Family Importance

Dear Loved Ones,

I don't feel so alone anymore..... It is so good to be in touch with you all. (Of course, I wouldn't want to live with my mother in law either :-), but I really do appreciate being able to be in contact with my family. I, like Little Joe, really do love all of you and miss you. This poem reflects maturity and advancement in the human species, and reflects what is really important.

I am so very pleased that Little Joe sees the VALUE in this poem. If we all lived by it, there truly would be peace in the world. This, in essence, is the most important message that Christ taught and God wants us to be. It is not the building of golden edifices that Christ and God cherish, but the teaching of nurturing and caring of the human spirit and body. If any individual or organization does not put this first, it is not of God.

Love, Tommy Wayne Rentz, Eldest Grandson of Junius & Florence Covington

Desiderata I

Go placidly amid the noise & the haste, & remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible surrender be on good terms will all people.

Speak your truth quietly & clearly; and listen to others, even the dull & the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud & aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the Spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter; for always there will be greater & lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let not this blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity & disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labours & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace in your soul. With all its shame, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

Be cheerful, strive to be happy...

Found in Old St. Paul's Church, Baltimore: 1692 AD.

Desiderata II

In whatever religion you have been taught, however you have been brought up, and however you have understood your teachers... on these levels you will understand and grasp this message. It is not enough that this message be believed. It is a message to be lived.

The essence at Universal Religion is Peace and Truth, with Love and Kindness to all the creatures of the earth. Now is the time to express this essence in your own life.

A beginning must be made, and the place to begin is with and in yourself. You would reform the world? Begin with yourself, Brother! The message of the unreformed reformer seldom inspires reformation.

The heart at all Religion is love. And righteousness, which is love in action, is the fulfilment of Religion. Love not only family and friends! --- for love limited is love denied. Seek peace within yourself and see, too, within yourself the Divine Breath of Life.

Persist in these things! Do not let up for a single moment! Through your faith and through your deeds you shape your life and help shape the lives of others, as well. What a responsibility!

The Spirit finds in you its agent and also its partner, and to the degree that you are aware of this and act on it, your life in enriched. A revelation will occur to you ... a revelation higher than your most exalted dreams.

The New Age is coming, and in it there will be a realization of the Oneness of all. Differences between the various Religions will disappear. The good which is in each at them, will be fused and will become the common goal at all mankind.

Know that you have the power to choose! Choose love, not hate; choose gentleness, not violence; choose holiness, not evil! Dare to believe that the Reign at Love and Peace is coming soon! Ready yourself for it! Ready yourself for -it with deeds at righteousness!

Righteousness is the door-opener, and beyond the door is love. May power divine enter every aspect of your life endowing it with the rewards of material accomplishments, the treasures of purposeful existence, and the eternal light at spiritual achievement!