Reachout Blogs: May 2011

Why Walk When You Can Fly?

There was once a king, who received a gift of two magnificent falcons from Arabia. They were peregrine falcons, the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his head falconer to be trained. Months passed and one day the head falconer informed the king that though one of the falcons was flying majestically, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch, since the day it had arrived.

The king summoned healers from all the land to tend to the falcon, but no one could make the bird fly. He presented the task to a member of his court, but the next day, the king saw through the palace window that the bird had still not moved from its perch.

Having tried everything else, the king thought to himself, "May be I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem." So he cried out to his court, "Go and get a farmer." In the morning, the king was thrilled to see the falcon soaring high above the palace gardens. He said to his court, "Bring me the doer of this miracle."

The court quickly located the farmer, who came and stood before the king. The king asked him, "How did you make the falcon fly?" With his head bowed, the farmer said to the king, " It was very easy, your highness. I simply cut the branch, where the bird was sitting."

We were all made to fly but we need to realize this incredible potential as human beings. We cannot afford to sit on our branches, clinging to the familiar things in our lives.

The possibilities of this world are endless, but for most people, these remain undiscovered. When we conform to the familiar, the comfortable and the mundane, we miss out on God's best for our lives and settle for mediocrity, instead of an exciting, thrilling and fulfilling life.

This week, we must learn to destroy the branch of fear and the other things we cling to so as to free ourselves to the glory of flight. The best days are still ahead of you.

God always has His best in mind for you only if you can acknowledge and take advantage of them through the principle of recognition.

Contributed by: asharaj53 @ gmail.com

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The Scars on your Arms

Too Beautiful Not To Share

Some years ago, on a hot summer day in south Florida, a little boy decided to go for a swim in the old swimming hole that was behind his house. In a hurry to dive into the cool water, he ran out through the back door, leaving behind shoes, socks, and shirt as he went.

He flew into the water, not realizing that as he swam toward the middle of the lake, an alligator was swimming toward the shore.

In the house, his mother was looking out through the window. She saw the two as they got closer and closer together. In utter fear, she ran toward the water, yelling to her son as loudly as she could.

Hearing her voice, the little boy became alarmed, and made a U-turn to swim to his mother. It was too late. Just as he reached her, the alligator reached him. From the dock, the mother grabbed her little boy by the arms, just as the alligator snatched his legs. That began a very incredible tug- of-war between the two.

The alligator was much stronger than the mother, but the mother was much too passionate to let go.

A farmer happened to drive by, heard her screams, raced from his truck, took aim, and shot the alligator. Remarkably, after weeks and weeks in the hospital, the little boy *SURVIVED.* His legs were extremely scarred by the vicious attack of the animal. On his arms, there were deep scratches where his mother's fingernails dug into his flesh; in her effort to hang on to the son she loved.

The newspaper reporter, who interviewed the boy after the trauma, asked the boy if he would show him his scars.

The boy lifted his pant legs Then, with obvious pride, he said to the reporter, "But look at my arms. I have great scars on my arms, too. I have them because my Mom wouldn't let go."

You and I can identify with that little boy.

We have scars, too. **No, not from an alligator, but the scars of a painful past. Some of those scars are unsightly, and have caused us deep regret. But, some wounds, my friend, are because God has refused to let go. In the midst of your struggle, He's been right there, holding on to you.

The Scripture teaches that God loves you.

You are a child of God. He wants to protect you, and provide for you in every way. But, sometimes, we foolishly wade into dangerous situations, not knowing what lies ahead. The swimming hole of life is filled with peril and we forget that the enemy is waiting to attack. That is when the tug-of-war begins.

If you have the scars of His love on your arms, be very, very grateful. He will not ever let you go.

Please pass this on to those you love. God has blessed you, so that you can be a blessing to others. You just never know where a person is in his/her life, and what they are going through.

Never judge other persons scars, because you don't know how they got them.

Also, it is so important that we are not too selfish to receive the blessings of these messages without forwarding them to someone else Right now, someone needs to know that God loves them, and you love them too enough to not let them go!!!

God bless!*.

Contributed by: asharaj53 @ gmail.com

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Always Grab The First Opportunity

A young man wished to marry the farmer's beautiful daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission. The farmer looked him over and said,

"Son, go stand out in that field. I'm going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of any one of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter."

The young man stood in the pasture awaiting the first bull.

The barn door opened and out ran the biggest, meanest-looking bull he had ever seen. He decided that one of the next bulls had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass through the pasture out the back gate.

The barn door opened again. Unbelievable. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood pawing the ground, grunting, slinging slobber as it eyed him. Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one. He ran to the fence and let the bull pass through the pasture, out the back gate.

The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the weakest, scrawniest little bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He grabbed... but the bull had no tail!

Life is full of opportunities. Some will be easy to take advantage of, some will be difficult. But once we let them pass (often in hopes of something better), those opportunities may never again be available. So always grab the first opportunity..

Contributed by: james @ hmil.net

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Humanity

This incident is not from a film but a true and real one.

It is about a certain Mr Zavere Poonawala who is a well-known industrialist in Pune. He had this driver named Gangadatta with him for the last 30 years on his limousine, which was originally owned by Bhagwan Rajneesh which Mr Poonawala had bought from him.

Gangadatta passed away recently and at that time Mr Poonawala was in Mumbai for some important work.As soon as he heard the news he canceled all his meetings, requested the driver's family to await him for the cremation and came back immediately by a helicopter.

On reaching Poona he asked the limo to be decorated with flowers as he wished Gangadatta should be taken in the same car which he himself had driven since the beginning. When Gangadatta's family agreed to his wishes, he himself drove Gangadatta from his home up to the ghat on his last journey.

When asked Mr Poonawala was very sorrowful and replied that Gangadatta had served him day and night and he could at least do this being eternally grateful for him. He further added that Gangadatta rose up from poverty and educated both his children very well. His daughter is a Chartered accountant and that is so commendable.

His comment in the end is the essence of a successful life in all aspects. All earn money which is nothing unusual in that, but we should always be grateful to all those people who contribute for our success. This is the sanskara we have been brought up with which made me do what I did.

Don't you think that it is s a superb example of humanity?

If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded..

Contributed by: bharathig @ hpcl.co.in

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His work must be done, His way

Three soldiers, hungry and weary of battle, came upon a small village. The villagers, suffering a meagre harvest and the many years of war, quickly hid what little they had to eat and met the three at the village square, wringing their hands and bemoaning the lack of anything to eat.

The soldiers spoke quietly among themselves and the first soldier then turned to the village elders. "Your tired fields have left you nothing to share, so we will share what little we have: the secret of how to make soup from stones."

Naturally the villagers were intrigued and soon a fire was put to the town's greatest kettle as the soldiers dropped in three smooth stones. "Now this will be a fine soup", said the second soldier; "but a pinch of salt and some parsley would make it wonderful!" Up jumped a villager, crying "What luck! I've just remembered where some's been left!" And off she ran, returning with an apron full of parsley and a turnip. As the kettle boiled on, the memory of the village improved: soon barley, carrots, beef and cream had found their way into the great pot, and a cask of wine was rolled into the square as all sat down to feast.

They ate and danced and sang well into the night, refreshed by the feast and their new-found friends. In the morning the three soldiers awoke to find the entire village standing before them. At their feet lay a satchel of the village's best breads and cheese. "You have given us the greatest of gifts: the secret of how to make soup from stones", said an elder, "and we shall never forget." The third soldier turned to the crowd, and said:

"There is no secret, but this is certain: it is only by sharing that we may make a feast".

And off the soldiers wandered, down the road.

Contributed by: bsundaran @ yahoo.com

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