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My.Daily.Distraction ~ Post 44: Regrets, I’ve Had A Few

01 Monday Dec 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Authors, Books, Education, Entertainment, Movies, Reading, Religion

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Tags

Baptist, Buddhism, Buddhist, Censorship, Choir, Dalai Lama, Decisions, Fairytales, Fantasy, Fiction, Harry Potter, J.K. Rawlings, Minister, Regrets, School, Sunday School

We’ve all had regrets in life.

My first major regret happened when I was seventeen years old although I did not realize my missed opportunity until a decade later.

On a Friday in November 1976 during my grade twelve world religions class, our teacher announced that he had an extra curricular activity that he wanted us, his class, to participate in.

Our mission was to find our way downtown to St. John’s Anglican Church that Sunday evening where the Dalai Lama would be making an unprecedented appearance.

Did I go?

No.

I had never heard of the Dalai Lama, nor did I have any interest in learning about the Buddhist religion.

Older and wiser now almost forty years later, and I have yet to forgive myself.

Several years back I told a coworker this story.

She then told me that her young daughter along with her school choir had been recently invited to sing for the Dalai Lama during his visit to Canada.

She then told me that she did to allow her daughter to go because she did not want her daughter’s Christian beliefs confused by anything that the Dalai Lama had to say.

I told her that was a very bad call on her part. There is a good chance that her daughter will have issues about her Mother’s decision not to let her sing with her school choir for the Dalai Lama.

Think of the insight she would have gained by listening to his live and engaging message on peace, love and forgiveness. His life’s experiences alone carry lessons that we can all learn from.

Several years ago, I had a problem with any parent who forbade their children from reading J.K. Rawlings HARRY POTTER series. Similarly, they were not allowed to see the movies either.

I grew up in a Baptist family. My grandfather was a Baptist Minister. All my cousins regularly attended Sunday School, no exceptions.

However, our entire family revelled in fairytales and movies even if the storyline included witches and spells and potions.

I am grateful for the fact, that all the adults in our family had enough confidence in us, their children, nieces and nephews that we would accept the offered movie or storyline for what it was:

A work of fiction.

There was never any question of what was reality and what was sheer imagination.

So began the lessons to maturely make decisions for ourselves.

And these lessons continue to this day.

I hope the same for you and yours.

Quote

Memories Of Mother… Post 42: Approached By An Angel

15 Tuesday Jul 2014

Posted by duckykoren in Uncategorized

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Angels, Baptist, blogs, Breast Cancer, Brother, Cancer, Family, Father, Gott Ist Die Liebe, Minister, Missionary, Mother, Singing, Sister, Stories, True

image

The events and characters depicted in this story are true….

And the story is about the day that my Mother, her Brother and Sister encountered an Angel.

There is no doubt in my mind that this story is real.

I really believe that it happened.

First of all, I believe it because my Mother was never one to exaggerate, embellish, or tell tall tales.

She was pretty much stuck on the truth.

Secondly, Mother was never a particularly spiritual or religious person until her later years.

As a youngster, she was a bit of a rebel.

Seeing as her father was a Baptist minister and missionary, well…

…let’s just say that she was a bit of a nonconformist when it came to prayer and worship.

And now, on to our story:

 

Many many years ago…

In a country far far away…

It was early evening in the Scherer household.

The day had not gone well for the family, and the Father had sent his disobedient children to bed early.

My Uncle, Aunt and Mother all shared the same bedroom.

It was dusk time and the sun had almost set.

The Brother and two Sisters were in their own respective bedroom corners, quiet and reflective over the events that had led to them being sent to bed early.

The parents were in their own bedroom down the hall, presumably on their knees, praying that God would grant them more well behaved children.

My Mother was sitting on a ledge by the bay window when she spotted an unusual phenomenon coming down the sidewalk towards the house.

As it came to their front gate the unusual triangle of light suddenly stopped.

It stood approximately four feet high and hovered one foot off the ground.

Suddenly, the phenomenon disappeared right before her very eyes.

Simultaneously, their kitchen across the hall became suddenly bright.

Leaving the kitchen the glowing entity crossed through the hallway and  entered the children’s bedroom.

After a few moments of silence, the glowing phenomenon then instructed the children to sing a popular children’s hymn called “Gott ist die Liebe.”

This was a German children’s song very similar to “Jesus Loves Me” but with a different melody.

The children began to sing the song as they had been instructed to.

After they had been singing for about a minute the light suddenly vanished.

The glowing triangle was gone.

And the children continued to sing.

As they sang, their father suddenly came into the bedroom.

“What are you doing?” he asked them?

Almost in unison, they replied…

“Singing. “

My grandfather then paused for moment, thought for a few more seconds, and then without another word, turned around and returned to his bedroom.

Nothing more was said…

By anyone to anyone.

 

According to Mother, the story ended like this:

 

To the entire family’s surprise…

The three young children became respectful and well behaved.

There was peace in the Scherer valley for wonderfully long time.

The End.

 

 

 

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