1. ON LOVE 2
A Secret Promise Kept Brian Keefe 2
A Sandpiper to Bring You Joy Mary Sherman Hilbert 8
The Most Caring Child Ellen Kreidman 13
Information Please Paul Villiard 15
Two Nickels and Five Pennies The Best of Bits Pieces 20
The Ice Cream Girl Marion Schoeberlein 21
How Magic Helped a Blind Girl See Michael Jeffreys 24
From the Mouth of a Small Boy Elaine McDonald 27
The Horai Box Kathleen Podolsky 27
Manuel Garcia David Roth 36
A Taste of Freedom Barbara Rogoff 39
Compassion Is in the Eyes The Sower s Seeds 44
Warm in Your Heart Scott Gross 46
An Act of Kindness The Best of Bits Pieces 50
Two Families John Sherill 52
Guests in the Night Robert Gass 54
Appointment with Love Sumalith Ish-Kishor 62
Whoever Finds This, I Love You! Author Unknown 66
An Afternoon in the Park Julia A. Manhan 68
The Little Boy and the Old Man Shel Silverstein 70
What s Really Important Author Unknown 71
Not a One! Dale Calloway 72
Teddy Bear Dale Royal, Rommy Hill, Red Sovine and J. William Denny 74
2. ON PARENTING 78
Paco, Come Home Alan Cohen 78
Tommy s Essay Jane Lindstrom 79
Barney Lori Nettles 81
Almie Rose Michelle Lawrence 82
Why I Wear a Plastic Dinosaur Dan Schaeffer 84
The Coolest Dad in the Universe Angie K. Ward-Kucer 90
Workin Man Ed Peterman 94
It s How You Play the Game That Counts Danny Warrick 97
No Charge M. Adams 102
Recognize Your Winners Don Martin 104
Courage of the Heart Patty Hansen 106
Legacy of an Adopted Child Author Unknown 108
What It Means to Be Adopted George Dolan 109
Class Reunion Lynne C. Caul 110
The Gift Renee R. Vroman 112
3. ON TEACHING AND LEARNING 115
To Beth s First-Grade Teacher Dick Abrahamson 115
Mr. Washington Les Brown 119
Faith, Hope and Love Peter Spelke 123
The Shoes Paul E. Mawhinney 127
Bonehead Larry Terherst 132
Footprints on My Heart Laura D. Norton 136
4. ON DEATH AND DYING 142
The Golden Crane Patricia Lorenz 142
If I Had Only Known Jana Stanfield 145
A Trucker s Last Letter Rud Kendall 153
For the Love of a Child Thea Alexander 158
The Last Dance Rick Nelles 162
My Daddy Kelly J. Watkins 167
Where Do the Sparrows Go When They Die? Casey Kokoska 170
The Courage Not to Fight Denise Wicks-Harris 173
Please Dress Me in Red Cindy Dee Holms 180
Don t Worry, It ll Be Alright Janice Hunt 182
The Eternal Optimist Beth Dalton 186
To Remember Me Robert N. Test 188
Keep Your Fork Roger William Thomas 190
There Are No Wheelchairs in Heaven D. Trinidad Hunt 193
5. A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE 200
Christmas Author Unknown 200
The Cookie Thief Valerie Cox 203
The True Story of Arbutus and Sea Gull Louise Dickinson Rich 205
Lady, Are You Rich? Marion Doolan 209
The Flower in Her Hair Bettie B. Youngs 211
Avalanche Robert G. Allen 215
You Very Good; You Very Fast Kathi M. Curry 219
Make a Wish LeAnne Reaves 221
The Accident Robert J. McMullen Jr 224
The Edge Kathleen Louise Smiley 229
6. A MATTER OF ATTITUDE 235
Our Deepest Fear Marianne Williamson 235
Whiners Maya Angelou 236
Great Value in Disaster The Sower s Seeds 238
Good News The Best of Bits Pieces 240
Roles-and How We Play Them Marie Curling 242
When We re Alone, We Can Dance Beth Ashley 243
Johnny Barbara A. Glanz 245
I Can t Accept Not Trying Michael Jordan 248
7. OVERCOMING OBSTACLES 252
The Passionate Pursuit of Possibility James E. Conner 252
Player of the Game Suzanne Chazin 254
We Never Told Him He Couldn t DO It Kathy Lamancusa 264
A Lesson in Heart Stan Frager 267
Fourteen Steps Hal Manwaring 268
My Body Was Turning to Stone Sharon Monsky 274
The Beauty Remains; the Pain Passes The Best of Bits E Pieces 282
The Miracle Bridge A Fresh Packet of Sower s Seeds 283
True Height David Naster 285
Consider This Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen 290
Opportunity Omar Periu 295
Crusader Could Close Her Eyes to Trouble No More Toni Witt 300
Ask, Affirm, Take Action Claudette Hunter 303
A Life-Changing Experience Michael Jeffreys 307
The Impossible Just Jakes a Little Longer Art E. Berg 312
The Day I Met Daniel Richard Ryan 316
8. ECLECTIC WISDOM 323
God s Jobs Dan Sutton 323
The Wisdom of One Word Dr. John F. Demartini 325
The Secret of Life Author Unknown 328
The Secrets of Heaven and Hell Fr. John W.Groff Jr. 329
What Courage Looks Like Casey Hawley 331
Golden Rules for Living Author Unknown 335
Angel with a Red Hat Tami Fox 336
It s Never Too Late Marilyn Manning 337
The Station Robert J. Hastings 339
Who Is Jack Canfield? 341
Who Is Mark Victor Hansen? 343
What Are People Saying About 345