Quotes from St. Mother Teresa, Chickens, and A Big Honkin' Snake!

 Hello out there!

Sharing some "Spiritual Gems" from St. Mother Teresa. I bought a small booklet about seven years ago from our local Catholic bookstore. I actually purchased the three that were in stock. Unfortunately, the booklets are no longer in print.

Spiritual Gems From Mother Teresa, by Gwen Costello is a booklet with thirty of St. Mother Teresa's well known quotes, and includes a scripture, prayer, and action that you can follow for each day of the month.

The following is one of my many favorite quotes from St. Mother Teresa:

"In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love."

I love the simplicity of this message and the truth it rings in my heart. The things we do on a daily basis for our family and friends are in tune with this quote. Whether you're packing a lunch for your child to take to school, making and dropping off lunch for your husband at work, doing laundry and putting everything away nice and neat, preparing dinner, or reading a bedtime story and praying with your children when they go to bed. Taking care of a sick spouse or an aging parent is a beautiful act of love. Maybe you're calling a friend to check on them or inviting them over for coffee. Sometimes just dropping a card in the mail or taking time to be a listening ear is a huge blessing. Doing all these things with love in our hearts, may seem small, but really makes more of an impact that we realize.

I'm sharing one more quote along with the action that goes with it:

"If we want a love message to be heard, it has got to be sent out. To keep a lamp burning, we have to keep putting oil in it."

Action: I will try to be a light for someone today, and at the very least, I will not spread darkness.

My quote is "Don't be the spoon that stirs the pot!" But there are times when I have to ask God to help me keep my mouth shut! Although I still need to work on my facial expressions! 

 Gwen Costello did a great job matching the scriptures, prayers, and actions with each quote. I hope that someday this booklet will be back in publication so that I can buy them and share!

My next topic is the polar opposite but that's how life goes at our hacienda!

Plumbing issues and a Big Honkin' Snake!

Last Thursday, I was busy paying bills and typing up invoices for our business. Our commode needed new parts for the tank and Jim had run into town to pick them up. It was a beautiful day, the weather was great, and I had the back door open. Jim came home to take care of the plumbing issue and I was doing my part by holding the phone flashlight so he could see. It was about 2:30 pm and I heard the chickens squawking up a storm. I headed out the back door and grabbed the bb gun, thinking that there was a chicken hawk dive bombing them, since this has happened before and the noise from the bb gun scares the hawk away. There was no hawk flying over head and the noise was coming from the coop where they lay their eggs. I open the gate and head towards the coop as the commotion gets louder. I see a dead hen and high tail it back to the house hollering for Jim to "get the real gun!" I walk in and he's grabbing the "snake gun" and asking me what's out there. I explained that I saw a dead chicken from "a far" and turned back around. He heads out there, with me following from a safe distance. He swings the door to the chicken coop open and I hear the gun go off. Right after the gun went off a hen came flying out of there and I heard another shot. This humongous bull snake had choked one hen to death and was in the act of choking the hen that flew out! We've never seen anything like this before! We've had bull snakes in the chicken coop before, almost ever spring. They've never bothered the hens before and Jim or I usually open the coop door and are surprised by a snake that is full of eggs. Jim has always grabbed something to pick up the snake and then he lets it go back further out in the pasture. This snake will not be coming back! It was so bizarre and scary! I told Jim that it made me think of, "El diablo aka the devil!" Needless to say, the grandkids and I will not be going into the chicken coop for a very long time!

Now back to normal daily life and doing small things with great love... I'm going to head to the kitchen and bake Jim some sugar cookies from scratch!

Peace and blessings to you and yours,

near and far, wherever you are!

Bye for now, Sharla

A picture of the chicken coop!

Another quote and one of my favorite pictures of Saint Mother Teresa!