The Duck

A beautiful message that proves a loving point!
There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm.
He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods.
He practiced in the woods, but hecould never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.
As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck.
Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.
After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes." But Sally said, Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen."
Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing. Grandma said, "I'm sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper."
Sally just smiled and said, "Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed the he had killed the duck.
Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know.You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because Ilove you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."

Thought for the day and every day thereafter:
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done, the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, debt, fear, hatred, anger, unforgiveness, bitterness,etc.)
whatever it is, you need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing, He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.
He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not onlyforgives you, but He forgets.
Go ahead and make the difference in someone's life today.

Learn To Speak Their Language

- by Steve Goodier

A woman was explaining her theory of putting her children to bed: "I never tell bedtime stories that begin with 'Once upon a time,'" she said. "If I really want to put them to sleep, I start off with, 'Now, when I was your age...'" It's nice to understand people so well that we know just what to say! Here is a mother who could speak her children's language.

The story is told of the most famous elephant in the world -- a huge, beautiful and gentle beast named Bozo. Children extended open palms filled with peanuts for the Indian elephant, who gently plucked them from little hands and seemed to smile as he ate his treats.

But one day, for some inexplicable reason, Bozo changed. He almost stampeded the man who cleaned his cage. He charged children at the circus and became incorrigible. His owner knew he would have to destroy the once-gentle giant.

In order to raise money for a new elephant, the circus owner held a cruel exhibition. He sold tickets to witness Bozo's execution and, on the appointed day, his arena was packed. Three men with high-powered rifles rose to take aim at the great beast's head.

Just before the signal was given to shoot, a little, stubby man in a brown hat stepped out of the crowd and said to the elephant's owner,
"Sir, this is not necessary. Bozo is not a bad elephant."
"But he is," the man argued. "We must kill him before he kills someone."
"Sir, give me two minutes alone in his cage," the visitor pleaded, "and I'll prove to you that you are wrong. He is not a bad elephant."
After a few more moments of discussion (and a written statement absolving the circus of liability if the man should be injured), the keeper finally agreed to allow the man inside Bozo's cage. The man removed his brown derby and entered the cage of the bellowing and trumpeting beast.
Before the elephant could charge, the man began to speak to him. Bozo seemed to immediately quiet down upon hearing the man's words. Nearby spectators could also hear the man, but they could not understand him, for he spoke a foreign language. Soon the great animal began to tremble, whine and throw his head about. Then the stranger walked up to Bozo and stroked his trunk. The great elephant tenderly wrapped his trunk around the man, lifted him up and carried him around his cage before carefully depositing him back at the door.
Everyone applauded.As the cage door closed behind him, the man said to Bozo's keeper, "You see, he is a good elephant. His problem is that he is an Indian elephant and understands one language."
He explained that Bozo was frustrated and confused. He needed someone who could speak his language. "I suggest, sir, that you find someone in London to come in occasionally and talk to the elephant. If you do, you'll have no problems."
The man picked up his brown derby and walked away. It was at that time that the circus owner looked carefully at the signature on the paper he held in his hand -- the note absolving the circus of responsibility in the case he was injured inside the elephant's cage. The statement was signed by Rudyard Kipling.
People also become frustrated and angry when they are not understood. But great relationships are formed by parents who learn to speak their children's language; lovers who speak each other's language; professionals who speak the language of their staff and clients. When people understand that YOU understand, that you empathize with their heartaches and understand their problems, then you are speaking their language! It is the beginning of true communication.

Loneliness

Loneliness is about talking to the winds and walls

Calling out to the deaf

Watching the wraiths and the unapparent

Accompanying solitude

Sensing the tumult of intellect

Sharing grief with sorrow

Observing joy from afar

Listening to the silence

Spending tears as flowing rivers of enigmatic emotion

Celebrating eternal winters

Awaiting the sound of crunching leaves

Recognizing lost visages in the clouds

Counting heartbeats

Reckoning raindrops

Wandering into the mist from where none returns

Replying to the meandering echoes

Loneliness is about every soul being a faraway island connected by abysmal bridges

Looking beyond the void of life to find shadows of the soul’s reflection

Finding ecstasy in the mundane seasons of life

Dreaming of unachievable pleasure

Hallucinating by daylight

Dreaming past midnight

Waking to the whispering winds

Rising to race the sun

Crying out to the dawns and twilights in praise

Walking to the heights of earth in pursuit of desire

Loneliness is about standing on a high vacant cliff bathed by moonlight, and screaming out a name; and hearing your name being called out as you fall – fall in the abyss of predicament.