HUMOR, INSPIRATION AND
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Following are humorous and inspirational stories
gleaned from emails shared by persons across the nation.
MERENGUE DOG
Click
on the following link:
Merengue Dog
MAGNOLIAS
By Edna Ellison
I spent the week
before my daughter's June wedding running last-minute trips to the
caterer, florist, tuxedo shop, and the church about forty miles away.
As happy as
I was that Patsy was marrying a good Christian
young man, I felt laden with responsibilities as I watched my budget
dwindle . .
So many
details, so many bills, and so little time. My son Jack was away at
college, but he said he would be there to walk his younger sister
down the aisle, taking the place of his dad who had died a few years
before. He teased Patsy, saying he'd wanted to give her away since she
was about three years old!
To save
money, I gathered blossoms from several friends who had large magnolia
trees.
Their luscious, creamy-white blooms and slick green eaves
would make
beautiful arrangements against the rich dark wood inside the church.
After the
rehearsal dinner
the night before the wedding, we banked the podium area and choir
loft with magnolias. As we left just before midnight, I felt tired
but satisfied this would be the best wedding any bride had ever had!
The music, the ceremony, the reception - and especially the flowers -
would be remembered for years.
The big day
arrived - the busiest day of my life - and while her bridesmaids
helped Patsy to dress, her fiancé Tim walked with me to the sanctuary
to do a
final
check. When we opened the door and felt a rush of hot air, I almost
fainted; and then I saw them - all the beautiful white flowers were
black.
Funeral
black. An electrical storm during the night had knocked out the air
conditioning system, and on that hot summer day, the flowers had wilted
and died.
I panicked,
knowing I didn't have time to drive back to our hometown, gather more
flowers, and return in time for the wedding. Tim turned to me.
'Edna, can you get more flowers? I'll throw away these dead ones and
put fresh flowers in these arrangements.'
I mumbled,
'Sure,' as he be-bopped down the hall to put on his cuff links.
Alone in the
large sanctuary, I looked up at the dark wooden beams in the rched
ceiling. 'Lord,' I prayed, 'please help me. I don't know anyone in
this town. Help me find someone willing to give me flowers - in a
hurry!' I scurried out praying for four things: the blessing of white
magnolias, courage to find them in an unfamiliar yard, safety from
any dog that may bite my leg, and a nice person who would not get out
a shotgun when I asked to cut his tree to shreds.
As I left
the church, I saw magnolia trees
in the distance. I approached a house...No dog in sight.. knocked on
the door and an older man answered. So
far so
good. No shotgun. When I stated my plea the man beamed, 'I'd be happy
to!'
He climbed a
stepladder and cut large boughs and handed them down to me. Minutes
later, as I lifted the last armload into my car trunk, I said, 'Sir,
you've made the mother of a bride happy today.'
No,
Ma'am,' he said. 'You don't understand what's happening here.'
'What?' I
asked.
'You see, my
wife of sixty-seven years died on Monday. On Tuesday I received friends
at the funeral home, and on Wednesday . . . He paused. I saw tears
welling up in his eyes. 'On Wednesday I buried her.' He looked away.
'On Thursday most of my out-of-town relatives went back home, and on
Friday - yesterday - my children left.'
I nodded.
'This
morning,' he continued, 'I was sitting in my den crying out loud. I
miss her so much. For the last sixteen years, as her health got worse,
she needed me. But now nobody needs me. This morning I cried, 'Who
needs an eighty-six-year-old wore-out man? Nobody!' I began to cry
louder. 'Nobody needs
me!' About
that time, you knocked, and said, 'Sir, I need you.'
I stood
with my mouth open.
He asked,
'Are you an angel? The way the light shone around your head into my
dark living room...'
I assured
him I was no angel.
He smiled.
'Do you know what I was thinking when I handed you those magnolias?'
'No.'
'I decided
I'm needed. My flowers are needed. Why, I might have a flower
ministry! I could give them to everyone! Some caskets at the funeral
home have no flowers. People need flowers at times like that and I
have lots of them. They're all over the backyard! I can give them to
hospitals, churches - all sorts of places. You know what I'm going
to do? I'm going to serve the Lord until the day He calls me home!'
I drove
back to the church, filled with wonder. On Patsy's wedding day, if
anyone had asked me to encourage someone who was hurting, I would have
said, 'Forget it! It's my only daughter's wedding, for goodness' sake!
There is no way I can minister to anyone today.'
But God
found a way. Through dead flowers.
'Life is not the way it's supposed to be. It's the way it is. The way
you cope with it is what makes the difference.'
LEROY
A preacher said,
"Anyone with 'special needs' who wants to be prayed over, please come
forward to the front by the altar."
With that, Leroy got
in line, and when it was his turn, the
Preacher
asked,
"Leroy, what do you
want me to pray about for you?"
Leroy replied,
"Preacher, I need you to pray for help with my hearing."
The preacher put one
finger of one hand in Leroy's ear, placed his other hand on top of Leroy's
head, and then prayed and prayed and prayed. He prayed a "blue
streak"
for Leroy, and the whole congregation joined in with great enthusiasm.
After a few minutes,
the preacher removed his hands, stood back and asked,
"Leroy, how is your
hearing now?" Leroy answered, "I don't know. It ain't 'til next week."
A DOG’S PURPOSE
by a 6 Year Old
Being
a veterinarian, I had been called to examine a ten-year-old
Irish Wolfhound named Belker. The dog's
owners, Ron, his wife Lisa, and their little boy Shane, were all very
attached to Belker, and they were hoping for a miracle.
I examined Belker and found he was dying of cancer. I told the family we
couldn't do anything for Belker, and offered to perform the euthanasia
procedure for the old dog in their home.
As we made arrangements, Ron and Lisa told me they thought it would be
good for six-year-old Shane to observe the procedure. They felt as though
Shane might learn something from the experience.
The next day, I felt the familiar catch in my throat as Belker 's family
surrounded him. Shane seemed so calm, petting the old dog for the last
time, that I wondered if he understood what was going on. Within a few
minutes, Belker slipped peacefully away.
The little boy seemed to accept Belker's transition without any difficulty
or confusion. We sat together for a while after Belker's death, wondering
aloud about the sad fact that animal lives are shorter than human lives.
Shane, who had been listening quietly, piped up, ''I know why.''
Startled, we all turned to him. What came out of his mouth next stunned
me. I'd never heard a more comforting explanation. It has changed the way
I try to live.
He said,''People are born so that they can learn how to live a good life
-- like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?'' The
Six-year-old continued,
''Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don't have to stay as
long.''
