Civilian life vs Military life

You stay up for 16 hours
He stays up for days on end.

You take a warm shower to help you wake up.
He goes days or weeks without running water.

You complain of a "headache", and call in sick.
He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward.

You put on your anti war/don't support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends.
He still fights for your right to wear that shirt.

You make sure you're cell phone is in your pocket.
He clutches the cross hanging on his chain next to his dog tags.

You talk trash about your "buddies" that aren't with you.
He knows he may not see some of his buddies again.

You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls.
He patrols the streets, searching for insurgents and terrorists.

You complain about how hot it is.
He wears his heavy gear, not daring to take off his helmet to wipe his brow.

You go out to lunch, and complain because the restaurant got your order wrong.
He doesn't get to eat today.

Your maid makes your bed and washes your clothes.
He wears the same things for weeks, but makes sure his weapons are clean.

You go to the mall and get your hair redone.
He doesn't have time to brush his teeth today.

You're angry because your class ran 5 minutes over.
He's told he will be held over an extra 2 months.

You call your girlfriend and set a date for tonight.
He waits for the mail to see if there is a letter from home.

You hug and kiss your girlfriend, like you do everyday.
He holds his letter close and smells his love's perfume.

You roll your eyes as a baby cries.
He gets a letter with pictures of his new child, and wonders if they'll ever meet.

You criticize your government, and say that war never solves anything.
He sees the innocent tortured and killed by their own people and remembers why he is fighting.

You hear the jokes about the war, and make fun of men like him.
He hears the gunfire, bombs and screams of the wounded.

You see only what the media wants you to see.
He sees the broken bodies lying around him.

You are asked to go to the store by your parents. You don't.
He does exactly what he is told even if it puts his life in danger.

You stay at home and watch TV.
He takes whatever time he is given to call, write home, sleep, and eat.

You crawl into your soft bed, with down pillows, and get comfortable.
He tries to sleep but gets woken by mortars and helicopters all night long.

Strength in Silent Times

I pray that God gives you strength
In your time of need
I pray that he smiles upon your face
You are a good person indeed
No matter what thoughts may hit you
At this time or another
I pray that joy comes into your heart
And that the negative thoughts will go under
I pray that God will ease your mind
No matter what fears you may think
I pray that happiness will come on time
So that your tears will wash away

You are a good person
This in fact is true
So don’t ever feel alone
The angels are sitting there with you
I pray that you have positive emotions
And that peace will come to you like an ocean
So don’t sit there with a frown
God is ready to give you, your crown
You are truly an anointed one
May your understanding shine bright as the sun?

It’s ok to be silent like a tree
That’s one way to go inside you internally
Sometimes silence is golden
Helping one to gather their thoughts
But always remember you were chosen
Because you have strength like a rock
So if you are feeling down
I pray that God will turn your frown into a smile

He is smiling down from heaven
And saying, look everyone, there’s my child.

People come into our life for a reason.

People come into our life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you figure out which it is you know exactly what to do. When someone is in your life for a reason, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed outwardly, or inwardly. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance, and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.

They may seem like a Godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then without any wrong doing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring this relationship to and end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up or out and force you to take a stand.

What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done. The prayers you sent have been answered and it is now time to move on. When people come into our life for a season, it is because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They may bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real but only for a season lifetime relationships teach lifetime lessons.

Those things you must build on in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love that person or people anyway. And put why you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas in your life. It is said that love is blind, but friendship is clairvoyant.

Love is a painful ordeal

Love is an amazing feeling. It’s the kind of feeling that makes you feel passionate and excitement inside. Every now and then love is all you wanted.

We all go through a stage in our life where you love someone so deeply and they don’t love you back and you’re distress, you’re very hurt and you feel like you just want to cease living because you can’t be with that person or just even be close to them.

The tough thing is to see them love someone else, it hurts. But try to think back when you didn’t even know that person or you even hated that person.

Love brings you the kind of happiness that words can’t describe and at the same time makes you vulnerable to pain. Though we all want to avoid pain, we come to realize that shielding ourselves from the possibility of it inadvertently blocks the opportunity of love in our life. Love is an eternal gift.

Love is an inspiring feeling. You will feel this way again, maybe not now, maybe not later, but soon. After all the pain is gone, you will love again and even stronger than before.

Don’t let one get you down because it’s not worth it and quite apparent they are not worth your time.

Love indeed is an amazing feeling, especially when you both share it. You will find someone, just hold on and don’t give up. Have hope and faith what the future holds for you.

Trust in the old saying that all good things comes to those who wait.

What is contentment?

Have you ever, at any one time, had the feeling that life is bad
real bad, and you wish you were in another situation?
You find life make things difficult for you, work sucks, life
sucks, everything seems to go wrong.

Read the following story... it may change your views about life:
After a conversation with one of my friends, he told me
despite taking 2 jobs, he brings back barely above 1K per month,
he is happy as he is.

I wonder how he can be as happy as he is considering he has to
skimp his life with the low pay to support a pair of old
parents, in-laws, a wife, 2 daughters and the many bills of a
household.

He explained that it was through one incident that he saw in
India that happened a few years ago when he was really
feeling low and touring India after a major setback.

He said that right in front of his very eyes he saw an Indian
mother chop off her child's right hand with a chopper. The
helplessness in the mother's eyes, the scream of pain from the
innocent 4-year-old child haunted him until today.

You may ask why did the mother do so; had the child been naughty
had the child's hand been infected?? No, it was done
for two simple words- - -TO BEG!

The desperate mother deliberately caused the child to be
handicapped so that the child could go out to the streets to beg.

Taken aback by the scene, he dropped a piece of bread he was
eating half-way. And almost instantly, a flock 5 or 6
Children swamped towards this small piece of bread which was
covered with sand, robbing bits from one another. The
natural reaction of hunger.

Stricken by the happenings, he instructed his guide to drive him
to the nearest bakery. He arrived at two bakeries and
bought every single loaf of bread he found in the bakeries. The
owner was dumbfounded but willingly sold everything. He
spent less than $100 to obtain about 400 loaves of bread (this is
less than $0.25 per loaf) and spent another $100 to get daily
necessities.

Off he went in the truck full of bread into the streets. As he
distributed the bread and necessities to the children (mostly
handicapped) and a few adults, he received cheers and bows from
these unfortunate. For the first time in his life he
wondered how people can give up their dignity for a loaf of bread
which cost less than $0.25.

He began to tell himself how fortunate he is. How fortunate he is
to be able to have a complete body, have a job, have a
family, have the chance to complain what food is nice and what
isn't nice, have the chance to be clothed, have the many
things that these people in front of him are deprived of...

Now I begin to think and feel it, too! Was my life really that
bad? Perhaps... no, I should not feel bad at all... What about
you? Maybe the next time you think you are, think about the child
who lost one hand to beg on the streets.

"Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want it is the
realization of how much you already have."

When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times
we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the
one which has been opened for us.

It's true that we don't know what we've got until we lose it, but
it's also true that we don't know what we've been missing
until it arrives.

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of
everything; they just make the most of everything that comes
along their way.

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past.
You can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures
and heartaches.

Please send this message to those people who mean something to
you, to those who have touched your life in one way or
another, to those who make you smile when you really need it, to
those that make you see the brighter side of things when
you are really down, to those who you want to let them know that
you appreciate their friendship.

And if you don't, don't worry, you will just miss out on the opportunity to brighten
someone's day with this message.