You’re surviving it.

 

Sometimes survival requires a different set of rules.

When you’re walking through a hard season, you don’t have the same energy, capacity, or emotional bandwidth you once had.

I get it. Every ounce of strength is already being used just to keep moving forward.

That’s why protecting your peace isn’t selfish.

You cannot absorb everyone else’s negativity, expectations, disappointments, and emotional chaos while you’re carrying your own heavy load.

You can’t.

I want you to hear this clearly. In this season, your job isn’t to make everyone comfortable.

Your job is to make it through.

And that’s something.

That’s not small.

That’s not nothing.

If that means saying no more often, stepping back, or choosing rest over responsibility, don’t let anyone tell you that makes you weak.

Or selfish.

You’re not failing this season.

You’re surviving it.

And sometimes that takes everything you have.

From Carol’s Heart

Source: Carol Ensminger on Facebook

Leo Tolstoy quoted

 

Tolstoy expressed deep, specific ideas about love, peace, and joy in his life and writing:

On True Affection: "When you love someone, you love the person as they are, and not as you'd like them to be."
On Selfless Peace: "If you love me as you say you do... make it so that I am at peace." 
On the Reality of Life: "Seize the moments of happiness, love and be loved! That is the only reality in the world, all else is folly."
On Helping Others: "There is only one happiness in this life, to love and be loved." 
On Family: "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."


On Personal Change: "Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."


On Time:
"The two most powerful warriors are patience and time."


War and Peace: "We can know only that we know nothing. And that is the highest degree of human wisdom."
On Love: I love her not with my mind or my imagination, but with my whole being. Loving her I feel myself to be an integral part of all God's joyous world.
On Love: I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love.

Do You Hear Me Lord ~ Arthur Hayes

 

VERSE 1 I watch the red lamp burn at night Still hoping for a holy sight This quiet chapel feels alive But I am struggling to survive This mercy I′m not ready for But still, I kneel upon this floor Your spirit lingers in the air Like incense rising in a prayer CHORUS Do You hear me, Lord, when the silence starts to burn? Can I feel You near when my thoughts begin to turn? I've been waiting, barely breathing, in the grace You used to fill If You know me like I know You, then I bow beneath Your will VERSE 2 The holy water feels like dew The pews remember passing through I walk the aisles we once knew well But stories only time can tell A part of me that I won′t let go Is holding to the seeds You sow Your spirit lingers in the air Like incense rising in a prayer CHORUS Do You hear me, Lord, when the silence starts to burn? Can I feel You near when my thoughts begin to turn? I've been waiting, barely breathing, in the grace You used to fill If You know me like I know You, then I bow beneath Your will VERSE 3 Maybe faith just learns to wait Outside the narrow Heaven's gate If You hold me through the night Then I will walk by faith, not sight CHORUS Do You hear me, Lord, when the silence starts to burn? Can I feel You near when my thoughts begin to turn? I′ve been waiting, barely breathing, in the grace You used to fill If You know me like I know You, then my heart is beating still

Still I Rise

Still I Rise

By Maya Angelou 

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Fierce Poetry

 

I was everyone’s safe place- until I realized I had quietly become my own...

Source: Fierce Poetry on Facebook

The hardest part...

 

The hardest part is not the fall

But standing up once more

When knees are scraped and skies are grey

And dreams lie on the floor

The hardest part is not the end

But taking that first stride

When every path is wrapped in fog

And doubt walks by your side

The hardest part is letting go

Of things you thought were true:

Of people, places, plans that are

No longer part of you

The hardest part is holding on

When silence fills the air

And all you have is whispered hope

That someone, somewhere, cares

The hardest part is not the storm

But all it leaves behind

The quiet, raw, and empty space

We’re all too quick to find

So when you hit the hardest part

You’ll know because you’ll feel it:

A pain that aches so much that

You’re not sure you’ll ever heal it

But still you’ll breathe and take the step

With a heart that’s sore with scars

For every hardest part you face

Reveals how strong you are

*****

Becky Hemsley 2025

Artwork by Serghei Ghetiu

This poem is from her latest collection, If the Stars Could Speak

Source: Becky Hemsley Poetry on Facebook

Dolly Rebecca Parton (January 19, 1946 – August 25, 2026)

  

I went through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru early this afternoon, and the attendant was talking for quite a while with the car in front of me.

I started to wonder if they knew each other.

And then, when it was my turn, she greeted me and immediately said, “Did you hear about Dolly?”

I knew Dolly mattered. But there, in the most ordinary of places, I saw just how far her reach went.

Here was this young woman, probably in her early twenties, talking about Dolly with the car in front of me, then with me, and I knew there would probably be another conversation with the car behind me, and the next one, and the next one.

We all knew Dolly.

She was a part of our lives.

She inspired us to read, to give back, to care, to love, to show up, to create, to listen, and to truly, truly live life.

I looked at the attendant and said, “I did. It’s sad. She will be greatly missed.”

And as I drove away, I kept thinking about Dolly's legacy.

About a young woman in a Chick-fil-A drive-thru talking with stranger after stranger about her.

About my Facebook feed full of tributes and kindness and words to a person most of us never even met.

My goodness, Dolly.

Look at the ripple you made.

~Rachel

FindingJoy

Photo: Library of Congress / Public Domain.

Source: Finding Joy on Facebook

Dolly Rebecca Parton (January 19, 1946 – August 25, 2026)

NASHVILLE, TN (August 25, 2026) – Global icon and humanitarian, Dolly Parton, known to the world as a beloved singer, songwriter, philanthropist, actress, playwright, and author died peacefully today in Nashville, Tennessee. She was 80 years old.

Dolly is preceded in death by her beloved husband of 59 years Carl Thomas Dean (1942 – 2025), her mother Avie Lee Caroline Owens (1923 – 2003), and father, Robert Lee Parton, Sr. (1921 – 2000).

A rhinestone life that shone bright enough for the world to see, Dolly will forever stand as an inspiration not only through her timeless music and prolific songwriting, but also her wit, warmth, and kindness that made us all feel like family. Dolly Parton’s legacy is one of love, compassion, and resilience. With a seven-decade career, she inspired multiple generations of artists and fans with her music and an unwavering commitment to making the world a better place. Her songs will continue to resonate with people of all ages, and her philanthropic work will have a lasting impact.

Source: Jimmy Carter on Facebook