Shawn Bird

the web page & blog

birthday invocation February 22, 2012

Filed under: Rotary,Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 1:55 pm
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February 23rd is the birthday of Rotary. Paul Harris, was 37 when he gathered some professional connections and they formed the world’s first service club in Chicago in 1905.

Service is action in support of others.  A small action can make a difference.  It isn’t about glamour; it’s about need.  A toilet is a rather basic thing, but  the simple addition of  public toilets in down town Chicago in 1907 surely offered  the blissful relief of basic urgencies for many a person!

Let us remember that service is about meeting the  needs of others, and that when we serve those needs, we can provide blissful relief at the most basic level.  Let us be thankful we have the means and ability to change lives with our most simple service.

© Shawn Bird 2012.  Free use within Rotary.  Please credit Shawn’s authorship, and leave a message in the Comment area below explaining when and where you used her words.  Thanks!
 

new year invocation December 31, 2011

Filed under: Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 12:59 am
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A new year is a time for new beginnings, as well as a time to reflect on the past.  It is a chance for us to celebrate our successes, and plan to have a wonderful year.  As 2012 dawns, let us consider how we can use the next 365 days to make a difference on the planet.  Let us be thankful for what we have achieved, and mindful of our responsibility to continue the good works.  Our commitment to service can make the world a better place.

Free use within Rotary.  Please credit Shawn Bird, Rotary Club of Salmon Arm (Shuswap), and record in the comment space below where and when you used the invocation.
 

be October 24, 2011

Filed under: Poetry,Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 10:41 pm
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Be who you are

Be what you are

Be when you are

Be where you are

Be why you are

Be how you are

Yourself

a valuable, unique person

existing in the now

celebrating your place in the world

just because you are

you

 

use it September 20, 2011

Filed under: Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 11:48 am
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Nazarene preacher W. T. Purkiser said,

“Not what we say about our blessings, but how we use them, is the true measure of our thanksgiving.”

So let us be thankful for our meal, our lives, our friends and our many blessings, and then let us use each to fuel positive change around us.

.

(c) Shawn Bird 2011  Free use within Rotary.  Please credit Shawn when you share this in your club. Please also leave a comment to document your club  and when you intend to use it, for your members’ information.  With thanks

 

Peace Invocation 2 September 8, 2011

Filed under: Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 1:06 pm
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Director Godfrey Reggio said, “I think it’s naive to pray for world peace if we’re not going to change the form in which we live.” 

In homes and our Rotary clubs we need to start where we live to make a difference in the world.  Our words and our attitudes are the building blocks of change.  As the song says, “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.”

(c) Shawn Bird 2011  Free use within Rotary.  Please credit Shawn when you share this in your club. Please also leave a comment to document your club  and when you intend to use it, for your members’ information.  With thanks.

 

Norway Peace Invocation July 29, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Pondering,Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 1:01 pm
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In the peaceful country of Norway, known for its celebration of progress and innovative thinking, the unthinkable has happened. Promising futures are destroyed by narcissistic, self-deluding ideology

While there is war within a broken heart, peace can not reign within. Let us be mindful of our duty to promote peace within ourselves, for the individual must be at peace before a family can be at peace. A family must be at peace before a land can be at peace. Land must be at peace before a nation can be at peace. Nations must be at peace before the world can be at peace.

Let us take responsibility to mend wounded hearts and share peace with those around us.

Let us be thankful today for the health and safety of those we love, and thankful that the world grieves collectively this injustice. We are still a culture of peace, even amid destruction.

“Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”

.

Available for free use within Rotary; however, please indicate in the comment section below that you have used it at your club (date and name).
 

summer invocation June 10, 2011

Filed under: Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 11:39 am
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Of course, officially there are still 11 days until summer.  However, I hear that the Americans are already out of school, and with our temperatures in the high-20s it feels like summer at long last!  So to celebrate here is a summer invocation for myRotary friends!

We are thankful for the warmth that summer brings

For friends from afar gathered ’round our table.

For the warmth of the caressing summer air,

humming with chittering, twittering things

For time off work  to do what we are able,

to embrace a hurting world into our care

.

Available for free use within Rotary; however, please indicate in the comment section below that you have used it at your club (date and name).
 

Invocation poem: THANKS April 30, 2011

Filed under: Commentary,Poetry,Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 2:57 pm
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Today we are thankful for all we’ve received
However we live, we firmly believe
All is a blessing that we must pass on.
No matter our status or where we have gone.
Kindness and generosity are what we impart
Showing the world what’s in Rotary’s heart

© Shawn Bird 2011
Available for free use within Rotary; however, please indicate in the comment section below that you have used it at your club (date and name).
 

What I’ve learned this year… March 27, 2011

Filed under: Pondering,Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 12:49 am
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Topic #75: What’s the biggest lesson you learned so far this year?

When I got an email from our former exchange student, a girl who’d lived with us for a year, asking if she and her husband could evacuate from Tokyo to our house, I learned our world is very small.  I learned that the ties that wrap around the earth, from exchange students to host families to other students, are a web of interconnectivity.  The purpose of youth exchange is to forge connections around the world.  That purpose is unfolding all over the world as millions of North Americans who’ve hosted Japanese students worry about ‘their kids’ half a world away.

I’m glad we can do something concrete to help amid this tragedy.  It is awesome that through youth exchange, we really can help change the world.  Let us be thankful for our connections around the world and the opportunities they provide for us to improve our planet.

 

invocation after earthquake March 15, 2011

Filed under: Pondering,Rotary invocations — Shawn Bird @ 12:33 am
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The recent massive earthquake in Sendai Japan reminds us once again how fragile our society is.  Our strength does not lie in the cities we’ve built or our impressive transportation infrastructure.  One belch from a volcano or a shift the  Earth’s plates show us that everything we think is so impressive is quite tenuous.  Our strength lies in our bindings to one another, our willingness to serve, and our gratitude for the blessings of life itself.

(c) Shawn Bird 2011  Free use with Rotary.  Please credit Shawn when you share this in your club; as well, please leave a comment to let us know your club  and when you intend to use it.  With thanks.

 

 
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