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Friday's Journal
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The link to this page is:
http://www.thepastwhispers.com/Tea_Boxes.html
Reading Tea Boxes
I've heard of people who read tea leaves, but I'm happier reading tea boxes.  It's not
as dull as it sounds, since my favorite brand of tea is Celestial Seasonings and most
of their boxes contain little quotes of wisdom and inspiration.  I liked so many
of these quotes that, years ago, I started cutting them out and collecting them.

I thought I was the only person who would save quotes from a tea box until I ran
across a blog recently with an entry that mentioned clipping Celestial Seasonings
quotes - and there were even some "me, too" comments from others below the
post.  It's good to know that I'm not the only one with a file full of tea box wisdom!

The quotes on this page are from my little collection.  My favorite is the story
of the salt shaker.  So often, we hurry through life and don't notice the small,
joyful things, like sunlight sparkling on a salt shaker - or quotes on a tea box.
-- Nancy
The photos on this page were taken in North
Carolina, most of them on the Outer Banks.
One morning I was sitting at my kitchen table.  It was one of those windy days when
the sun keeps coming out and going in.  All of a sudden, a sunbeam crossed the table
and lit up my crystal salt shaker.  There were all kinds of colors and sparkles.  It was one
of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen!  But you know, that very same salt shaker had
been on that table for over fifty years.  Surely there must have been other mornings
when the sun crossed the table like that, but I was just too busy getting things done
to notice.  I couldn't help wondering what else I might have missed.
-- Martha McCallum, age 86
Would you like to begin the adventure now...or shall we have
a cup of tea first?  
-- J. M. Barrie, "Peter Pan"
But what is strength without a double share of wisdom?  -- John Milton
Speak to me of serenity, of treasures yet to be found, of peace that flows like a river.
 Tell me of tranquil places that no hand has marred, no storm has scarred.  Give me
visions of standing in sunlight or the feeling of spring mist against my cheek.  Show
me paths that wind through wild lilies and beds of buttercups.  Sing me songs like
the mingled voices of wrens and meadowlarks, the lowing of gentle cows, the soft
mother-call of a mare to her colt.  Find me a place in the sunlight to sit and think
and listen to the sweet inner voice that says so quietly, 'Peace, be still.'  
-- Joyce Sequichie Hifler, "A Cherokee Feast of Days"
He who knows patience knows peace.  -- Chinese Proverb
Re-examine all you have been told, and then dismiss what insults your soul.
-- Walt Whitman
Think not on yesterday, nor trouble borrow
On what may be in store for you tomorrow;
But let today be your incessant care -
The past is past, tomorrow's in the air.
Who gives today the best that in him lies
Will find the road that leads to clearer skies.
-- John Hall
The difficult is done at once, the impossible takes a little longer.  -- Arabian Proverb
My crown is called content:  A crown that seldom kings enjoy.
-- William Shakespeare
Your diamonds are not in far distant mountains or in yonder seas; they are
in your own backyard, if you will dig for them.  
-- Russell H. Conwell
Take the gentle path.  -- George Herbert
Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.  -- Robert Schuller
It's not what they take away from you that counts, it's what
you do with what you have left.  
-- Hubert Humphrey