Infantile love follows the principle: "I love because I am loved."
Mature love follows the principle: "I am loved because I love."
Immature love says: "I love you because I need you."
Mature love says: "I need you because I love you."

people are wonderful!

LOVE starts with a SMILE , grows with a KISS , and ends with a TEAR.

DON'T cry over anyone who won't cry over you.

Good FRIENDS are hard to find, harder to leave, and impossible to forget.

You can only go as far as you push.

ACTIONS speak louder than words.

The HARDEST thing to do is watch the one you love, love somebody else.

DON'T let the past hold you back, you're missing the good stuff.

LIFE'S SHORT. If you don't look around once in a while you might miss it.

A BEST FRIEND is like a four leaf clover, HARD TO FIND and LUCKY TO HAVE.

Some people make the world SPECIAL just by being in it.

BEST FRIENDS are the siblings God forgot to give us.

When it HURTS to look back, and you're SCARED to look ahead, you can look beside you and your BEST FRIEND will be there.

TRUE FRIENDSHIP "NEVER" ENDS. Friends are FOREVER.

Good friends are like STARS. You don't always see them, but you know they are ALWAYS THERE.

DON'T frown. You never know who is falling in love with your smile.

What do you do when the only person who can make you stop crying is the person who made you cry?

Nobody is perfect until you fall in love with them.

Everything is okay in the end. If it's not okay, then it's not the end.

Most people walk in and out of your life, but only FRIENDS leave footprints in your heart.

AWESOME PRAYER:
May today there be peace within you. May you trust God that you are exactly
where you are meant to be. "I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us
to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly."

God

boys...

Once upon a time there was an island where all the feelings lived;
happiness, sadness, knowledge, and all the others, including love.
One day it was announced to all of the feelings that the island was going to
sink to the bottom of the ocean. So all the feelings prepared their boats to
leave.
Love was the only one that stayed.
She wanted to preserve the island paradise until the last possible moment.
When the island was almost totally under love decided it was time to leave.
She began looking for someone to ask for help.
Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat.
Love asked, "Richness, Can I come with you on your boat?"
Richness answered, " I'm sorry, but there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat
and there would be no room for you anywhere."
Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was passing in a beautiful vessel.
Love cried out, "Vanity, help me please."
"I can't help you", Vanity said, "You are all wet and will damage my beautiful
boat."
Next, Love saw Sadness passing by. Love said," Sadness, please let me go with
you."
Sadness answered, "Love, I'm sorry, but, I just need to be alone now."
Then, Love saw Happiness. Love cried out, " Happiness, please take me with you."
But Happiness was so overjoyed that she didn't hear Love calling to her.
Love began to cry. Then, she heard a voice say, "Come, Love, I will take you
with me."
It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the
elder her name.
When they arrived on land the elder went on her way. Love realized how much she owed the elder.
Love then found Knowledge and asked, "Who was it that helped me?"
"It was Time", Knowledge answered.
"But why did Time help me when no one else would?", Love asked.
Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity, answered,
"Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."

~~~~~~~~~

In a world filled with hatred and sorrow...
Let joy and love be what you strive for..
Today and every tomorrow.
In a word gone mad with impatience and war...
Let peace rein in our hearts..
and long-suffering be what we endure.
Where evil and hardness of heart abound...
Let gentleness of soul and goodness..
be the qualities that are found

When skepticism goes hand in hand with arrogant pride...

May meekness of spirit and faith be the values.. we cherish and let stand side
by side.

~~~~~~~~~

"Action may not always bring happiness; but there is no happiness without
action."

"Friendship without self-interest is one of the rare and beautiful things of
life."

(from ally's profile)
"You come to love not by finding the perfect person, but by seeing an imperfect person perfectly."

Look to this day,
For it is life,
The very life of life.
In its brief course lie all
The realities and verities of existence,
The bliss of growth,
The splendor of action,
The glory of power----

For yesterday is but a dream,
And tomorrow is only a vision,
But today, well lived,
Makes every yesterday a dream of happiness
And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well, therefore, to this day.

Sanskrit Proverb

Love is more than conscience. Conscience is something that says to you, “You do this, you do this, you do this.” But love is something much greater. Love makes us ready to pay for the sins of others. It’s a much higher step.
~Archimandrite Dionysios

"don't say you love somebody and then change your mind...love isn't like picking what movie you want to watch."
~natalie, age 9

"a man falls in love through his eye, a woman through her ears."
~woodrow wyatt

"i like not only to be loved, but to be told that i'm love"
~george elliot

"men always want to be a woman's first love...
women like to be a man's last romance."

"voici mon secret. il est très simple: on ne voit bein qu'avec le coeur. l'essential est invisible pour les yeux."
~antoine de saint-exupery

translates into:
"and now here is my secret, a very simple secret; it is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eyes."

(courtesy of matthew hamilton..)

quotes from Albert Einstein

"Gravitation can not be held responsible for people falling in love."
"How on earth are you ever going to explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love?"
"Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a [wonderful guy] for an hour, and it seems like a minute. THAT'S reality."

Time is too slow for those who wait,
too swift for those who fear,
too long for those who grieve,
too short for those who rejoice,
but for those who love, time is eternity.
~henry van dyke

There is no difficulty that enough love will not conquer;
no disease that enough love will not heal;
no door that enough love will not open;
no gulf that enough love will not bridge;
no wall that enough love will not throw down;
no sin that enough love will not redeem...
It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble;
how hopeless the outlook;
how muddled the tangled;
how great the mistake.
A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all.
If only you could love enough you would be the happiest and most powerful being in the world...
~emmet fox

You, doing that thing you do
Breking my heart into a million pieces,
Like you always do
And you, dont mean to be cruel
You never even knew about the heartache
I've been going through
Well I'm trying trying to forget you girl
But it's just so hard to do
Every time you do that thing you do

I know all the games you play
And I'm gonna find a way to let u know that
You'll be mine someday
Cause we, we'd be happy can't you see
If you'd only let me be the one to hold you
And keep you here with me
Cause I'm trying trying to forget you girl
But it's just so hard to do
Every time you do that thing you do

I don't ask a lot girl
But I know one thing's for sure
It's your love I haven't got girl
And I just can't take it anymore

Cause we, we'd be happy can't you see
If you'd only let me be the one to hold you
And keep you here with me
Cause it hurts me so just to see you go
Around with someone new
And if I know you you're doing that thing
Every day just doing that thing
I can't take you doing that thing you do

ok...i know some people aren't all religious and all...but i think everyone should know this quote from the Bible. it is probably my favorite passage out of the entire book.

"love is patient, love is kind. it is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

love never fails. if there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. for we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. when i was a child, i used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when i became a man, i put aside childish things. at present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. at present i know partially; then i shall know fully as i am fully known. so faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

1 corinthians 13:4-13

To the world you may be one person,
but to one person you may be the world.

- Bill Wilson -

We all want to fall in love. Why?
Because that experience makes us feel completely alive.
Where every sense is heightened,
every emotion is magnified,
our everyday reality is shattered
and we are flying into the heavens.
It may only last a moment, an hour, an afternoon.
But that doesn't diminish its value.
Because we are left with memories
that we treasure for the rest of our lives.

- From the movie "The Mirror Has Two Faces" -
(starring Barbara Streisand)

Love is not patronizing and charity isn't about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same- with charity you give love, so don't just give money reach out your hand instead.

Mother Teresa

this was an email i received today...hope y'all enjoy it...

Things It Takes Most Of Us 50 years to learn:

The badness of a movie is directly proportional to the number of helicopters in it.

You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight-saving time.

You should never say anything to a woman that even remotely suggests you think she's pregnant unless you can see an actual baby emerging from her at that moment.

The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background, is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.

There comes a time when you should stop expecting other people to make a big deal about your birthday. That time is: age 11.

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."

People who want to share their religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them.

If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be "meetings."

The main accomplishment of almost all organized protests is to annoy people who are not in them.

If there really is a God who created the entire universe with all of its glories, and he decides to deliver a message to humanity, he will NOT use as his messenger a person on cable TV with a bad hairstyle or in some cases, really bad make-up too.

You should not confuse your career with your life.

A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter/janitor, is not a nice person.

No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.

When trouble arises and things look bad, there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command. Very often, that individual is crazy.

Your true friends love you, anyway.

Nobody cares if you can't dance well. Just get up and dance.

i have a VERY talented friend...she loves me soo much that she wrote me a poem! here it is. perhaps someone else will get a kick out of it. if you get a chance to read this, katie, I LOVE YOU TOO SWEETIE!!!

The path of love is one that bends, one that is
straight , and one that is thin. You stand at a fork,
which way to go, their paths look the same, except in
what they bestow. One has flowers, but the other one
has streams, too bad you can't see your future in one
simple dream. You loving someone is hurting another,
he loves you like you love the other. The one that you
love seems out of reach, he's walking your heart
around on his dog leash. He drags you in circles and
up and down the stairs, you wonder all the time, does
he really care? Your turn from the fork and walk away,
never looking back having nothing to say. Even though
love can be lost, some other will come and you paths
will cross. Your life will bend with many curves, but
always remember that love can be heard. It's heard by
your heart and it will always say, don't choose that
path, go this way. So listen to your heart, it's
always right, when you find yourself crossed in the
middle of the night.
By Katie Eckstrom

please hear what i'm not saying
don't be fooled by me.
don't be fooled by the face i wear.
for i wear a mask, a thousand masks,
masks that i'm afraid to take off,
and none of them is me.
pretending is an art that's second nature to me,
but don't be fooled.
for God's sake don't be fooled.
i give you the impression that i'm secure,
that confidence is my name and coolness is my game,
that the water's calm and i'm in command,
and that i need no one.
but don't believe me.
my surface may seem smooth but my surface
is my mask, ever-varying and ever-concealing.
beneath lies no complacence.
beneath lies confusion and fear and aloneness.
but i hide this. i don't want anyone to know it.

i panic at the thought of my weakness and fear being exposed.
that's why i frantically create a mask to hide behind,
a nonchalant sophisticated facade, to help me pretend,
to shield me from the glance that knows.
but such a glance is precisely my salvation.
my only hope, and i know it.
that is, if it's followed by acceptance,
if it's followed by love.
it's the only thing that can liberate me from myself,
from my own self-built prison walls,
from the barriers i so painstakingly erect.
it's the only thing that will assure me
of what i can't assure myself,
that i'm really worth something.
i don't like to hide.
i don't like to play superficial phony games.
i want to stop playing them.
i want to be genuine and spontaneous and me,
but you've to to help me.
you've got to hold out your hand
even when that's the last thing i seem to want.
only you can wipe away from my eyes
the bland stare of the breathing dead.
only you can call me into aliveness.

each time you're kind and gentle and encouraging,
each time you try to understand because you really care,
my heart begins to grow wings, very small wings,
very feeble wings,
but wings!
with your power to touch me into feeling
you can breathe life into me.
i want you to know that.

who am i, you may wonder.
i am someone you know very well.
for i am every man you meet,
and i ma every woman you meet.
~author unknown