice tonight , and thank God for our many blessing !

I Thank Him

I Thank Him
I thank Him for the morning light
That takes away the gloom ,
For every breeze that cools the day ,
And all the flowers that bloom .

For every friendship I have made ,
For a love that I have shared ,
For every kindness shown to me
That proved that someone cared .

My heart is filled with gratefulness
And I daily give Him praise
For all the blessings He bestows
In so many different ways .
Jan Bagwell
God Bless !
"The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart."

The Rules for being Human

The Rules for Being Human


1. You will receive a body.
You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the
entire period.

2. You will learn lessons.
You are enrolled in an informal school called Life. Each day in
this school, you will have the opportunity to learn lessons.
You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3. There are no mistakes, only lessons.
Growth is a process of trial and error.
Experimentation.
The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process
as the experiment that ultimately "works".

4. A lesson is repeated until learned.
A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you
have learned it. You can then go on to the next lesson.

5. Learning lessons does not end.
There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons.
If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6. "There" is no better than "here."
When your "there" has become a "here," you will simply obtain
another "there" that will again look better than "here."

7. Others are merely mirrors of you.
You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it
reflects something you either love or hate about yourself.

8. What you make of your life is up to you.
You have all the tools and resources you need.
What you do with them is up to you.
The choice is yours.

9. Your answers lie inside you.
The answers to Life's questions lie inside you.
All you need to do is look, listen and trust.

10. You will forget all this.
Jan Bagwell
God Bless !
Remember our God is watching us to see how we learn these lessons . Have a blessed day !!