I do not know the origin of these wonderful little ~pieces~ 
but they are just TOO wonderful not to be shared.  
If anyone does know the origin - please, PLEASE let me know?
~~~~~~~~~~~
Index
* Will It Be Okay? * Make the Most of Today * May You Always *
* The Window * Rainbow Bridge * Cyber-Friend *
When we walk to the edge  of all the light we have,
And take a step into the  darkness of the unknown,
We must believe that one  of two things will happen.
There will be something solid  for us to stand on
     or
God will teach us to fly.
ONLINE ~ FRIENDSHIP 
Online Friend I have never seen you before, 
But I know you are really there. 
I click you into reality, Like magic in the air. 
Your voice is like an angel, Though I really do not hear. 
Your hug as warm as any, Of the loved one I hold dear. 
You are always there for comfort, Or a word of cheer. 
Though you are very far away, I always have you near. 
You are a very special friend, Like none I have ever known. 
As long as you are in cyberspace, I will never be alone. 
 WILL IT BE OKAY?
  "Will it be okay?"                               ___
  "Yes it will."                                __/ / \
                                               |    |/\
  "But what if a big dog comes?"               |_--\   \              /--
                                                    \   \-___________/ /
  "You will know if it is friendly or not.           \                :
                          If it's friendly, you run   |                :
              ____       your fingers through its'   |       ___ \    )
             /    \__    thick brown and white fur.   \| __/      \   )
  |\         /    @   \   If it is not friendly, you   | /         \  \
  \ \_______|    \  .:|>  stand perfectly still and    |l           ( l
   \      ##|    | \__/   not afraid, and it stops     |l            ll
    |    ####\__/   \    barking, and comes to you,    |l            |l
    /  /  ##       \|   and sits quietly beside you."  / l           / l
   /  /__________\  \                                 --/           --
   L_JJ           \__JJ
                   "But what if there is thunder and lightning?"
              ------         ______ _____
             /      \ ___\     ___/    ___
          --/-  ___  /    \/  /  /    /   \
         /     /           \__     //_     \
        /                     \   / ___     |  "You sit at your window and
        |           ___       \/+--/        /   watch the rain beating
         \__           \       \           /    down over the houses and
            \__                 |          /    fields in the dark night.
           \     /____      /  /       |   /
            _____/         ___       \/  /\     You pay attention because
                 \__      /      /    |    |    the loud thunder is calling
                    \____/   \       /   //      you, saying:
           // / / // / /\    /-_-/\//-__-
            /  /  // /   \__// / / /  //        'Look, look!
           //   / /   //   /  // / // /         'The world is receiving
            /// // / /   /  //  / //             a deep long drink!'"
         //   //       //  /  // / /
           / / / / /     /  /    /                   (0)(0)
        ///  / / /  //  // /  // //                  /     \
           ///    /    /    / / / /                 /       |
      ///  /    // / /  // / / /  /                /   \  * |
         // ///   /      /// / /     ________     /    /\__/
                                    /        \   /    /
                            / \    /  ____    \_/    /
  "But what if snakes      //\ \  /  /    \         /
   come in the night?"     V  \ \/  /      \       /
                               \___/        \_____/
                                                                      |\
  "You keep a flute by your bed        -------|\----------------------|-\\-----
   and play a song, and the snakes     -------|/---------------------0---\|----
   hear, and are quiet, and happy,     ------/|---------------------------|----
   and love you."                      -----|-/-\------------------------0-----
                                        -----\|/-------------------------------
  "But what if I hate everyone?"
                                      "You run away.  You pack raisins, walnuts,
         ____  __.---""---.__  ____     oranges, crackers, and a flashlight in a
        /####\/              \/####\      red bandanna.  You knot its corners
       (/~~~~~)              (~~~~~\)     together, and tie it to a stick, and
        \__oo/                \oo__/      carry it over your shoulder.  You
      __/                          \__      walk and walk 'till you come to the
   .-"    .                      .    "-.     park.  You stay all afternoon,
   |  |   \.._                _../   |  |     sitting by yourself under a tree.
    \  \    \."-.__________.-"./    /  /    When you come home again, you don't
      \  \    "--.________.--"    /  /     hate everyone."
    ___\  \_                    _/  /___
  ./    )))))                  (((((    \.    "But what if someone hates me?"
  \                                      /
   \           \_          _/           /   "You feel lonely and sad.  You walk
     \    \____/""-.____.-""\____/    /      and walk until you come to a small
       \    \                  /    /     pond, and you see something move. You
        \.  .|                |.  ./     put out your hand and a tiny frog, no
      ." / |  \              /  | \  ".     bigger than your thumbnail, hops
   ."  /   |   \            /   |   \   ".   into it. very carefully, you lift
  /.-./.--.|.--.\          /.--.|.--.\.-.|   your hand up to your ear and the
                                             frog whispers:
                 'Other people love you.
                 'Maybe that person will love you again, maybe not.
                 'In any case, it is all right.'"
            ________       "But what if I forget my lines in the
          -------+  \       school play?"
          \\\\\\\\\  \
          //_//__\\\  |    "You make up new ones then and there.
          /\0' `0~ |\ /     And later, everyone will say:
          (|^<, ^  .)|
           ( ._.  ||/     'What a sensible child, she forgot her lines,
            \ .  / |       so she made up new ones!'"
             +--/  |
  "But what if no one likes the way I dance?"
  "You go dancing in the woods, alone in the crackling leaves.  One day, you
   meet someone else dancing in the woods.  You dance together, you throw
   leaves at each other, you lie down in the leaves.  Then you go home
   and draw pictures, and drink cocoa with whipped cream."
  "But what if a bee stings me?"
                                                           .-~~~-.
  "You run to the kitchen and rub a                      /        }
   piece of raw onion back and forth                    /      .-~
   on the sting.  You say:                    \        |        }
                                            ___\.~~-.-~|     . -~_
     'A piece of onion? that is                { O |  ` .-~.    ;  ~-.__
      silly! that won't work!'                  ~--~/-|_\|   :   : .-~
                                                  /   |  \~ - - ~
  "But it does."                                /     |    \
  "But what if you die?"
                 __        __         "My love doesn't die, it stays with
               /~ .~\    /~  ~\        you, as warm as two pairs of mittens
              '      `\/'      *       on top of each other.  When you
             (                .*)      remember you and me, you say:
              \            . *./
               `\ .      . .*/'        'What can I do with so much love?'
                 `\ * .*. */'
       _    _      `\ * */'           "So you love thunder and lightning,
      ( `\/'*)       `\/'            dogs and snakes.  You dance with other
       \   */'                      people in the leaves, and are in plays with
        `\/'                        them. You love them, and they love you, and
                                   you eat raisins together."
  "So will it be okay?"
  "Yes, my love, it will."

I'm sure that you, like me, can think of many 
others who might benefit from this little exhortation. 
So I thought I would pass it along here

     Imagine there is a bank which credits your account each morning with $86,400,
carries over no balance from day to day,
allows you to keep no cash balance,
and every evening
cancels whatever part of the amount
you had failed to use during the day.
What would you do?
Draw out every cent, of course!
Well, everyone has such a bank.
Its' name is TIME.
Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.
Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this
you have failed to invest to good purpose.
It carries over no balance.
It allows no overdraft.
Each day it opens a new account for you.
Each night it burns the records of the day.
If you fail to use the day's deposits, 
the loss is yours.
There is no going back.
There is no drawing against the "tomorrow".
You must live in the present on today's deposits.
Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health,
happiness and success! The clock is running.
Make the most of today.

 

MAY YOU ALWAYS
~
May you find serenity and tranquility 
In a world you may not always understand.

~

May the pain you have known
and the conflict you have experienced
give you the strength to walk through life
facing each new situation with courage and optimism.

~

May you always know that there are those whose love
and understanding will always be there, even when you feel most alone.

~

May you discover enough goodness in others to believe in a world of peace.

~

May a kind word, a reassuring touch, and a warm smile
be yours every day of your life,
and may you give these gifts as well as receive them.

~

May you remember the sunshine when the storm seems unending.

~

May you teach love to those who hate,
and let that love embrace you as you go into the world.

~

May the teachings of those you admire become part of you,
so that you may call upon them.

~

May you remember those whose lives you have touched
and who have touched yours are always a part of you,
even if the encounters were less than you would have wished.
It is the content of the encounter that is more important than its form.

~

May you not become too concerned with material matters,
but instead place immeasurable value on the goodness in your heart.

~

May you find time in each day to see beauty and love in the world around you.

~

May you realize that each person has limitless abilities,
but each of us is different in our own way.

~

May you realize that what you may feel you lack in one regard
may be more then compensated for in another.
What you feel you lack in the present
may become one of your strengths in the future.

~

May you see your future as one filled with promise and possibility.

~

May you learn to view everything as a worthwhile experience.

~

May you find enough inner strength
to determine your own worth by yourself,
and not be dependent on another's judgement of your accomplishments.

~

May you always feel loved.

~

"The Window"

Two men, both seriously ill,
occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour a day, to drain the fluids from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.
Every afternoon when the man in the bed next to the window could sit up,
he would pass the time and entertain both of them by describing to his
roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed would live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the outside world. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake
with ducks and swans. Sometimes children sailed their model boats. The park had flowers of every color of the rainbow, and grand old trees, and squirrels played their games. There was a fine view of the city skyline in the distance. As the man by the window described all this, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afternoon the man by the window described a wedding party taking pictures in the lovely park below. Later a parade passed by. Evidently a circus was coming to town, and he told about the elephants holding each other's tails as they made their way down the street. Although the other man could not hear the band, he could see it in his mind's eye.

Unexpectedly, an alien thought entered his head.
Why should this other guy have all the pleasure of seeing everything while I never get to see anything? It didn't seem fair. As the thought fermented, the man felt ashamed at first. But as time passed, his envy eroded into resentment and soon turned him sour. He began to brood and found himself unable to sleep. He should be by that window and that thought now controlled his life.

Late one night, as he lay staring at the ceiling,  the man by the window began to cough. He was choking on the fluid in his lungs. The other man watched in the dimly lit room as the struggling man by the window groped for the button to call for help. Listening from across the room, he never moved, never pushed his own button, which would have brought the nurse running. In less than five minutes, the coughing and choking stopped, along with the sound of breathing. Now, there was only silence--deathly silence.

The following morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths. She found the lifeless body of the man by the window, and he was taken away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up one elbow to take his first look. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it all himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank, bare wall.

The pursuit of happiness is a matter of choice...   it is a positive attitude we consciously choose to express. It is not a gift that gets delivered to our doorstep each morning, nor does it come to us through the window. Our circumstances are just a small part of what makes us joyful. If we wait for everything to be just right, we will never find lasting joy. The pursuit of happiness is an inward journey. Our minds are like programs, awaiting the code that will determine behaviors; like bank vaults awaiting our deposits. If we regularly deposit positive, encouraging, and uplifting thoughts, if we continue to bite our lips just before we begin to grumble and complain, if we shoot down that seemingly harmless negative  thought as it germinates, we will find that there is much to rejoice about.
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