Inspiration

Webster’s defines inspiration as “the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions.” Here are a few sites I have found that ‘move my intellect or emotion.’ Hope you find something you like.

• Joel...Get to the Point
Joel Gorveatte, pastor at Faith Church in Lansing, Michigan, has an inspirational - and often unusual - way to look at life.

•The Happy Guy
If your goal is finding happiness, you have found the right place. This site is loaded with humor, personal growth articles, inspiration, and, as the name implies, how to find your own happiness. Need a personal action plan for happiness? The Get Happy Workbook can help.

• Inspired Living
This is a place to get inspired, feel good, become motivated, get a shot of positive energy and recharge your batteries.

• Mr. Mom
A wonderful place filled with Inspirational thoughts and special things.

• The Daily Motivator
Motivational essays and slide shows.

• Follow Your Dreams
Quotes, inspirational books and gifts, and a special site to share your dreams with others.

• Daily Guideposts
Inspirational stories, positive thinking and prayers.

There has been only one Christmas - the rest are anniversaries. ~W.J. Cameron

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. ~Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

Roses are reddish
Violets are bluish
If it weren't for Christmas
We'd all be Jewish.
~Benny Hill

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. ~Dr. Seuss

It was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, "God Bless Us, Every One!".
~Charles Dickens

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exists, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. ~editorial in the New York Sun, 1897, responding to a letter from 8-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon

A Minute With Mom Christmas

My daughter is 9 years old this year, and, incredibly, she has managed to hold on to her belief in the big guy. Despite all her friends' explanations of mom and dad passing themselves off as Santa, she still believes. And I envy her. To believe in something or someone so special, even when the rest of the world doesn't. I know that belief is on borrowed time this year, and she asks me if I believe.

I always pause for a moment before I answer that question. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus: the spirit of giving, of love, and of joy. We all know that answer. And the historical St. Nicholas whose exploits may have grown into the mythological character. But belief in Santa is still more that that. It is clinging to that part of us who refuses to grow up; the child who knows that no matter how bad things are, there's still hope. A wonderful, magical place where dreams can come true, the little guys are important, and you can eat all the cookies you want.

OK, so maybe not the cookies part, but isn't our whole concept of Jesus and Heaven a lot like the Santa and the North Pole? What do we do when our friends tell us it just isn't real? Do we believe them - after all, they may be older, smarter, or more experienced? Or maybe just pretend to believe them while holding what we really think quietly inside ourselves. Or do we proudly proclaim, like the child we once were, "I STILL BELIEVE!"

QUOTES

There's nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child. ~Erma Bombeck, I Lost Everything in the Post-Natal Depression

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase

When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs? ~G.K. Chesterton

The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world. ~Author Unknown

Christmas, my child, is love in action. ... Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas. ~Dale Evans Rogers

This page last updated on
Friday November 30, 2007

Please send comments or suggestions to inspiration@picklesandpeanutbutter.net