Coincidences

Concidence:
The occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection.

I have read that there is no such thing as a coincidence, that there is nothing that happens by accident. Having experienced a few of my own, I have wondered about that.

I know that most everyone has experienced thinking of a particular person, and suddenly the phone rings, and it's the one you were thinking about -- or you pick up the phone to call someone, and that person is calling you at the same time. That happened just today. I called my husband on his cell phone, but as soon as I entered his number, without hearing his phone ring, I heard the sound of the cd playing in his car -- he had just called me, and we connected at the same time. The thing with the telephones is probably very common, and maybe not too much of a mystery -- but there are some coincidences that don't occur that often, and can be quite interesting.

Many years ago, we were living in California and made a trip back home to Alabama to pick up my mother who was planning to live with us for awhile. We were driving across the desert, and had some minor problem with the car. We were pulled over onto the side of the highway to check it out, and we all got out of the car, because it was so hot. As we stood there, a trucker pulled over and asked if we needed help. We stood there talking for awhile, and he told us that he was from Florida. He looked at my mother and said, "You know, you look just like my best friend. You look enough alike to be brother and sister. My mother told him that she didn't live in Florida, and had never even been there. He laughed, and said, "He's not from there, either, I think Amos is from somewhere in Georgia." My mother said, "That's my brother's name!" He asked her his last name, and when she told him, he could hardly believe it. They were talking about the same man! What are the odds that my uncle's sister, and his best friend would meet for the first time going across the desert, both headed to California?

Here's another weird one: A couple of months after I was first married, my husband and I had gone into a drugstore to buy greeting cards, and to get a sandwich at the lunch counter. After eating, we looked at cards, and on the way up to the cash register, I spotted a table with puzzles and games, and one game, in particular, caught my eye. I had an overwhelming urge to look at that game! I started toward it, and my husband said, "Come on, let's go." I said, "No, I want to see this game," and reached out and pulled him quickly toward me. Just as I did that, a huge fan dropped from the ceiling, right onto the spot where he had been standing! The name of the game? A HOLE IN THE HEAD!

Now, how about the coincidences in your life?

Be Careful What You Say

Someone sent this to me today, and I think it is worth sharing. I know that it has been around a long time, and has made the rounds, but the message is a good one, and worth reading again.

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily, gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say "I'm sorry," the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one."

Once, after someone hurt me very much with words, I wrote this little verse:

A word is such a powerful thing,

Can lift a heart, or break it.

Be very careful what you say,

Once said, you can't retake it.

Full Moon

Here are some typical Native American names for the full moon throughout the calendar year:
January: Old Moon, Wolf Moon
February: Snow Moon
March: Sap Moon, Worm Moon, Crow Moon, Crust Moon
April: Grass Moon, Pink Moon, Moon of the Red Grass Appearing
May: Milk Moon, Flower Moon
June: Rose Moon, Strawberry Moon
July: Thunder Moon, Buck Moon
August: Green Corn Moon, Corn Moon, Sturgeon Moon
September: Fruit Moon, Harvest Moon
October: Harvest Moon, Hunter’s Moon
November: Frost Moon, Beaver Moon
December: Long Night Moon, Cold Moon

The growing and dying of the moon reminds us of our ignorance, which comes and goes. But when the moon is full it is as if the Great Spirit were upon the whole world.
- Black Elk, Oglala Sioux

Image: Native American Vision of the Full Moon.