Happy birthday wishes to Rhonda Ingram, Sept. 6, Lunenburg; Kelly Foster, Sept. 7, Saxe; Edward Hicks, Sept. 8, Charlotte Court House; Matthew Ayers, Sept. 8, Drakes Branch; Harold Snead, Sept. 9, Bridgeport, Connecticut; Hilda Foster, Sept. 10, Randolph; Deidre Vaughters, Sept. 10, Red Oak; Leroy Gee, Sept. 10, Kathleen, Georgia; Linda Guill, Sept. 10, Randolph; John Gee, Sept. 12, Farmville; Hazel Brogdon, Sept. 12, Randolph. Thinking of you and wishing all of you the best. Happy birthday!

Get-well wishes to all of the sick and shut-in. I hope you are well soon, up and about. Get well soon so you can resume bringing brightness and delight into our lives.

Sympathy to all of the families who lost a loved one recently. Our heartfelt prayers and good wishes go out to all of you in your time of need. You have our deepest sympathy.

Thought for the week: I hope you always find a reason to smile.

HATEFUL WORDS

When you speak words, if you can’t say something good about someone then don’t say anything. All words can hurt and cut like a sword. Once you said it, you can’t take it back. To me, if you hate me then you hate me. I can’t change the way someone feels about me, I just love them anyway.

No matter what someone says about you, there are plenty of people out there who love you.

Where one might hate you, another loves you. You can’t love God and hate, so the next time you choose to say a hateful thing about someone, think what would God think of you.

God so loved the world that he gave his only son to die on the cross for all of us, so let’s love one another. If someone needs a helping hand, help them. You will be blessed and feel good about how you help out someone.

News is due by noon Friday. Any news received after this time will not be included in this column. News can be submitted by calling Virginia Freeman at (434) 568-0596.

Virginia Freeman is a community columnist for The Charlotte Gazette. She can be reached at vstars@pure.net.