Warm Thoughts

February. Heart month. The month for Valentine's Day. The month we think of spring, even if Old Man Winter still has his “freezing temperatures” it has been called lately. One needs to keep warm with the extra comforter that would be at the foot of the bed in grandma’s day. No cold chill could penetrate the warmth of that quilt as it radiated grandma's love and care.

That quilt was grandma's legacy.

Recently, my friend experienced all the excitement of being a grandma for the first time. My gift to her was a baby quilt and a poem I had written. Since many of my readers have expressed appreciation of poetry thoughts, I will share with you the poem I gave with the quilt.

Grandma's Blanky

Grandma needs a purple blanky. I heard her grandchild say it will warm her gentle heart. It just will make her day. When her grandchild comes to visit, she'll ask for grandma's toy. Grandma just gives her the blanky and both just jumped for joy. A purple blanket is full of love and grandmas need one two, as it does warm, gentle hearts, even if it is not new. When old it gets much better, though it looks very torn. Many grandchildren love that blanky. It is love and it has been warm.

Warm thoughts: Love is a quilt and a quilt is love. I make them warm to keep my family from freezing. I make them beautiful to keep my heart from breaking. By Prairie Woman 1870

Keep warm with grandma quilts.

Warm Thoughts from the Little Home on the Prairie by Luetta G. Werner

February 8 1996

Published in the Marion Record

Download the Found Photo Freebie and cherish your memories of the past.

Enjoy flipping through the Vintage Photo Book on your coffee table.

I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode! Please follow along on this journey by going to visualbenedictions.com or following me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast. And don’t forget to rate and review so more people can tune in! I’d greatly appreciate it.

Till next time,

Trina

The following column appeared on January 29 1998. It was a favorite column among the readers and maybe again for those who are celebrating birthdays this month. After I delivered last week's warm thoughts column, I walked to the post office downtown where I saw someone receiving a parcel. It was her 90th birthday that day. I stood there in amazement and deep in thought as she drove away alone on this streets that were glazed with ice. I just thought here is a lady who understands what celebrating life each day really means. She really lives every day of her life.

And my mail that day came a letter from a longtime friend and reader of warm thoughts.

She related how her family and friends gave her a warm reception on her 80th birthday. She shared with me one of the readings her daughter read, and I feel you too will enjoy these warm thoughts:

Today, dear Lord, I'm 80 and there's much I haven't done. I hope dear Lord, you'll let me live until I'm 81. But then if I have finished all that I want to do, would you let me stay just a while until I'm 82? So many places I want to go so very much to see. Do you think that you could manage to make it 83? The world is changing very fast. There is so much in store. I'd like it very much to live until I'm 84. And if by then I'm still alive. I'd like to stay till 85. More planes will be up in the air. So I'd really like a stick and see what happens to the world when I turn 86. I know dear Lord, it's much to ask. And it must be nice in heaven. But I'd really like to stay until I'm 87. I know by then I won't be fast and sometimes will be late. But I would be so pleased to live till I'm 88. I will have seen so many things and had a wonderful time. So I'm sure that I'll be willing to leave at the age of 89. Maybe just one more thing I'd like to say dear Lord, I thank you very kindly. But if it's okay with you, I'd love to live past 90.

More Warm Thoughts: Life as a gift. Life is what we make it. Always has been. Always will be. Grandma Moses. 

Celebrate each day of your life!

Warm Thoughts from the Little Home on the Prairie Over a Ccup of Tea by Dr. Luetta G. Werner 

January 15 2004

Published in the Marion Record

Download the Found Photo Freebie and cherish your memories of the past.

Enjoy flipping through the Vintage Photo Book on your coffee table.

I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode! Please follow along on this journey by going to visualbenedictions.com or following me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast. And don’t forget to rate and review so more people can tune in! I’d greatly appreciate it.

Till next time,

Trina

It seems only a short time ago that we welcomed the New Year, 1998. And now, when many of you read this column of 1998, it will be 1999.

With all the anxiety in the world as we anticipate the year 2000 It seems we need to stop and listen to the wisdom and music that the little children bring into our world. The message of Christmas from the lips of little children, bring us joy all year long.1999. What thoughts come to your mind? It will be the last year and another century. 

Recently, I was visiting family in Nebraska and it is always a joy to listen and learn from the grandchildren. Since four-year-old Trevor is now attending Crayola College, he apparently is learning his numbers. On one occasion, his father requested that he go to his room for his timeout. Trevor stood for a few minutes at the foot of the upstairs steps and asked, “Daddy, do I have to stay there 99 years?”

An unknown author has written these words:

“May you have enough happiness to keep you sweet enough failure to keep you humble. Enough success to keep you eager enough friends to give you comfort, enough faith and courage in yourself, your business, and your country to banish depression. Enough wealth to meet your needs enough determination to make each day better than yesterday.”

As the sun sets on the year 1998 our thoughts cross into the new year with hope and optimism. The year 1998 can be a year of reflection, a year of new appreciation of our heritage. Hope is like the door of opportunity, which is open before us this coming year.

Thanks dear readers for all those Christmas epistles cards and emails. And one of the Christmas letters received was the following thoughts for the new year. And I will share these prayer thoughts with you:

A Prayer for the New Year

Just one thing dear Master I ask today, 

Now that the old year has passed away, 

And a promising new year through the grace of God 

With all the dreams of youth is mine. 

Just one thing I ask as I onward go, 

That I'll walk with you. Not fast nor slow.

One thing I ask and nothing more 

Not to linger behind nor run before. 

Oh, Master, this is my only plea. 

Take hold of my life and pilot me. 

Helen Kitchen Evans. 

More warm thoughts: I know not what the future holds, but I know who holds the future. Author unknown.

Light tomorrow with today. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning. 

A Happy New Year to you!

Warm Thoughts from the Little Home on the Prairie Over a Cup of Tea by Lou Edda g Werner

January 8th 1999

Published in the Marion Record

Download the Found Photo Freebie and cherish your memories of the past.

Enjoy flipping through the Vintage Photo Book on your coffee table.

I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode! Please follow along on this journey by going to visualbenedictions.com or following me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast. And don’t forget to rate and review so more people can tune in! I’d greatly appreciate it.

Till next time,

Trina

This is the time of year when many families travel to be together over the holidays. Since my family celebrates together during the warm summertime, when families schedules can finally get it together to be together and celebrate Christmas, it has given me an opportunity to travel to faraway lands. And so, I have been able to spend Christmas around the world.

I’ve found that the Christmas spirit can be all over the world. In 1987, I spent Christmas Eve worshiping in a cave on the shepherd hills of Bethlehem Israel. Another Christmas Eve I was in Austria singing Silent night, not far from where the song was first sung on the Austrian hills so many years ago. 

I can remember on ChristmasDay, climbing the hill and back of the Calvarian church with the seven stages of the cross in Austria. And how can I ever forget my special moments with the bent winged angels in their beds, at the crippled Children's Hospital in Bethlehem. And while spending Christmas one year in England, I heard the boys choir singing the Christmas carols in the Winchester Cathedral. Christmas and children bring joys to our seasons of joy.

Spending Christmas in Nigeria West Africa was a very unique experience. Learning about the customs and culture of other countries is indeed an enriching experience. I arrived in Nigeria a couple of days before the Sunday before Christmas. Preparing for Christmas in this third world country is very important. The real reason for the season and holiday, also known as “holy day” is uppermost in their minds. That Sunday before Christmas, I attended a long, six hour church service in the great outdoors of the bush country. The choir sang heavenly music. Now remember three dance offerings, where the giving of gifts was very important for the season. Many were baptized and confirmed in this service. Christmas Day too,  was a very solemn experience worshiping at the little church in the village this time.

Children were a very important part of this service. As I presented a pageant. And again offerings were an important part of the service. It was a day where families together shared the real meaning of Christmas. The day after is known as Boxing Day in their culture. And it is then and only then, when the gifts are given and received. A very special meal is served which is rice and goat meat. The Christmas season is special for family. On the day before the New Years, homes are given a special cleaning and the night, which we call New Year's Eve, is spent worshiping in the little church and the village. The hymns sung are very meaningful and joyful for the season. When you shake hands, you shake with both hands, which is a symbol of love and true friendship.

A Warm Thought: We are all travelers in the world. And the best that we find in our travels is a true and honest friend.

Have a beautiful Christmas season filled with peace and joy.

Warm Thoughts from the Little Home on the Prairie Over a Cup of Tea by Luetta G Werner

December 23, 1999

Published in the Marion Record

Download the Found Photo Freebie and cherish your memories of the past.

Enjoy flipping through the Vintage Photo Book on your coffee table.

I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode! Please follow along on this journey by going to visualbenedictions.com or following me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast. And don’t forget to rate and review so more people can tune in! I’d greatly appreciate it.

Till next time,

Trina

During the holiday season, we seem to experience more stress than usual for our lives. This week, I will share some thoughts on stress management.

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 20 grams to 500 grams. The lecturer replied, ”the absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it. If I hold it for a minute, that's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache and my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. And each case, it's the same way that the longer I hold it heavier it becomes.” He continued. “And that's the way it is with stress management.“

If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're stressed, we can carry on with the burden.

So before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now. Let them down for a moment if you can. So, my friend, put down anything that may be a burden to you right now. Don't pick it up again until after you've rested a while.

Several of my friends and family are celebrating December birthdays this month. Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live. 

A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today. I did.

Thank you for your warm thoughts.

Warm Thoughts from The Little Home on the Prairie Over a Cup of Tea by Dr. Luetta G. Werner.

December 17, 2009

Published in the Marion Record

Download the Found Photo Freebie and cherish your memories of the past.

Enjoy flipping through the Vintage Photo Book on your coffee table.

I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode! Please follow along on this journey by going to visualbenedictions.com or following me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast. And don’t forget to rate and review so more people can tune in! I’d greatly appreciate it.

Till next time,

Trina

Christmas is a time when our thoughts turn to the special people God has brought into our lives. And as we remember, our hearts are warmed with love. Have you written that Christmas letter yet? Christmas epistles provide a capsule accounting of the important events which would otherwise be forgotten in the faded memory of our minds.

They reflect for generations to come the love, joy and hope that where your footprints and the sands of time. Even if others do not appreciate the exercise, it is a great gift to give to yourself and your family. The gift of memories.

I received from Jane Graph, “The 10 Commandments of Christmas letters,” and felt you would appreciate reading these commandments. 

Number one, keep it short. More than what fits comfortable on an eight by eleven sheet probably will get laid aside to be read after the holidays. If at all.

Number two, present an overall approach to the year rather than a daily diary, much of which would be considered, who cares.

Number three, the intermingling to join us and sad events take skill. And while these are part of life, the ongoing theme of joy and hope should come through.

Number four, since this is used as a means of communication on an annual basis, bringing people up to date as part of the task. Going back through cloud ground in great detail is not needed or appropriate. Phone calls or further correspondence can be directed to or from people who are interested in knowing all about it.

Number five, depending on the number of children and their ages, information on each should range from brief to none. If the children are interested in keeping in touch with relatives, they will do their own epistle.

Number six, the reason for the season is the focus of the exercise. Thanks be to God that Christmas comes whether we are ready or not. But that it comes once a year is important in keeping the address book current.

Number seven, some weight sending only two people who write to them. However, I feel that every friend I have is worth the price of a stamp. It is good to get letters out so that cards coming back carry news and information about what is going on in their lives.

Number eight. The understatement is always the password when describing the accounts of brag items, certainly noteworthy and needed. The wording about awards or events should be tastefully done.

Number nine, room for a short personal note is also a thoughtful consideration. The unsigned photocopied letter may be viewed by some much as a card with only and inscribed name. Asking about specific events or happenings in their lives invites a long term two way communication.

Number 10, Keep a complete file of your Christmas epistles for the records. Even if some look upon this exercise with a certain amount of humor or even disdain. It is for you and your family. The Chronicles of your children or grandchildren, along with candid snapshots through the years provide a unique glimpse into their heritage.

Thank you, Jane for those 10 commandments. These 10 commandments of Christmas epistles will be appreciated by many of the warm thoughts readers who write those great, informative, scholarly and precious Christmas epistles. 

Warm Thoughts from the Little Home on the Prairie by Luetta G. Werner

December 10th, 1998

Published in the Marion Record

Download the Found Photo Freebie and cherish your memories of the past.

Enjoy flipping through the Vintage Photo Book on your coffee table.

I hope you enjoyed this podcast episode! Please follow along on this journey by going to visualbenedictions.com or following me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Stitcher, and Overcast. And don’t forget to rate and review so more people can tune in! I’d greatly appreciate it.

Till next time,

Trina