Showing posts with label Forgiveness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forgiveness. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Today's Inspiration - The Donkey in the Well

I don't know the original source of this but take no credit. A dear friend posted it on Facebook and given all the tragedies around the world the past week, it's a heartwarming reminder there is always hope and you can turn lemons into lemonade!
 
 
 
"One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.
...

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

MORAL :
Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.
"

 
 
And her advice:
 
"Remember the five simple rules to be happy:

1. Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
2. Free your mind from worries - Most never happens.
3. Live simply and appreciate what you have.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less from people but more from yourself.

You have two choices... smile and close this page,  or pass this along to someone else to share the lesson ."

 

Monday, April 15, 2013

Series – Losing Our Moral Compass (Pushing & Shoving)

In the Our Daily Bread daily devotion for March 6, 2013, Joe Stowell observes “Life is a lot like “bumper cars” at an amusement park.” In describing the typical playground response of push and push back harder, he hits home with many negative experiences I’ve had since moving to Maryland. The latest one was this Sunday at the Flower Hill Giant.
 
Even after twenty years of living here, I still do not understand what is “wrong” with these people. And, what they do is “wrong” when it involves their failure to yield the right-of-way by shoving their shopping cart into the other person’s. This is not the first time or even the first time this year I was hit by one of these loony’s.
 
Where did their physically violent and grossly inappropriate response come from? Why didn’t their mothers teach them to “wait their turn”? And when it's not their turn, then they need to wait, not shove the other person!

I don’t know the answers to my questions but as a Christian, Mr. Stowell reminds me that God wants me to forgive them as he has forgiven me. Why? Because “When you get bumped in life, bumping back only escalates matters and in the end everyone suffers damage.”

One lady at my church made this insightful remark “it’s another forgiveness opportunity.” Barb, I am still trying. Amen.

Friday, January 27, 2012

Series - Losing Our Moral Compass (Lululemon Killer Looks for Mercy)

When I heard the pleas for mercy this morning on the TV from the family of Brittany Norwood, the woman convicted of murdering her co-worker at the Bethesda Lululemon clothing store last year, I told myself I had to blog about it.

Yes, I am an Elder in the Presbyterian Church but mercy and forgiveness do not mean the purpertrator gets to slide on the consequences of his or her actions. What Brittany did to Jayna Murray was not only brutal but vicious and wild.

Dear parents of Brittany, your daughter stabbed her 332 times. Hello? Are you just as nuts as she is?
Brittany Norwood (Credit: CBS/WJZ)

I also have a psychology degree and I support the conclusion that Brittany “is beyond rehabilitation.”[1] She needs to be put away forever so she can’t “lose it” again and mutilate someone else. When someone does something so heinous, he or she puts themselves “outside” of society and does not have the right to benefit from the safety of the society he or she just violated!