Miracles Begin That Way

Make new friends and keep the old
One is silver and the other gold
A circle is round
It has no end
That's how long I want to be your friend.

I love this little song my daughter and I learned when she was in Girl Scouts.  By the way, what an amazing organization.  We loved our Girl Scouting years!  They are some of our very favorite memories.  In fact I'm tearing up just thinking of all of our friends we made during those years.  Absolutely wonderful! 

Lately (over 2 years to be exact) I haven't felt much like "making new friends".  I have been in a space of "you make the first move and I'll be your friend."  Well, it doesn't always work that way.  Often times the other person is thinking the same thing.  Or in my instance, I know that one of my missions on this earth is to be friendly and/or to make friends.  Not to say that it's always easy to be the one to initiate a conversation or to extend a friendly hello.  Some times you just want to "cry in your beer" so to speak....:>) 

I recently moved into a new neighborhood, and I'm here to tell you, some of these people are "pretty tough nuts to crack."  Infact my neighbors won't even say hello when we are outside and 5 feet away from each other in our driveways!!  Okay so that's not entirely true, a few of them, out of an entire neighborhood, have said hello.  So, I have gone into this little "pissy" attitude of fine....I don't need this and I have become absolutely miserable! 

In fact I am so miserable that at a gathering I smiled and said hi to one of my very next door neighbors and she just walked on by without returning the gesture.  Well, I was just fed up with the coldness I have been perceiving in this neighborhood, so I touched her arm and said "hey wait a minute, I just said hello, you do know that we are neighbors now right?"  To which she said "oh, I know."  To which I said "well, I think it's rude when you won't even wave or say hello."  To which she replied "oh, I don't mean to be."  Well, I guess it didn't matter because to this day neither she nor her husband will say hello or look at us when we are outside.....

When I am not in my pitty party my natural personality is one of humor, laughter, loudness, the more the merrier, when's the next party....hence the great time in the very large bin in Wal-Mart!  LOL!

It is even harder when I go to church and the one giving the "sermon" that day talks about how wonderful this neighborhood is and how wonderful the people in this "ward" are.  What?  Are you kidding me?  Is my perception of these people in my head?  I would get so upset I finally asked my hubby, what's up with that?  Do you feel that it's wonderful and that people are so friendly here?  And he would agree with me that it's not the most friendly cuddly group of peeps we've met before. 

I had all but given up on the idea that I would really meet anyone that I could relate with in this particular neighborhood when the other night I received an invitation to join a group of ladies in my neighborhood who meet each week to learn more about taking control of their families health and some of them are even taking control of their wealth.  I will admit that this is the second invitation I had received, but I was attracting things to come up so that I couldn't attend.

And this day was no different, though, I asked how long the group was going to meet for and said that I could come after my previous commitment.  She said that would be fine.  So I did.  And I'm really glad that I did.  It was wonderful. 

Although I have my own business and don't see that I will be joining them business wise, I can see myself joining them in friendship and support of our common goals of being stay at home mom's and bringing in an income while raising our families and being pro-active in our health.  Ya gotta love NWM.  If you are not familiar with this industry you MUST learn more.  It could really bless your life.  I know it has mine for the past 25 years. 

I am always amazed at how powerful the energy is when you get a group together, especially women, in my opinion, who are joined together by a common goal or interest.  The energy in this group was electrifying. 

I walked away from this gathering with a renewed sense of inclusion, enlightenment and wanting to take the initiative to be more out going.  Thank you ladies.  :>)

I generally  love making new friends, though I am like anyone else, I have times of turning into myself and throwing pitty parties and close myself to others in a sense. 

Think what would happen if I wouldn't allow myself to stay there.  It's okay to have those feelings, I just don't need to "live" there indefinately.  And I have to say....I've been "living" there far too long! 

If I would just be more willing to share a smile, a wave as I pass some one on the street and/or offer a friendly "hi, how are you, my name is _______________" how much better would the world be?  My neighborhood?  My community?  

This reminds me of a saying I have on my living room wall above a mirror  "Be The Change You Want To See In The World".   Well, baby...it's time for a change!  LOL!  It's time to put on my big girl panties and play like a big girl!  LOL!

Kind words and deeds can lift burdens and gladden hearts.  I'm reminded of a story about a friend of mine that literally saved a young mothers life simply by saying “hi, how are you doing?” and extending his hand in offering a warm-heart-felt handshake and a genuinely warm-bright smile.  He was willing to wear his big boy undies and play like a big boy...:>)

We’ll call the young mother Tracy and the Friend who saved her life, Jim.

Tracy had given up hope, she was recently divorced, raising her son as a single mother and struggling financially, emotionally and spiritually.  She had come to an event that Jim was in attendance also as her last hope for answers that she was seeking.

Jim noticed Tracy standing alone, somber, arms folded as if trying to protect herself and closing herself off to more hurt and pain.

Jim, being the friendly and open guy that he naturally is, extended his hand and said “hi, how are you?”  To which Tracy accepted his handshake and began to cry.  Jim, was not expecting this response and inquired if there was something wrong.

Tracy began to open up and tell Jim that she felt that her life was hopeless, she expressed her sense of loneliness, told him of her struggles, her fears….as she did so, she sobbed uncontrollably as this sweet and genuinely interested stranger listened on.

Tracy told Jim that she had arranged for her son to stay with a friend while she attended the event for the weekend.  She had prayed to God and told him that she was just too tired to go on and that this weekend was going to be her last attempt at seeking hope.  She asked that God give her a sign if she was to continue living life in-spite of all of her challenges.  Tracy was planning on taking her own life.  She had brought a gun with her and had left it in her room.  My friend, Jim, was the sign she needed from God to encourage her to keep moving forward and bring a sense of hope in to her life again.

As Jim listened on, Tracy explained to him, thank you so much for taking time to introduce yourself to me, a perfect stranger, and saying hello.  If you had not done that, my plan was to go up to my room when this session was over and end my life.  Thank you again for gifting me a friendly hello, for smiling and inquiring, how I was doing?

Now granted, we are not all going to experience something this dramatic, however, we never know when our friendly smile, warm hand-shake or friendly hi, how are you? Is going to impact someone’s life.

Life is buisy.  We all have our "issues" we are dealing with.  Sometimes we feel too tired or too shy to be the first to extend a warm smile and an enthusiastic hello. Sometimes we cannot see a single minute to serve, however, the Prophet of my church, Gordon B. Hinkley, states that difficulties are often opportunities for service. Someone has said that hell “is frozen in self-pity.”   Sometimes the solution is not to change our circumstance, but to change our attitude about that circumstance. 

Treat everyone (this includes ourselves) with more kindness than is necessary because everyone is fighting some kind of battle.
I have found writing this little message cathartic and am grateful for the inspiration to share.  Thank you for reading and allowing me to be human in my thoughts and feelings and aiding me in a resolution of getting over it already and move on!  :>)  LOL!

For when we love and serve and teach those who come within our reach.... Miracles Begin That Way....

I believe in the power of music and I remember this song that I sang in church one Sunday and I feel that it sums up this little message beautifully.  I hope you enjoy it.
www.defordmusic.com (Becki Madsen)

http://soundclick.com/share.cfm?id=698502    Click green link listen to Song

http://www.defordmusic.com/miraclessolomed.pdf   Click green link Sheet Music and Lyrics