Straight From The Hart

The yellow flowers, so bright and gay, Appear at dusk, then fade away As sunshine warms their brilliant bloom. They gladly shine, yet know their doom. Their beauty lasts but for a day, But, oh the joy, they bring our way As one by one their blooms unfurl In rapid succession they seem to whirl Away from the stem, their petals spread Like buttery swirls on morning bread. In silent concert they nod and dance In worship to God, not here by chance. And just like them, God plants us here To serve Him first, our purpose clear. Too soon we fade, our life like mist Above the ground the rain has kissed. We bloom in beauty, and when we're through We pass away like morning dew And all we are, and all we say Will be forgotten in just a day. But what we do, and the lives we touch Will be our legacy and can mean so much. So we must bloom and share our beauty And worship God, which is our duty And brighten lives, though for a day To

Straight From The Hart By Joan Rowden Hart Fibromyalgia Awareness Month I’m going to deviate this week from my usual theme of writing about Lebanon’s  history and people in order to address a current medical issue. May is Fibromyalgia Awareness Month and I hope this column will help to educate us to  understand this growing health problem which affects so many people here in Lebanon. The American College of Rheumatology estimates that fibromyalgia affects between 3 million and 6 million Americans, mostly women of child-bearing age and older, but also men and even young children and teenagers. Fibromyalgia, also called “fibro”,  is not a disease, but a syndrome, meaning that it exhibits a specific set of symptoms that take place together. Although fibro is not characterized as an arthritic condition, for purposes of diagnosis and treatment it  falls under the medical umbrella of rheumatology. We have come a long way in recent years because doctors used to tell a patient suffering from f