In good times and In bad...........

Where is your faith? I don't mean "religion", I mean Faith - faith in ourselves, faith in our neighbors, faith in our co-workers.

Of course we know the economy is in a recession. It's probably a depression, but that will take another 10 months to figure out.

We don't need to go shopping. We need to be giving. Giving of ourselves, our canned goods, our clothing we've long since forgotten we owned. Knowing that we're making a difference. But how do we do this?

1. Shut off the Television. Remove yourself from the local news - it's just too depressing right now, and, more importantly, it's not telling the full story.

2. Give thanks. Look around you, and be thankful for your life....if you can't feel the thanks in your heart, look at the birds, your cat or dog, or the sky. Watch the sunset and the sunrise. Look up at the stars. Know we're going through this for a reason.

3. Listen to the reason. WHAT do we have to learn from the state of the economy? If America were a person, what would she be saying to us? Are we listening?

4. Find your strengths. Our ancestors (my grandparents) looked to the Great Depression as their call to courage. To band together, find their creativity (such as making clothes, stretching a bag of flour to feed the family for a months, etc), and succeed.

They had faith. This is not the end. Not yet. And we need to live every moment with love in our hearts and the knowledge that we will be ok.