I received this sweet story the other day and although I don't know who wrote it, it still was one of those stories that touches your heart. I thought of this story too today, because I have 2 dear friends that are dying of cancer. I thought how lucky I am that I have been able to some how beat it twice. I thought how they must feel every morning wondering if this is their last day. I truly believe that God is in charge of our life. If it is our time to go then nothing will stop us, but at the same time...if it isn't our time to go then some miraculous thing will happen and we will be able to finish our journey. A girlfriend of mine (that was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer) once asked me..."how do I prepare myself for dying Lynn?" I wasn't sure how to answer that except that I asked her how her faith was? Did she truly believe that God is in control and who does she want to see when she gets to the other side? We had many laughs talking about all the people we hope to see there. We also talked about all the things that she still wanted to do while she has a little time left. Life is tough, there is no way around it, but I am feeling lucky to have the opportunity to be here today. No one knows what tomorrow will bring, we just need to do the best with each day we are given. I hope this story reminds you to look around and see how lucky you are too. Good night dear friends!
Mary & her husband Jim had a dog named 'Lucky.' Lucky
was a real character. Whenever Mary & Jim had company come for a weekend
visit they would warn their friends to not leave their luggage open because
Lucky would help himself to whatever struck his fancy. Inevitably, someone
would forget and something would come up missing.
Mary or Jim would go to Lucky's toy box in the
basement & there the treasure would be, amid all of Lucky's other favorite
toys Lucky always stashed his finds in his toy box & he was very particular
that his toys stay in the box.
It happened that Mary found out she had breast cancer.
Something told her she was going to die of this disease....in fact; she was
just sure it was fatal.
She scheduled the double mastectomy, fear riding her
shoulders. The night before she was to go to the hospital she cuddled with
Lucky. A thought struck her...what would happen to Lucky? Although the
three-year-old dog liked Jim, he was Mary's dog through & through. If I die,
Lucky will be abandoned, Mary thought. He won't understand that I didn't
want to leave him! The thought made her sadder than thinking of her own
death.
The double mastectomy was harder on Mary than her
doctors had anticipated & Mary was hospitalized for over two weeks. Jim took
Lucky for his evening walk faithfully, but the little dog just drooped,
whining and miserable.
Finally the day came for Mary to leave the hospital.
When she arrived home, Mary was so exhausted she couldn't even make it up
the steps to her bedroom. Jim made his wife comfortable on the couch & left
her to nap.
Lucky stood watching Mary but he didn't come to her
when she called. It made Mary sad but sleep soon overcame her & she dozed.
When Mary woke for a second she couldn't understand
what was wrong. She couldn't move her head & her body felt heavy & hot. But
panic soon gave way to laughter when Mary realized the problem. She was
covered, literally blanketed, with every treasure Lucky owned! While she
had slept, the sorrowing dog had made trip after trip to the basement
bringing his beloved mistress all his favorite things in life. He had
covered her with his love.
Mary forgot about dying. Instead she & Lucky began
living again, walking further & further together every day. It's been 12
years now & Mary is still cancer-free. Lucky He still steals treasures &
stashes them in his toy box but Mary remains his greatest treasure.
Remember....live every day to the fullest. Each minute
is a blessing from God. And never forget.....the people who make a
difference in our lives are not the ones with the most Credentials, the most
money, or the most awards. They are the ones that care for us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows." ~ Pope Paul VI
I love this story... because I do believe that our friendships, make our lives richer.
Clay Balls
A man was exploring caves by the Seashore. In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls. It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him. As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.
He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock . Inside was a beautiful, precious stone!
Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls. Each contained a similar treasure. He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.
Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown maybe 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves. Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!
It's like that with people. We look at someone, maybe even ourselves, and we see the external clay vessel. It doesn't look like much from the outside. It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.
We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.
There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person, and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.
May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world, as God sees them.
"APPRECIATE EVERY SINGLE
THING YOU HAVE, ESPECIALLY YOUR FRIENDS!
LIFE IS TOO SHORT AND FRIENDS ARE TOO FEW! "
"Never shall I forget the days I spent with you. Continue to be my friend, as you will always find me yours."
~ Ludwig van Beethoven
