Story Time

One day a farmer's donkey fell into an abandoned well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was too old and the well needed to be covered up anyway; so it just wasn't worth it to him to try to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. Realizing what was happening, the donkey at first cried and wailed horribly.

Then, a few shovel-fulls later, he quieted down completely. The farmer peered down into the well, and was astounded by what he saw. With every shovel-full of dirt that hit his back, the donkey would shake it off and take a step up on the new layer of dirt.

I ran into a stranger as he passed by. "Oh, excuse me please" was my reply.
He said, "Please excuse me too; I wasn't even watching for you."
We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and we said good-bye.
But at home a different story is told, how we treat our loved ones, young and old.
Later that day, cooking the evening meal, my daughter stood beside me very still.
When I turned, I nearly knocked her down. "Move out of the way," I said with a frown.
My daughter walked away, her little heart broken. I didn't realize how harshly I would spoken.
While I lay awake in bed, God's still small voice came to me and said,
"While dealing with a stranger (society), common courtesy you use, but the children you love, you seem to abuse. Look on the kitchen floor, you will find some flowers there by the door. Those are the flowers your daughter brought for you. She picked them herself, pink, yellow and blue. Your daughter stood quietly not to spoil the surprise, and you never saw the tears in her eyes."
By this time, I felt very small, and now my tears began to fall.
I quietly went and knelt by her bed; "Wake up, little girl, wake up," I said.
"Are these the flowers you picked for me?" My daughter smiled, "I found them, out by the tree. I picked them because they are pretty like you. I knew you would like them, especially the blue."
I said, "Daughter, I am sorry for the way I acted today; I should not have yelled at you that way." My daughter said, "Oh, Mom, that's okay. I love you anyway."
I said, "Daughter, I love you too, and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

A father came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.
Son: "Father, may I ask you a question?"
Father replied: "Yeah sure, what it is?"
Son: "Father, how much do you make an hour?"
Father said angrily: "That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?"
Son: "I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?"
Father: "If you must know, I make $20 an hour."
"Oh," the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, "Father, may I please borrow $10?"
The father was furious, "If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such childish behavior."
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. Father sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the father had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn't ask for money very often.
The father went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.
"Are you asleep, son?" Father asked.
"No Father, I am awake," replied the little boy.
"I have been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier," said the father. "It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $10 you asked for."
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. "Oh, thank you Father!" He yelled.
Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.
The father, seeing that the little boy already had money, started to get angry again.
The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.
"Why do you want more money if you already have some?" the father grumbled.
"Because I didn't have enough, but now I do," the little boy replied.
"Father, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you."
Moral of the Story: Share this story with someone you like... But even better, share $20 worth of time with someone you love. It's just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life.
We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days.
But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family. An unwise investment indeed!
So what is the moral of the story?
Don't work too hard...and you know what the full word of FAMILY is?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER,(I)(L)OVE (Y)OU!

One hot day, an ant was searching for some water.
After walking around for some time, she came to a spring.
To reach the spring, she had to climb up a blade of grass.
While making her way up, she slipped and fell into the water.
She could have drowned if a dove up a nearby tree had not
seen her. Seeing that the ant was in trouble, the dove quickly
plucked off a leaf and dropped it into the water near the
struggling ant. The ant moved towards the leaf and
climbed up there. Soon it carried her safely to dry ground.
Just at that time, a hunter nearby was throwing out his net
towards the dove, hoping to trap it.
Guessing what he was about to do, the ant quickly bit him on
the heel. Feeling the pain, the hunter dropped his net. The
dove was quick to fly away to safety.
One good turn deserves another.

Two men were walking along one summer day. Soon it
became too hot to go any further and, seeing a large
plane tree nearby, they threw themselves on the
ground to rest in its shade.
Gazing up into the branches one man said to the other:
“What a useless tree this is. It does not have fruit or
nuts that we can eat and we cannot even use its
wood for anything.”
“Don’t be so ungrateful,” rustled the tree in reply.
“I am being extremely useful to you at this very
moment, shielding you from the hot sun.
And you call me a good-for-nothing!”
All of God’s creations have a good purpose.