Happy Thursday Digital Neighbors & Friends! Good Morning Phamily & Refugees! Hey there Early Birds & Dawn Patrol, Day Walkers & Later Dayers, Conversants & Lurkers and all the rest of you fun folks at Padre's, Phetasy and Rubin Report!
How about some quotes from Back to Joy - Little reminders to help us through tough times complied by June Cotner. On to a few quotes and some rumbling commentary. Happy Thursday kind souls!
Sooner or later we will come to the edge of all that we cannot control and find life, waiting there for us. - Rachel Naomie Remen
When life's problems seem overwhelming, look around and see what other people are coping with. You may consider yourself fortunate. - Ann Landers
Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage - it can be delightful. - George Bernard Shaw
Fear of the unknown - good God almighty (and He is) take me back to March of 2020. I suspect 99% of us thought there was some massive tidal wave of death waiting for us because of the reports from Italy and Iran where there were "millions" of dead (would you believe hundreds of thousands, how about tens of thousands, would you believe thousands - said in a Don Adams voice 😉).
Eventually there were more deceased, and every life is irreplicable but the early reports were fudged and then all the talking points from the experts (another word for self-deluded bullshitters) tried to guide us through the panic by heightening it every step of the way. Even "THE SCIENCE" and all of its settled advocates could no longer be trusted as we saw people like Fakie-Facui relish celebrity over honesty, propaganda over humble research.
The "Experts" and their Elite allies were amazed at the trust and cooperation given them by the general populace. They quickly noticed those who went along without question and those who didn't. That later group is problematic. Questioners, Doubters and those Suspicious Souls who have reservations about those in power and their abuse of it are the group to be targeted by the Experts & Elites as the real enemy (not their abuse of power) and the fissuring of the populace grows. Hating your neighbors is much better than hating your handlers as far as the handlers are concerned. 🤨
It can all be depressing. My solution is too keep my heart focused on all the goodness in my immediate life (and not Chicken Little it by running around worried over things I have zero control), being informed about those things which I cannot control but want to try to address in my engagement in the world and finally praying over SOOOOO many things of which I have limited awareness or just plain ignorance. Few like to admit that last bit, but I am so ignorant of many things (it fills libraries - really, no bullshit) that I have to train myself to often admit that I don't know. That doesn't stop my parade of ignorance, I can find plenty to march along aside these days, just hop in line with other lemmings and don't acknowledge or question your ignorance.
Life,, while not easy, as Shaw says - it can be delightful. Happy Thursday Friends!
Spring barn somewhere in Missouri - the irises are in bloom currently. Found along on Bing. 👀
Today marks the three hundred and thirtieth birthday of the Frenchman François-Marie Arouet, better known by his nom de plume, Voltaire (1694-1778).
Born into a bourgeois family during the reign of Louis XIV, the “Sun King” (r. 1643-1715), Voltaire suffered tragedy at a young age when his mother died. Never close with his father or brother, Voltaire exhibited a rebellious attitude toward authority from his youth. His brilliant mind was fostered in the care of the Society of Jesus, who introduced him to the joys of literature and theater. Despite his later criticisms against the Church, Voltaire, throughout his life, fondly recalled his dedicated Jesuit teachers.
Although he spent time as a civil servant in the French embassy to the Hague, Voltaire’s main love was writing—an endeavor where he excelled in various genres, including poetry, which led to his appointment as the royal court poet for King Louis XV. Widely recognized as one of the greatest French writers, and even hyperbolically referred to by ...
Padre - Tom Miller invites you to a Coffee Talk, Speakeasies, Schmoozes, Tea Times, Afterhours and other gatherings.
https://teams.live.com/meet/93792382189049?p=DiBHsYfuECPgDrG7vO
2026 Coffee Talk with the ADD Irregulars
Thursday, January 1, 2026
6:00 AM - 8:00 AM (CST)
Occurs every day starting 1/1 until 12/31/2027
Coffee Talk - Daily beginning at 6:00 AM Central Time Zone - USA
White Pilled Wednesday - A break from the heaviness of news and current events to focus upon things more personal & positive for the first hour of Coffee Talk.
Afternoon Chats - Most Tuesday, Friday & Sundays 2:00 PM Central
Other chats as posted in the community.
Happy Friday, Digital Neighbors!! Slept in a little this morning. Woke up at my ordinary time, hit the hour timer, and wandered back into short, incoherent dreamland. It was a good hour to try and get a little more rest after a long day yesterday. We had a good staff team-building day with personal prayer and then looking at the DISC tool as a way to appreciate our gifts as we work together for the good of our parish family.
Had a meeting in the evening to explore using our auditorium for an Emergency Overnight Shelter in the winter for the homeless and unhoused in our local area. Lots of potential, lots of work if that is to come to fruition. As I mentioned last night, this is where the rubber hits the road on personal charity. People feel comfortable giving money to support charities, but the possibility of hosting and staffing one is way out of the comfort zone for most. Prayer and time will tell.
Off to some “ifferisms” for your Friday cup of Joe.
If you get gloomy, just take an ...
The Beautiful
Said the Disciple to the Lover, “Sir, before I left the world I heard certain men who were held in high esteem and thought to know the will of the Beloved say that those who loved the Beautiful did not love the Beloved but loved idols, yet in the Garden of the Beloved we are ever striving to create beauty for the pleasure of the Beloved. Were they then speaking the truth?”
The Lover answered, “Those who said this had never glimpsed the form of the Beloved nor ever truly sought Him, for all beauty is but the reflection of the beauty of the Beloved, although seen very dimly as in a dark and faulty mirror, even as all goodness is a dim reflection of the goodness of the Beloved. So it is that those who love beauty and goodness recognize dimly in them the form of the Beloved and though often in ignorance those who are seeking the Beautiful and the Good are seeking after the Beloved.”
