Principal's
Connection ... September 10, 2007 ... 525,600 Minutes to Enjoy
Be happy todqy, right now--while there's still
timeBecause todqy never becomes tomorrow.
A man walked into a bookstore and
while browsing, mentioned to the owner that he'd just thrown away an old Bible
he'd found somewhere. "It was in a foreign language anyway, printed
somewhere like Guten ... ," he said.
"Not
Gutenberg?" gasped the bookstore owner. ''Yes, that was it," the man
replied.
"You may have thrown away a book worth four hundred thousand dollars,
one of the first books ever printed!"
"Aw, it wouldn't be worth a dime," the man responded. "Some
guy by the name of Martin Luther had scribbled all over its pages.'
You never know what life is going to turn up! The most
significant people are scribbling all over the pages of your life today, right
now. Don't let pearls slip between your fingers. Look at the life you hold in
your own two hands. Is it tattered and shabby? Think about it. Might it bring
opportunities for growth and gladness? Might it be treasure? What is going to
be important one hundred years from now that doesn't seem important now? What
seems important now that will not be important a century from now?
In moments that seem unredeemable, watch and wait.
Recognize the precious things. Refuse to trash anything! Ask God to help you
see things from His perspective. Take one step after another. Before long, in
spite of yourself, you may notice surprising signs of hope in your own
backyard; the chuckle of a baby, the kindly light in a neighbor's eyes, the
extra hug of your own child, an undreamed opportunity.
. The
best'thing about this very minute is your ability to recognize the
possibilities in
it. Any silly person can count the seeds in an apple. But only God can
count the apples in a seed. There is something in every problem that holds
potential for something better. Do you want a lifetime of happy right now? The
little choice this moment to see beauty in what appears ugly, frustrating, or
disgraceful will change everything! You h~ve 1,440 minutes in every day. That's
525,600 minutes per year!
But what happens when
things go wrong-like, really wrong?
When we were kids, my brother and I were experimenting with the hair
clippers that my parents owned to give us our haircuts. There was a small
plastic gauge that fit over the blade to determine the exact length of the cut.
I am sure my parents know the setting and placement of the gauge, but my
brother and I did not understand it. All we had to do was adjust the gauge and
then just mow the hair, or so we both thought! I let my brother persuade me to
go first, and he was a year older.
Poor me. What a disaster. He plowed furrows on top of my
head and scraggly patterns on each side. Fortunately, I was not so angry that I
could not see past what the truth was, it would grow back. We did not laugh
about it until many years later. I can still see how those words, "It will
grow back!" apply to our lives. Life's circumstances seem as treacherous
as those hair clippers. God's promises hold true though when everything around
us changes. Knowing this should help us all to treasure exactly what we have
and where we are, even amid disaster. Hair grows or falls out. Hairstyles
change. Even permanents aren't permanent. So many things seem important only
after we have lost them: a certain loved one, good health, hope.
The time to be happy is now. The thing to treasure
is exactly what you hold in your hands! No matter how you try to manipulate
reality-forcing changes, denying what is true,
worrying about tomorrow, holding on to the way it always used to be-it is
only by , i'Gaccepting life as it is today
that you become truly rich. . . d . d "-.LJ
~ MagaZIne
sales en Fn ay.
~ Please help
us out and order!
Trial and triumph are what God uses to scribble all over
the pages of our lives. They are signs that He is using us, loving us, shaping
us to His image, enjoying our companionship, delivering us from evil, and
writing eternity into our hearts. Be happy through everything because today is
the only thing you can be sure of. Right here, right now, cherish the moment
you hold in your hands as a gift from God.
':5' ee, I have engraved you on the
palms of my hands,' your walls are ever beftre me. " Isaiah 49:16
A prayer:
o Lord! How thankful I am for your permanence and your
unfathomable love in my process of change. As you retool my life to make me
more useful, help me appreciate the changes that come. Help me to be glad for
every right now moment! Amen
WOULD
YOU CONSIDER RIDING THE SCHOOL Bus?
At this point in our school year, we are looking carefully at both of our
bus routes. Are you aware:
1. round trip, AM and PM, costs
$1200 per year (for the first child and it is even cheaper for the 2nd
and 3rd child). If you figure 180 school days and that equates to
about $6.60 a day.
2. one way only, the cost is $750
per year. That equates to $4.1Q a day.
3. Extended Care is $4 an hour and
some families save money by having their,child take the bus· home in the
afternoon. Some families can get to work earlier by having the bus pick the
child up in the AM.
4. The NORTH bus route travels through College
Park and then makes two
group stops: Our Savior Lutheran Church, route 197
(13611 Laurel Bowie
Road), Laurel:
picking up at 7:20AM and dropping off at 4:00PM.**(Our Savior School does offer
a flat rate After Care that our students could enroll in.)
East Gate Shopping Center, Route 193 at Lanham Severn Road, picking up at
7:00AM and dropping off at 4:20PM.
5. The SOUTH bus route travels through
Riverdale, New Carrollton, Mt. Rainier, Hyattsville and Bladensburg.
For the next 10 days we will accept changes to the
current routes. We do want more families to consider it for the cost savings to
them.
Always so many
reminders:
--Tuition is
delinquent after 30 days. A simple notification will be made and then children
are excluded from school. Please be timely in your payments. Thank you. -All
parents are asked to check in with the office/library upon every entry into any
of our buildings, either before or after school. Please get permission for
access. Thank you. -All new students are on probation for the first quarter.
Conferences may be requested sooner than that by either the parent or the
teacher(s) or administrator.
_rJ-.~ MAGAZINE SALES END FRIDAY. -().-,~ ~ PLEASE HELP US
OUT AND ORDER! ~