Published 8- 30-10
ON TODAY'S SITE:

Parable of the old dog, Marian Wright Edelman, Harold Duarte-Bernhardt, a proverb

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Photo by Stephen Bowman     All rights reserved



The parable is told of an old dog that fell into a farmer's
well. After assessing the situation, the farmer sympathized
with the dog but decided that neither the dog nor the well
were worth the trouble saving. Instead, he planned to bury
the old dog in the well and put him out of his misery.

When the farmer began shoveling, initially the old dog was
hysterical. But as the farmer continued shoveling and the
dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It dawned on him that
every time a shovel load of dirt landed on on his back he
should shake it off and step up. This he did blow after blow.
"Shake it off and step up, shake it off and step up, shake
it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself.

No matter how painful the blows or how distressing the
situation seemed, the old dog fought panic and just kept
shaking it off and stepping up! It was not long before the
dog, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over
the wall of that well. What seemed as though it would
bury him actually benefited him--all because
of the way he handled his adversity.

If we face our problems and respond to them positively,
refusing to give in to panic, bitterness, or self-pity, the
adversities that come along to bury us usually have within
them the potential to bless us! Forgiveness, faith, prayer,
praise, and hope are some of the biblical ways to shake it
off and step up out of the wells in which we find ourselves.

Citation: Submitted by Bruce Shelley
Excerpted from "Perfect Illustrations,"
Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 2002

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We must not, in trying to think about how we can make
a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we
can make which, over time, add up to big differences
that we often cannot foresee.


Marian Wright Edelman (1939 -  )
American activist for children
 

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We are all broken and wounded in this world.
Some choose to grow strong at the broken places.


Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt (1950 - )
Argentinean born American motivational speaker