Showing posts with label determination. Show all posts
Showing posts with label determination. Show all posts

07 August 2014

Life Is Too Damn Short….



While designing the above image, I remembered a strand of Longfellow's "A Psalm Of Life". If you, too, are muddling your way through loss, grief, broken-heartedness, or end-of-life issues, it will be well worth your time to read the brief poem here.  I like HWL's turns of verse from dark-to-light and confusion-to-hope, every word a reflection of his own struggle to make sense of the unexpected death of his young wife and child.

Yesterday marks four calendar weeks since my beloved friend and confidante Beverly died; Saturday the ninth makes it a calendar month.  As the song says,



Life is short, my friends, very, very short.  One minute you're running downfield, making your play, and bang, out of nowhere, there's the Referee, waving a red card at you.

Bottom line:  You matter, your life matters.  Whoever you are, big or small, famous or unknown, YOU are beloved of God and no matter how successful or wasted your life has been, He can use you to encourage, inspire, and revive others.

Life IS short and your Red Card is coming.  Eat dessert first, laugh more, hug more, dare to love when you might lose the one you love.  Stop giving a damn about naysayers, whiney-babies, and other time-wasting folk who drain and distract your energy with "important" or "urgent" bullshit.  Do this instead:


Live your life high, wide, and handsome.


Yee-haw!

Mi querida amiga Beverly, te echo de menos profundamente.  Mi vida tiene un agujero en él y sólo él quien es Todo y Santo puede llenarlo.

27 December 2013

Joy to the World!

Photo & design by Gitanajava Productions LLC, ©2014

To all our family, friends, and colleagues,

We wish you a joyous 2014!

At first glance, "Joy to the World" may seem futile when even the high holidays aren't exempt from grim and dreary headlines.  But joy is not jolliness, or happiness -- it is not a glib and ephemeral emotion.  It is not dependent on circumstances being perfect or on your life being well-ordered and secure.

Joy is deep, unreasonable stuff.  It is illogical.  Joy is born from an iron-willed determination.

Like the fountain in the photo above, we pray your 2014 will overflow with blessings, benedictions, serenity in the midst of chaos, and the moxie to choose joy.

This past year has been, hmmm...interesting.  You've heard the saying, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans"?  We lived it, learned it (again!), and hit plenty of speed bumps along the way.  Our deepest thanks, regards, love, and respect for all of you, our cherished friends and colleagues, who kept the faith with us through the ups/downs, highs and lows.  Amigas y amigos, you rock! :-*







28 May 2013

Lost In The Dark...

A free screensaver, "Lost In The Dark", compliments
of Gitanajava Productions LLC.

For personal use only.  To use commercially,
contact us for written permission.

To download the full-sized version (1815 x 1443), go here.


Con profundo cariño y admiración de Beverly, mi amiga querida.


21 November 2012

A Brief Tribute to Ambrose Thomas...


Last night, the courageous heart of our good friend, client, and business partner, Ambrose Thomas, owner of Gentle Bloke & co-founder of Carli Trading Group, gave out.

Only 26, Ambrose had survived Sierra Leone's civil war and much more.  He overcame Hodgkins Lymphoma, then created a line of skin products to help other cancer patients.  He and two business partners founded Carli Trading Group to shape a brighter future for his former homeland, Sierra Leone.

By some yardsticks, Ambrose had a short life, but he lived it with intensity, generosity and productivity.  A portion of Gentle Bloke's proceeds were donated to Operation Homefront, an organisation which had made it possible for his brother Joseph, serving overseas in the U.S. military, to come back to the states for a bone marrow transfusion critical to Ambrose's recovery.  A graduate of Texas A & M's Masters in Public Health program, Ambrose had been invited to the White House, and had recently learned he was accepted to Harvard to do his Ph.D. in Public Health.

Ambrose's brilliance and drive could occasionally swamp your boat.  His joie d'vivre, his wide-open smile, and his buoyant can-do attitude persuaded both competitors and colleagues. His mountain-top leaps from one idea to another meant you dare not doze off or let your mind wander.  But, if you challenged him, he listened.  Ambrose was the embodiment of Gitanajava Productions' company catchphrase, Get Javanated! -- he lived boldly and joyfully.  The occasional frustration or disappointment, in his hands, was transformed into finding a jet-fueled solution.

We are better for having known you, Ambrose. Your dazzling energy, your smile, your intensity, and your courage will live on in our hearts and minds.  We will work to fulfill your vision.



31 March 2012

Lo, the Winter Is Past...

Free Screensavers!

Photo & Design by Gitanajava Productions, copyright 2012.
Free for personal use ONLY. Original at http://tiny.cc/JASMINE.

Photo & Design by Gitanajava Productions, LLC, copyright 2012.
Free for personal use ONLY. Original at http://tiny.cc/GATE.

Our lives have seasons, passages of change we endure or enjoy.  One season, we dance gracefully through; the next season, we crawl or braille our way slowly, excruciatingly.  I've been in a long winter, punctuated now and then with hints of spring.

Just a quick word of encouragement to you, my reading friend, and for myself, too: