The Silver Rule

Do unto others as you would like them to do unto your kids.

~Doug Constant

The Battle of Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that was going on inside himself.

He said, "My son, it is between 2 wolves. One is evil: Anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.
The other is good: Joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one I feed."

The lesson is to ask yourself, which wolf do you feed?

You May Count That Day

If you sit down at set of sun
And count the acts that you have done,
And, counting, find
One self-denying deed, one word
That eased the heart of him who heard -
One glance most kind,
That fell like sunshine where it went -
Then you may count that day well spent.

But if, through all the livelong day,
You've cheered no heart, by yea or nay -
If, through it all
You've nothing done that you can trace
That brought the sunshine to one face -
No act most small
That helped some soul and nothing cost -
Then count that day as worse than lost.

~George Elliot

Things Aren't Always What They Seem

Two angels on their travels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were shooed out of sight and given a small space in the cold basement. 

As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and quietly repaired it. When the younger angel asked why he would do a kindness to fix the home a family that had treated them so poorly, the older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."

The next day the angels continued on their travels and that night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food the couple had with the angels, they let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.
The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him, the angel accused. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let their cow die. "Things aren't always what they seem," the older Angel replied. 

"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it. It will remain there until someday, a future, and hopefully more deserving owner will find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came for his wife. Rather than let him take the woman who had so generously given so much, I gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem." 

The lesson is that things when things seem to have gone wrong or not to have turned out the way you feel they should, step back and be patient.  You may just need to trust that everything happens for a reason, and right now, you cannot see the reason, even if it is there.  It will be evident later.