Monday, March 20, 2006
Story - The Mouse Trap
A story for the new week, I find this story is very meaningful, something for us to learn :)
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to seethe farmer and his wife open a package."What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!
"The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.
"The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.
"The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mouse trap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"! The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life.We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
A simple story but many things for us to learn :) A lot of times, we always think that helping people is very troublesome and will only do it if we have no choice.
Taking the step to help others often means many extra things for us to do, we could use the time better for ourselves. This is always that thought that I have when approached for help. But looking at this story here, it tells us that when we help people it is for our own good too. I thought to myself, when I help people what good is there for me? Well of course the obvious will be reward from God :) but is there more?
To me I feel that when I help a person, I will have this chance to build a friendship with the person or build up on an existing friendship, a friendship based on trust for each other. Why do I say this? If a person ask you for help, it only mean that this person believe that you can help him/her, this person trust that you are able to fulfill the tasks required. Trust I feel is one of the most important thing in a friendship and without it this friendship will be one that is superficial, one without meaning. So if my friends continue to approach me for help, I should not fell that it is troublesome, but look at it as a re-affirmation of the friendship :)
Also we know that when we are helpful to people, people will to help us when we are in need of help. And there are many times in our life that we will need help from the others. This is especially true in our spiritual life. All of us will have times in our spiritual life when we will feel weak. In this time of need, it is good that there is someone there to help to pull us up. And vise versa, we will be there for our friends to pull them along when they are weak spiritually. Do not think that this help given need to be something big, it may just be some encouraging words, or sms or email. Or maybe just a easy phone call to the person, or just asking the person to come out for a meal or something. Sometimes these are enough for the person to be revitalize. Of course praying for the person is the most important and this is some sought of helping too, but if we are like the pig in the story, just praying but do nothing else, then it may be of no use too. So I think we must have both actions and also prayers for the person :)
haha, ok sorry for the babbling. But do approach me if you need help in the future ok? And hope you help will me along too when I need help :P haha.
-Peace-
A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to seethe farmer and his wife open a package."What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.
Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning: "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!
"The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.
"The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!" The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.
"The mouse turned to the cow and said "There is a mouse trap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"! The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."
So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone. That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.
But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.
The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.
So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life.We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.
A simple story but many things for us to learn :) A lot of times, we always think that helping people is very troublesome and will only do it if we have no choice.
Taking the step to help others often means many extra things for us to do, we could use the time better for ourselves. This is always that thought that I have when approached for help. But looking at this story here, it tells us that when we help people it is for our own good too. I thought to myself, when I help people what good is there for me? Well of course the obvious will be reward from God :) but is there more?
To me I feel that when I help a person, I will have this chance to build a friendship with the person or build up on an existing friendship, a friendship based on trust for each other. Why do I say this? If a person ask you for help, it only mean that this person believe that you can help him/her, this person trust that you are able to fulfill the tasks required. Trust I feel is one of the most important thing in a friendship and without it this friendship will be one that is superficial, one without meaning. So if my friends continue to approach me for help, I should not fell that it is troublesome, but look at it as a re-affirmation of the friendship :)
Also we know that when we are helpful to people, people will to help us when we are in need of help. And there are many times in our life that we will need help from the others. This is especially true in our spiritual life. All of us will have times in our spiritual life when we will feel weak. In this time of need, it is good that there is someone there to help to pull us up. And vise versa, we will be there for our friends to pull them along when they are weak spiritually. Do not think that this help given need to be something big, it may just be some encouraging words, or sms or email. Or maybe just a easy phone call to the person, or just asking the person to come out for a meal or something. Sometimes these are enough for the person to be revitalize. Of course praying for the person is the most important and this is some sought of helping too, but if we are like the pig in the story, just praying but do nothing else, then it may be of no use too. So I think we must have both actions and also prayers for the person :)
haha, ok sorry for the babbling. But do approach me if you need help in the future ok? And hope you help will me along too when I need help :P haha.
-Peace-
// posted by madcowkey @ 3/20/2006 10:51:00 AM 
