I am going to share this email story with you in hopes that it will help you to not get too wrapped up with the unimportant and to enjoy the true richness of life.  It matters not whether you are christian, the teaching is what’s important.  Here’s the story:

~ A Baby’s Christmas Hug ~

We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat Erik in a high chair and noticed everyone was quietly sitting and talking.  Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, ‘Hi.’ He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a toothless grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.

I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and his toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked like a road map.

We were too far from him to smell, but I was sure he smelled.  His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists. ‘Hi there, baby; hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,’ the man said to Erik.

My husband and I exchanged looks,   ‘What do we do?’

Erik continued to laugh and answer, ‘Hi.’

Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and then at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with my beautiful baby. Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the room, ‘Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek- a-boo.’

Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously drunk.

My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire for the admiring skid-row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with his cute comments.

We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me and the door. ‘Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,’ I prayed. As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to sidestep him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby’s ‘pick-me-up’ position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from my arms to the man.

Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very young baby consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of total trust, love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged shoulder. The man’s eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby’s bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have ever loved so deeply for so short a time.

I stood awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, ‘You take care of this baby.’

Somehow I managed, ‘I will,’ from a throat that contained a stone.

He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as though he were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, ‘God bless you, ma’am, you’ve given me my Christmas gift.’

I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I was saying,   ‘My God, my God, forgive me.’

I had just witnessed Christ’s love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a child who saw a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a Christian who was blind, holding a child who was not. I felt it was God asking, ‘Are you willing to share your son for a moment?’ when He shared His for all eternity.  How did God feel when he put his baby in our arms 2000 years ago.

The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, ‘To enter the Kingdom of God , we must become as little children.’

~The End~

Today, I make this vow to myself. To be as a little child.  The try to see the world through the innocence and untainted eyes of a child and with universal love, joy and peace.

In the article, Ms Rowe-Finkbeiner rebuts an article written by Michael Silverstein in the October 26th issue of the New Yorker in which he writes:

“He comes back with dinner, and he has shot it! They are happy. American women don’t have anyone hunting for them–that’s the real problem”.

During her rebuttal, Ms Rowe-Finkbeiner suggests that the unhappiness of women is related to economic and political inequality. She laments the lack of family-friendly policies by employers and the apparent “glass ceiling” for women in Fortune 500 companies.

Now I’m not saying that what Ms Rowe-Finkbeiner is advocating for women is not important to making the lives of women and families more comfortable in the work force, but I do dispute that these are the reasons for women being unhappy.

I will speak only for myself when I tell you what makes me happy. A very big part of what makes me happy every day is having a partner. And I don’t mean one that I have to nag to take out the trash but rather a partner who takes the initiative within the family unit to pick up that rifle and go out and do what it takes to take care of his family.

What do you think? What makes you happy?Take Our Poll

If you’re like most people, what we want to do and what we should do are not likely to be the same thing.

Of course, if you are fortunate enough to be doing what you love to do and that is what is moving you in the direction you want to go, they may well be the same things. But not many of us are that fortunate.

So how do we get from “should” to “want to”? It’s really very simple, we just change our language.

Should is used to state that something ought to happen, be done etc. That means that it’s an obligation but it’s not necessarily pleasant so by nature we tend to rail against what we should do.

So how do we move beyond our dislike of doing things that we should do? Simple! We just stop using the word should.

Instead of saying to ourselves “I should work on my ebook” we change that to say “I want to work on my ebook” and then remind ourselves of the goal. Like this “I want to work on my ebook so that I can share my message with the world”.

For me, when I should do something, I automatically tend to rail against doing it. When I suggest to myself that I want to do something and tell myself who I want to do it, I can make a task less onerous. The focus on the goal helps me to get motivated instead of the should that makes me want to dig in my heels.

Try it for yourself. Remove the should in you self talk and replace it with I want to and see what happens.

Don’t forget to let me know how it works for you.

Then, when you see it, touch it and count it out in hundreds (if you have three pennies count “one hundred, two hundred, three hundred”) and imagine someone putting that money into your hand and feel the good feelings of receiving it.

This does two things for you. First it allows you to focus on money in a positive way and to feel the gratitude of receiving. Secondly, by having to move it around (pushing it out of the way and back into the way), you start to see money as abundant. When I move it aside, I always say “wow, there is so much money here!”.

This worked for me, within one day of doing this, I received $100 totally out of the blue in a manner I would never have dreamed of.

So, try this little trick and let the law of attraction work for you.

Let me know what happens when you use this little tip. Or, if nothing happens write and tell me that too.

Rich, being a state of mind, makes it possible for everyone to live rich, no matter their circumstances.   So, please, join me and live your own rich life.

Linda