The passing of the Guard

Well, I pray this blog post finds everyone who wanders through in good health and spirits.  I do have some very sad news to report in that my Aunt Sylvia passed away at her home this past Friday afternoon.  Sylvia was diagnosed with lung cancer a while back and she decided to refrain from treatment.  She wanted to enjoy as much of the life that she had left, without the illness and wear and tear of chemo or radiation treatments.  Sylvia was a wonderful, wonderful woman and she's the last of her five siblings to pass into heaven.  The very last of the old guard Karlen's, they leave behind only my Uncle Elton's wife Beth and my mother Rosemarie, both of whom of course married into the Karlen clan.

The "Old Guard Karlen Clan."
Back Row, Elton, Joan, my grandmother Madeline Karlen
Front Row, my father Merrill, Sylvia and Vida.
All five siblings with their mother at Grandma's house out at the Ranch
Their birth order was: Elton, Merrill, Vida, Joan & Sylvia

Today I helped out a bit with the worship service at Benson Baptist with leading the prayers for both services.  I was also the lead teacher today for Sunday School, it seems that these two responsibilities always seem to fall on the same Sunday.  In Sunday School, we are working on creating Easter cards for children in an orphanage in Romania.

Working on these cards dovetails well with the topic we're covering in the program we've been utilizing.  This month's topic is 'kindness'.  We've tried very diligently to convey to the children how this act of kindness, making cards for these orphans, will hopefully brighten Easter day for them.  While the children were working on the cards, I had them go around the table and offer their class members compliments.  The lesson there was how even a tiny act of kindness can brighten another's day.

I've said it before in this blog, and I will give emphasis to it once again... it does not take a large act of kindness or generosity to make a profound impact on another human being.  So very often it's the small acts that have the greatest impact on another.  The much used saying "practice random acts of kindness" has much truth and merit.

I like to say "be a blessing to someone today", but remember these blessings don't have to be big nor grand.  Just spread them out and let God do the rest.

And with that I'll end this short blog post with a prayer from Mother Teresa.

God's Blessings to you all.

In Christ,

Roy

DEAR JESUS, help me to spread Thy fragrance everywhere I go. Flood my soul with Thy spirit and love. Penetrate and possess my whole Return to "Paying Tribute to Mother Teresa of Calcutta "being so utterly that all my life may only be a radiance of Thine. Shine through me and be so in me that every soul I come in contact with may feel Thy presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me but only Jesus. Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as you shine, so to shine as to be a light to others.

Mother Teresa