Heartprints

Whatever our hands touch...
We leave fingerprints.
On walls, on furniture,
On door knobs, dishes and books.
Smudges, showing we were there! Oh Lord, please,
Wherever I go today...
Help me leave Heartprints...
Heartprints of compassion,
Understanding and love.
Heartprints of kindness
And genuine concern. I shall go out today...
To leave Heartprints...
And if some one should say...
"I felt your touch!"
May that one feeling be...
Your loving touch, Lord,
Through me!

May my heart touch
my lonely neighbor, with a smile,
a worried mother, with peace,
a runaway child, with safety,
a homeless person, with warmth,
and my dear friends, with love.

Legacy of an Adopted Child

Once there were two women who never knew each other.
One you do not remember, the other you call Mother.
Two different lives shaped to make your one.
One became your guiding star, the other became your sun.
The first one gave you life, and the second taught you to live it.
The first gave you a need for love, the second was there to give it.
One gave you a nationality, the other gave you a name.
One gave you a talent, the other gave you an aim.
One gave you emotions, the other calmed your fears.
One saw your first sweet smile, the other dried your tears.
One sought for you a home that she could not provide,
The other prayed for a child - and her hopes were not denied.
And now you ask me through your tears,
The age old question unanswered through the years:
Heredity or environment - which are you a product of?
Neither my darling. Just two different kinds of love.

Potatoes, Eggs and Coffee Beans

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn't know how she was going to make it.
She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third pot.He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter.The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.Turning to her he asked. "Daughter, what do you see?""Potatoes, eggs, and coffee," she hastily replied."Look closer", he said, "and touch the potatoes." She did and noted that they were soft.He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face."Father, what does this mean?" She askedHe then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity--the boiling water. However, each one reacted differently.The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new."Which are you," he asked his daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean?"In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

Which one are you?

Author unknown
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To Let Go

To let go doesn't mean to stop caring.
It means I can't do it for someone else.
To let go isn't to cut myself off.
It's the realization that I can't control another.
Rather than to enable...it is to allow learning from natural consequences.
Letting go is to admit powerlessness.
Meaning the outcome is not in my hands.
It is not to try to change or blame another; but knowing that I can only change myself.
Instead of caring for, it is to care about.
It is to be supportive instead of to fix.
To let go is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.
To allow others to effect their own outcomes, instead of being in the middle arranging all the outcomes.
It is not to be protective but to permit another to face reality.
To let go is not to deny but to accept.
Not to nag, scold or argue, but rather to search out my own shortcomings and to correct them.
To let go is not to adjust everything to my own desires but to take
Each day as it comes and to cherish each moment.
Not to criticize and to regulate anyone, but to try to become the dream
I can be.
Instead of regret for the past...
It is to grow and live for the future,
To fear less and to love more.
-Author unknown
We want to give credit where credit is due. We don't know who the author is of this poem. If you know of the author please contact us at Poem Reply.

My Own Child

I did not plant you, True,
But when the season is done,
When the alternate prayers for sun and rain
Are counted, and when the pain of weeding,
And the pride of watching are through

Then I shall hold you high.
A shining leaf above a thousand seeds sown wild.
Not my planting. But by heaven, my harvest.
-Author Unknown