"W" - the Magic Letter

Okay Roxy - here's my "W" Offering.

WORLDLY



- Something I try hard to avoid, and it is so hard because we live in Los Angeles, CA. I suppose it’s hard no matter where you live anymore. I love all the ‘things’ we have, but I am most happy when they are used to make others happy. You know, I have so many kitchen toys and I love to cook and serve others - and all my craft stuff, well I share them with anyone who is interested, but I do wish I could find someone who loves to play crafter as much as do I. The dictionary meaning of worldly is:


world•ly (wûrld
adj. world•li•er, world•li•est
1. Of, relating to, or devoted to the temporal world.
2. Experienced in human affairs; sophisticated or worldly-wise: "an experienced and worldly man who had been almost everywhere" Willa Cather.
adv.
In a worldly manner.

Worldly Wisdom
from 'The Historie of the World' by Sir Walter Raleigh (1614)
IF Fortune and Chance were not sometimes the causes of good and evil in men, but an idle voice, whereby we express success, how comes it then, that so many worthy and wise men depend upon so many unworthy and empty headed fools; that riches and honour are given to external men, and without kernel: and so many learned, virtuous, and valiant men wear out their lives in poor and dejected estates?
In a word there is no other inferior, or apparent cause, beside the partiality of mans affection, but the fashioning and not fashioning of our selves according to the nature of the time wherein we live, for whosoever is most able, and best sufficient to discern, and hath withall an honest and open heart and loving truth. If Princes, or those that govern, endure no other discourse then their own flatteries, then I say such an one, whose virtue and courage forbiddeth him to be base and a dissembler, shall evermore hang under the wheel, which kind of deserving well and receiving ill, we always falsely charge Fortune withall. For whosoever shall tell any great man or Magistrate, that he is not just, the General of an Army, that he is not valiant, and great Ladies that they are not fair, shall never be made a Counselor, a Captain, or a Courtier. Neither is it sufficient to be wise with a wise Prince, valiant with a valiant, and just with him that is just, for such a one hath no estate in his prosperity; but he must also change with the successor, if he be of contrary qualities, sail with the tide of the time, and alter form and condition, as the Estate or the Estates Master changeth: Otherwise how were it possible, that the most base men, and separate from all imitable qualities, could so often attain to honour and riches, but by such an observant slavish course? These men having nothing else to value themselves by, but a counterfeit kind of wondering at other men, and by making them believe that all their vices are virtues, and all their dusty actions crystalline, have yet in all ages prospered equally with the most virtuous, if not exceeded them. For according to Menander, Omnis insipiens arrogantia et plausibus capitur, Every fool is won with his own pride and others flattering applause: so as whosoever will live altogether out of himself, and study other men's humours, and observe them, shall never be unfortunate; and on the contrary, that man which prizes truth and virtue (except the season wherein he lives be of all these, and of all sorts of goodness fruitfull) shall never prosper by the possession or profession thereof. It is also a token of a worldly wise man, not to wait or contend in vain against the nature of times wherein he lives: for such a one is often the author of his own misery, but best it were to follow the advice, which the Pope gave the Bishops of that age, out of Ovid, while the Arian Heresy raged:



WINDOWS!



Boy! Do we ever have windows in our home - really important for me. (This picture shows our bedroom, which is currently under rennovation, to be completed this week) I want a daily perspective on my surroundings and I like to watch what’s going on around me. I guess what I’m saying is WINDOWS are for WATCHING!




When thinking about my childhood I love to remember the wonderful times I used to have at a lake in Washington State called Wandermere.



My Dad used to be a lifeguard there when he was a young man, so he used to take us there to swim and boat and have lots of family fun. When we would go there everyone knew him, we couldn’t walk ten feet without running into someone who recognized him. Those days were wonderful.

Whales!



How I love them. I like to go to the seaside and watch them when they are in season here, when they have come down to feed and play, they are stately and beautiful. I really like the Prudential Insurance Company’s TV commercials that show the blue whale.

World Conference



of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Probably the most wonderful time of the year, and we are so blessed because it happens twice a year. When we listen to the prophets speak we are uplifted and blessed in ways unspeakable. I remember a story about a man who was not a member of the church who was very prosperous and lived in Utah. When all his neighbors crops failed around him but his didn’t he was asked by them what he attributed his good fortune to - he said he listened to the prophet twice a year at conference time and did what he said to do. Isn’t that an amazing story? A Prophet is without honor in his own country - the Savior said.


“When you Wish Upon a Star” is a famous song sung by a cartoon figure by Walt Disney.



Jiminy Cricket

I wish for the best in all situations for each and everyone of us.