Nails In The Fence
There was a little boy with a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time
he lost his temper, to hammer a nail in the back fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the
fence. Then it gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive
those nails into the fence. Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his
father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to
hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The
father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at
the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar
just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say ‘I'm
sorry,' the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one."
•        - Source Unknown

The Lesson of the Cocoon
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.

One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to
force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had
gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of
the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would
enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In
fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with swollen body and shriveled wings. It never
was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the
struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the
body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the
cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without
any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been; we could
never fly.
~ Source Unknown ~

Father's Gift
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful
sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he
wanted. As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the
car.
Finally, on the morning of his graduation his father called him into his private study. His father told him how
proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful
wrapped gift box.

Curious, but somewhat disappointed the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound
Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold. Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said,
"With all your money you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and
wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he should go to him. He had
not seen him since that graduation day.

Before he could make arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and
willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.
When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search his
father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago. With tears, he
opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. His father had carefully underlined a verse, Matt 7:11,

"And if ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Heavenly
father which is in heaven, give to those who ask Him?"
As he read those words, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's
name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation,
and the words...PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss God's blessings because they are not packaged as we expected?
Author: Unknown

Hide and Seek
One summer day a mother looked out the window of her house. There in the garden she saw her little
daughter rolling around the grass in laughter. Intrigued she went outside to investigate. Approaching her
daughter the mother asked, "My child, what do you find so amusing?"

"I understand, I understand," replied the child among bursts of giggles.

"What do you mean?" questioned the mother.

"Well," answered the child, "I was playing outside on the grass when I started thinking about God, and
how I have heard people say that God is everywhere. But I looked around and couldn't see God
anywhere. So I thought: of course! God must be playing a game of hide and seek. So I decided to try find
God. I looked amongst the roses for I have heard that God is beautiful. But God was not there. I lay on my
back and searched the skies for I have heard that God is up in the Heavens. But God was not there. I dug
in the ground for I have heard that God supports us all. But God was not there. And I became very
frustrated and I called out: Where are you God? Why have you left me? And then, all of a sudden, a sense
of peace came over me and I realized the Truth!"
Spellbound, the mother gently inquired, "What truth?"

"That," giggled the little child, "It was not God who was hiding, it was me".

So much of our lives we stumble around lost trying to seek God, never realizing we are already Found. All
we merely need to do is to stop hiding from God and to embrace Him fully.
Author: Brad Bryan

Stale state of mind

LONG ago, there was an old man who lived in a village. Although very poor, he was the envy of many
because he had a beautiful white horse. Kings had approached him and offered huge sums of money for
the horse. But the man would always say, “To me, this is not a horse. He is a person, a friend. How can
you sell a friend?”

One morning, the man found his horse missing from the stable. The villagers gathered round and
proclaimed, “You foolish old man! We knew that someday, the horse would be stolen. It would have been
better if you had sold it. What a misfortune!”

He replied: “Don’t go so far as to say that. Simply say that the horse is not in the stable. That’s the fact;
everything else is judgment. I don’t know if it’s a misfortune or blessing. Who knows what’s going to
happen next?”

People laughed at him. They’d always known that he was a little crazy. But after two weeks, suddenly one
night, the horse returned.

He had not been stolen; he’d just escaped into the wild. And, what’s more, he brought a dozen wild
horses back with him.

Again the people gathered and said: “Old man, you were right. It was not a misfortune. Indeed, it has
proven to be a blessing.”

“Again you are going too far,” he answered. “Just say that the horse is back. Who knows whether it is a
blessing or not? If you read a single word in a sentence, how can you judge the whole book?”

This time, the people could not say much, but deep inside, they thought he was wrong because he now
had 13 beautiful horses.

The old man’s only son began to train the horses. But a week later, the boy fell from a horse and broke his
legs. The people gathered once more and exclaimed: “Yes, you were right! It was a misfortune. Your son,
who is your only support, has lost the use of his legs. Now you are poorer than ever.”

“You are obsessed about passing judgment,” the man said. “Don’t go that far. Say only that my son has
broken his legs. Life comprises of fragments and you don’t get more than you can handle.”

It happened that a few weeks later, the country went to war and all the young men in the village were
conscripted by military. But the old man’s son was spared because of his crippling leg injury.

The villagers wept because they knew theirs was a losing battle and that most of their young men would
never come home.

They went to see the old man and said: “ You were right. Your son’s fall has proved to be blessing. He
may be a cripple but he’s still with you. Our sons are gone forever.”

“You go on and on, judging. Nobody knows anything for sure! Only say this – Your sons were forced to join
the army while mine was not. Only God knows whether this is a blessing or misfortune.”

Judgment reflects a stale state of mind. Once you start judging, you stop growing.
Author Unknown


Pray and Aim High
There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat.  He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he
decided that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for dinner.

As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot at the rabbit and missed it.  The rabbit ran away.

Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it.  The squirrel disappeared into a hole
in a cottonwood tree.

As he went further, he saw a large wild "Tom" turkey in the tree, but he had only one bullet remaining.

A voice spoke to him and said, "Pray first, aim high and stay focused."  However, at the same time, he
saw a deer which was a better kill.  He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer.

But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down
further to shoot the rattlesnake.

Still, the voice said again to him, "I said Pray, Aim high and Stay focused."  So, the man decided to listen
to God's voice.

He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey.  The bullet bounced off the
turkey and killed the deer.  The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when
the gun had gone off, it knocked him into a pond.

When he stood up to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a turkey to eat for his
family.

The snake (Satan) was dead simply because the man listened to God.

Moral of the story:

Pray first before you do anything, Aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on God.

Never let others discourage you concerning your past. The past is exactly that, "the past."

Live every day one day at a time and remember that only God knows our future and that he will not put you
through any more than you can bear

Do not look to man for your blessings, but look to the doors that only He has prepared in advance for you
in your favor.

Wait, be still and patient: keep God first and everything else will follow.
Author Unknown

I Hope Your Day is a Piece of Cake
Sometimes we wonder, "What did I do to deserve this," or "Why did God have to do this to me?"   Well
here is a wonderful explanation!

A daughter is telling her mother how everything is going wrong; she is failing algebra, her boyfriend broke
up with her and her best friend is moving away.  Meanwhile, her mother is baking a cake and asks her
daughter if she would like a snack,  and the daughter says, "Absolutely mom, I love your cake."  

"Ok - here, have some cooking oil," her mother offers. "Yuck," says her daughter.  "How about a couple of
raw eggs?"

"Gross, mom!"  

"Would you  like some flour then or maybe baking soda?"  

"Mom, those are all yucky!"

To which the mother replies: "Yes, all those things seem bad all by themselves. But when they are put
together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!"