A few years ago I came across a story which I loved.
Today I am going to share with you. Enjoy the read!
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Farmer and the Donkey
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 w ell and
happily trotted off!
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.
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
Free your mind from worries - Most never happen
Live simply and appreciate what you have.
Give more.
Expect less
Until next time…. Ann Eldridge, Family Success Club
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Most Frightening Day Of My Life
Wednesday, November 19th, 2008Well we have just come through what has been an extremely traumatic few days. You see, we live in a suburb in Brisbane, Queensland called “The Gap”. No, its not a clothing brand out here but a place where people live. On Sunday afternoon we had a great time. I cleaned the pool, we had our first proper swim of the summer and I played board games with the kids afterwards. We pulled the shades down as we prepared for a typical Brisbane summer afternoon thunderstorm. No big deal, pretty regular and we’ve seen plenty.
Instead, what we got was the most frightening experience of my life. A storm the like of which Brisbane has not seen for many years came in over the Ranges and crashed into a strip of Brisbane suburbs. The Gap was one of the worst hit. Just down the road everyone got what they thought was a heavy storm but we got a wall of water, wind and hail stones. At the end of it there were trees down everywhere and the suburb was a mess. In the following days it was declared a National Disaster area. We got power back last night after a bit over 48 hours and the clean up continues.
Now I was too busy trying to protect my family and myself from the deluge and was seriously worried that my house would be blown away. A little further away some residents captured their own experience of the storm and have posted it on YouTube. Have a watch and see what you think!
At one point in the video the cameraman says “I’m not going to be laughing if my house caves over”. He was lucky it didn’t. 470 homes have been declared unlivable and thousands and thousands more have extensive damage. We had plenty but nothing compared to some of my neighbours.
It all made me think about the inadequacy of my own reaction to some of the huge disasters such as the Tsunami in Asia a few years back, Cyclone Larry, and Hurricane Katrina. I could have done more and should have done more. Having lived my own private little hell this time around I know I will be better next time. To my own neighbours who helped me clean up my own house I say a hearty “thank you”. This experience has shown me a true community spirit and brought me closer to people nearby around me.
Keep your families safe.
Chris
PS If you haven’t done so already you can subscribe to our newsletter for FREE and get a taster of the subscription content by visiting http://www.familysuccessclub.com/newsletter/subscribe. Do it TODAY!