We've had so much violence in the world this year. It numbs the soul. A while back a little book came in my mail called Bits and Pieces...the magazine that motivates the world. I haven't seen one of these little booklets for years, but it was fun to receive. It is always full of quotes and stories of inspiration. Funny, I needed one of its messages badly in a week of exhausting demands. I share it with you...
THE VALUE OF SIMPLE PLEASURES
Eleven-year-old Zlata Filipovic, like so many girls her age, kept a diary in 1991."We gave ourselves a treat today," she wrote one July day. "We picked the cherries off the tree in the yeard and ate them all up. We had watched it blossom and its small green fruits slowly turn red and now here we were eating them. Oh, you're a wonderful cherry tree!"
Zlata's words read like any young girls's whimsical musings. But this innocent summer activity held a much deeper meaning: Zlata wrote the diary entry in the midst of war in her hometown of Sarajevo. "I miss fruit a lot," she continued. "In these days of war in Sarajevo, there is no basic food or any of the other things a person needs, and there is no fruit. But now, I can say that I ate myself silly on cherries."
That simple pleasure brought tremendous joy to a girl who witnessed brutality daily. Simple pleasures can do that if we take the time to appreciate what the moment offers.
Adapted from Zlata's Diary
by Bits and Pieces
Zlata Filipovic
Viking Press
What simple pleasures can you take in today that will help your see the beauty and gift of another day no matter where you may be?
What blessing has come your way today?
Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
Home of Women in the Lead
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