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“And after winter folweth grene May.” – Geoffrey Chaucer
By Bob Docter –
The flight school plane engine sputtered and then began to lose altitude. The instructor quickly said: “I’ve got it” and began flying the aircraft. “Take care and watch,” she said to the student. Then, using the radio she said: “May-Day, May-Day! Cesna 2490 at 200-feet northeast of runway two. We have some motor trouble, and I need permission to use that runway even if I have to land to the south, opposite the traffic. Please hold traffic.” The voice crackled in the earphones: “I’ve got you, Cesna. Runway two is clear. All traffic alerted. You’re cleared to land, southbound, runway two opposite direction.”
May, the fifth month of the year, is the harbinger of spring.
May counts 31 days, several of them marked with various celebratory activities.
May often makes one analyze these holidays and remember their meaning:
May 29 – Memorial Day
May 1 – Celebration around the Maypole
May 4 – National Day of Prayer
May 5 – Cinco de Mayo
May 14 – Mother’s Day
May 20 – Armed Forces Day
Do you have many negative Maydays in your life? Maybe, your job holds nothing but trouble and the supervisor seems out to get you. Maybe you don’t have a job. Maybe your spouse seems to be non-supportive when you share your misery with him or her. Maybe you’ve lost track of yourself, having forgotten who you are, what you were, how to “land the plane.” Maybe that daily drink with the fellows has changed into a horrific necessity. Your awareness of this won’t help you unless you have the courage to change what goes on in your head. Your thought patterns include too many saying, “I gotta have it,” and too few saying, “I’m a positive achiever.”
“May: The lilacs are in bloom. Forget yourself.” – Marty Rubin
You’ve been given life and the power to determine the way you’re going to live it, so what have you decided? You are responsible for that decision. Have you accepted that responsibility? Have you achieved a connection with God? He’ll help you discover yourself if you ask him.
Maydays don’t have to be negative. Pleasant weather shines around us. Delightful days lift us up. You must decide how you spend them. If you’ve become sensible, you’ve come almost half-way. The next essential step for you is the building of character. This means that you are willing to live by strong moral and ethical values. You know right from wrong, good from bad. You possess the capability to respond effectively to individuals with diminished character and poor values. This will help you achieve the development of healthy relationships if the companionship you choose has the same desire to build a clean, successful life.
“At last came the golden month of the wild folk—
honey-sweet May, when the birds come back
and the flowers come out, and the air is full of
the sunrise scents and songs of the dawning year.” – Samuel Scoville Jr., Wild Folk
I feel the beauty of May. Do you?
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