An innocent child teaches a lesson we all need...

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy that is translated through you; and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique.” ~Martha Graham

Alexandra "Alex" Scott was born to Liz and Jay Scott in Manchester, Connecticut on January 18, 1996, the second of four children.

Shortly before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a type of childhood cancer. On her first birthday, the doctors informed Alex's parents that if she beat her cancer it was doubtful that she would ever walk again. Just two weeks later, Alex slightly moved her leg at her parents' request to kick. This was the first indication of who she would turn out to be - a determined, courageous, confident and inspiring child with big dreams and big accomplishments.

By her second birthday, Alex was crawling and able to stand up with leg braces. She worked hard to gain strength and to learn how to walk. She appeared to be beating the odds, until the shattering discovery within the next year that her tumors had started growing again. In the year 2000, the day after her fourth birthday, Alex received a stem cell transplant and informed her mother, "when I get out of the hospital I want to have a lemonade stand." She said she wanted to give the money to doctors to allow them to "help other kids, like they helped me." True to her word, she held her first lemonade stand later that year with the help of her older brother and raised an amazing $2,000 for "her hospital."

While bravely battling her own cancer, Alex and her family continued to hold yearly lemonade stands in her front yard to benefit childhood cancer research. News spread of the remarkable sick child dedicated to helping other sick children. People from all over the world, moved by her story, held their own lemonade stands and donated the proceeds to Alex and her cause. 

In August of 2004, Alex passed away at the age of 8, knowing that, with the help of others, she had raised more than $1 million to help find a cure for the disease that took her life. Alex's family - including brothers Patrick, Eddie, and Joey - and supporters around the world are committed to continuing her inspiring legacy through Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation. ~http://www.alexslemonade.org/

‎"Tired. Just feeling tired. How often that single little word writes a book about how we feel. Eyes that burn, shoulders that ache, every step made in Frankenstein shoes. Run down, burned up. Over worked, under slept. And all the while circumstances conspire to keep us there, never enough time to get the rest we need. For all who are sleep walkers on the job of life I offer this blessing: be absolved of all reason not to stop, be free of every burden, curl up into healing covers of peace, let renewal of body and spirit lift you up with energy restored, tired no more." ~The Rt. Rev. Steven Charleston, Choctaw

“By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.” 

Galatians 5:22-23 (NRSA)

It is my prayer that each person who reads this will, by the power of the Spirit, be renewed to recognize and apply that gift of The Spirit within them. I pray that you can invigorate yourself not just to your own benefit but also to the benefit of others.

I.N.J.