The Buzzard, The Bat, and the Bumblebee

If you put a buzzard in a pen six or eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.

The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.

A Bumblebee if dropped into an open tumbler will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

In many ways, there are lots of people like the buzzard, the bat and the bee. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not realizing that the answer is right there above them.

EAGLES IN A STORM

Did you know that an eagle knows when a storm is approaching long before it breaks?

The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, it sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. While the storm rages below, the eagle is soaring above it.

The eagle does not escape the storm. It simply uses the storm to lift it higher. It rises on the winds that bring the storm.

When the storms of life come upon us - and all of us will experience them - we can rise above them by setting our minds and our belief toward God. The storms do not have to overcome us. We can allow God's power to lift us above them.

God enables us to ride the winds of the storm that bring sickness, tragedy, failure and disappointment in our lives. We can soar above the storm.

Remember, it is not the burdens of life that weigh us down, it is how we handle them.

The Rose Within

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully and before it blossomed, he examined it.
He saw the bud that would soon blossom, but noticed thorns upon the stem and he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns? Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and just before it was ready to bloom... it died.

So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth, grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects.

We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns of another, and find the rose within them.

This is one of the characteristic of love... to look at a person, know their true faults and accepting that person into your life... all the while recognizing the nobility in their soul. Help others to realize they can overcome their faults. If we show them the "rose" within themselves, they will conquer their thorns. Only then will they blossom many times over.

Building Your House

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurely life with his wife and enjoy his extended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by.

The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go & asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials.

It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, "This is your house... my gift to you."

The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.

So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock, we realize we have to live in the house we have built.

If we could do it over, we would do it much differently.But, you cannot go back.

You are the carpenter, and every day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Someone once said, "Life is a do-it-yourself project."

Your attitude, and the choices you make today, help build the "house" you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, Build wisely!

Lessons Learned From a Child and Her Dog

By Cyndi Krupp

So teach him to close the door", my daughter Emma responded after listening to me complain, again, about the dog coming in from the back door, bringing with him a blast of Buffalo January cold air.

Teach a dog to close a door behind him? You got to be kidding. That has got to be a really, really hard thing to do, and I do not have any dog credentials following my name.

But then she took it a step further. "Come on Kolby", she said, grabbing some treats and positioning him in front of the open door. "Touch."

And "touch" he did, which moved the door to a closed position. She rewarded him with a treat, smiled, looked at me, and said "see!"

And I saw and became convinced. Over the last few days I have been consistent with Kolby. Each time he comes in I bring him back to the open door and ask him to close (I changed the target word, making the command more specific). There have been failures, but lately more and more successes. And I knew we turned the corner this morning when he asked to be let out just so I would open the door, so that he could close it and be treated.

WOW

There remains work to be done. I have to remove the hand signal and work so that he will close the door from a distance. But, I now realize, with consistency of focus the task will be completed, and, with the way things are progressing, completed quickly.

What a wonderful treat to have a dog that can close the door after himself. Even more wonder can be found in the lessons I learned so clearly from both Emma and Kolby.

A wish is just a wish until you decide to take action.

Once you decide to accomplish a goal, and decide that it "is" easy (remember Emma's assurance), than it becomes easy to do what needs to be done. Just start doing it.

As long as one holds on to the belief that it is "too hard", than it remains "too hard" and out of reach.

Working towards the accomplishment of a goal can be loads of fun, and full of lots and lots of treats.

So what have you been wishing for lately? And what has been stopping you from getting started?

Grandfather's Letter

by Steve Brunkhorst

One day, a young man was cleaning out his late grandfather's belongings when he came across a bright red envelope. Written on the front were the words, "To my grandson." Recognizing his grandfather's handwriting, the boy opened the envelope. A letter inside read:

Dear Ronny,

Years ago you came to me for help. You said, "Grandpa, how is it that you've accomplished so much in your life? You're still full of energy, and I'm already tired of struggling. How can I get that same enthusiasm that you've got?"

I didn't know what to say to you then. But knowing my days are numbered, I figure that I owe you an answer. So here is what I believe.

I think a lot of it has to do with how a person looks at things. I call it 'keeping your eyes wide open.'

First, realize that life is filled with surprises, but many are good ones. If you don't keep watching for them, you'll miss half the excitement. Expect to be thrilled once in a while, and you will be.
When you meet up with challenges, welcome them. They'll leave you wiser, stronger, and more capable than you were the day before. When you make a mistake, be grateful for the things it taught you. Resolve to use that lesson to help you reach your goals.

And always follow the rules. Even the little ones. When you follow the rules, life works. If you think you ever really get by with breaking the rules, you're only fooling yourself.

It's also important to decide exactly what you want. Then keep your mind focused on it, and be prepared to receive it.

But be ready to end up in some new places too. As you grow with the years, you'll be given bigger shoes to fill. So be ready for endings as well as challenging beginnings.

Sometimes we have to be brave enough to move from the familiar to the unfamiliar. Life isn't just reaching peaks. Part of it is moving from one peak to the next. If you rest too long in between, you might be tempted to quit. Leave the past in the past. Climb the next mountain and enjoy the view.

Dump things that weigh you down emotionally and spiritually. When an old resentment, belief, or attitude becomes heavy, lighten your load. Shed those hurtful attitudes that slow you down and drain your energy.

Remember that your choices will create your successes and your failures. So consider all the pathways ahead, and decide which ones to follow. Then believe in yourself, get up, and get going.
And be sure to take breaks once in a while. They'll give you a renewed commitment to your dreams and a cheerful, healthy perception of the things that matter the most to you.

Most important of all, never give up on yourself. The person that ends up a winner is the one who resolves to win. Give life everything you've got, and life will give its best back to you.
Love always,Grandpa

© Copyright 2004-2009. Inspirational fiction by Steve Brunkhorst. All rights reserved worldwide.

The Eyes of an Angel

By Laurie Brenner

I used to see a dirty and ragged man sit at the light where I turned onto the freeway on one of the many routes I took to work back when I lived in the city for a while. I couldn't say he was an old man, neither could I say he was young.

He had the look of another place.

It was easy to see that he was without home or without food and without the comforts that so many of us take for granted. And there he would sit and wait upon the kindness of strangers, the bare soles of his feet worn black and hard from wearing no shoes.

Many drivers would speed by him in the hopes that he hadn't seen - that they had seen him. It was if they acknowledged his presence, something was wrong with them, because they gave nothing. If they acted like they hadn't seen him - they could deny he was there.

I know because I pretended that I hadn't seen him too.

He never asked for money. He didn't carry a sign. He just sat at this light, at this median in the road with his head bowed, heavy with thoughts unknown to any but himself.

Sometimes I would drive a different way, because I had nothing to give or I felt guilty because I was being selfish, clinging to the change for my Starbuck's Venti Latte.

And then I couldn't stand it any more. This man, this solitary person, this being that had the look of another place stayed in my soul quietly hovering. It was if something was telling me that I must give what I could to this weary soul.

I made the decision that day to drive this route, and no matter what anyone thought, I could no longer drive by this being without giving something. I dug down deep and laid the change upon the passenger's seat and rushed to greet him, full of myself.

He was not there.

And so, when days passed and I took that route again and again, I made sure I always had change. Sometimes I would come with my hands full of my gift, this token, this toll I would gladly pay knowing that I had made a difference.

I would reach my hand out the window and his would meet mine in mid-air. He would say thank you ever so quietly and humbly and briefly look into my eyes with warm brown eyes.
He had the eyes of a child; no malice lived there.

I would continue driving feeling just a little bit lighter.

One morning, when the sun rose to greet the day, and the cars struggled like so many cattle rushing through the only gate toward pasture, I saw him again. I dug down deep and produced a handful of change and slowed to give it over to his dirty hand. And as I did so, a man behind me laid on his horn as I slowed to stop.

I threw my hand up into the eye of the rearview mirror like a mother waving at an impatient child, letting the horn-blarer know just what I thought. I put on the brakes and ignored the man behind me because he didn't know anything else.

And I reached out to give this stranger my change.

This moment in time, this moment ongoing will be with me always. The man reached out to take my change and he looked into my eyes again.

Only where brown eyes used to be, the blue of a fresh morning sky greeted me with a look that had seen forever. And he smiled.

That smile sailed through my soul like lightning and landed somewhere next to my heart.
I knew that I had looked into the eyes of an angel.

And I've never seen him since.