Last week I was cleaning out a drawer and came across a bunch of quotes in an envelope. As I reread them, I received such a blessing that I wanted to share them with you.

• Be grateful for what you have, not regretful what you don't have.

• It is not what you have in your pocket that makes you thankful, but what you have in your heart.

• Suffering never stops at suffering. It comes out as wisdom, tenderness, refinement and sympathy.

• There is always something to be thankful for. If you cannot pay your bills, you can be thankful you are not one of the creditors.

• If you have a good excuse, don't use it.

• A smile can add a great deal to one's face value.

• It takes both rain and sunshine to make a rainbow.

• Happiness comes when we stop wailing about the troubles we have, and offer thanks for all the troubles we do not have.

• There is a sense in which no gift is ours till we have thanked the giver.

• Debts of gratitude are the most difficult to collect.

• There is one thing for which you should be thankful ... only you and God have all the facts about yourself.

• The worst possible moment for an atheist is when he/she feels grateful and has no one to thank.

• A person does not realize how much he/she has to be thankful for until he/she has to pay taxes on it.

• Sorrows are often like clouds, which though black when they are passing over us, when they are past become as if they were the garments of God thrown off in purple and gold along the sky.

• Laughter is the shock absorber that softens and minimizes the bumps of life.

• You might as well laugh at yourself once in a while, everybody else does.

• The hen is the only one who can lie around and still be a producer.

• Man did not come from the monkey, but sometimes acts like a donkey and seems to be going to the dogs.

• If you are a child of God, and you marry a child of the devil, you will be sure to have trouble with your father-in-law.

• It is strange that in our praying we seldom ask for a change of character, but always a change in circumstances.

• We ought to be thankful that we are living in a country where folks can say what they think without thinking.

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Dr. Charles M. Wood, II is an accomplished instructor of psychology and religion at Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College. He is a Christian counselor in Logan — serving, ministering, and donating his time to people from all denominations.

If you would like to contact Dr. Wood, please write: The Logan Banner, c/o The Good Life With Dr. Wood, P.O. Box 720, Logan, WV 25601; or call (304) 752-4658. All letters addressed to Dr. Wood will be forwarded to his office.