2002-07-09 12:11:10 -- http://www.quickinspirations.com/stories/images/valley.jpg



God's Kids

After creating Heaven and Earth, God created Adam and Eve, and the first thing He did was tell them them the things they were not to do. "Don't," said God.

"Don't what?" replied Adam.

"Don't eat the forbidden fruit," God repeated.

"Forbidden fruit? We've got forbidden fruit? Hey, Eve, look... we've got forbidden fruit!"

"No way!" exclaimed Eve.

"No kidding!"

"Don't eat that fruit!" said God.

"Why?" asked both.

"Because I'm your Father and I said so!" said God, wondering just what He had started here.

A little while later God looked in and sure enough, the kids were having an apple break, and He was angry. "Didn't I tell you not to eat that fruit?" the First Parent asked.

"Uh huh," Adam replied.

"Then why did you?"

"I dunno," Eve answered.

"She started it!" Adam said.

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Did not!" And so on.

Having had it with the two of them, God's punishment was that Adam and Eve should have children of their own. Thus the pattern was set and it has never changed. But there is a reassurance in this story. If you have persistently and lovingly tried to give them wisdom and they haven't always taken it, don't be too hard on yourself. If God had trouble with His children, what makes you think it would be a piece of cake for you?!?




When I was crossing into Gaza,
I was asked at the checkpost whether I was carrying any weapons.
I replied: Oh yes, my prayer books.


--Mother Teresa of Calcutta --- Sent in by Kenneth Woolard --- Kentucky

Treat today as if, you won't exist tomorrow."


What is life?
Life is a gift...accept it
Life is an adventure...dare it
Life is a mystery...unfold it
Life is a game...play it
Life is a struggle...face it
Life is beauty...praise it
Life is a puzzle...solve it
Life is opportunity...take it
Life is sorrowful...experience it
Life is a song...sing it
Life is a goal...achieve it
Life is a mission...fulfill it


--Taken from Even Eagles Need a Push ---Author David McNally
--- Submitted by Lisa Antonishek








Life is like a piano --- what you get out of it,
Depends on how you play it.

Struggles


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 farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so 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 a 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 nature'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 nature 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.

And we could never fly...