Many years ago there was a Catholic monk who needed olive oil, so he planted an olive tree sapling. After he finished planting it, he prayed, “Lord, my tree needs rain so it’s tender roots may drink and grow. Send gentle showers.” And the Lord sent gentle showers. Then the monk prayed, “Lord, my tree needs sun. Please send it sun.” And the sun shone gilding the once dripping clouds. “Now send frost dear Lord to strengthen it’s branches,” cried the monk. And soon the little tree was covered in sparkling frost, but by that evening it had died.

Then the monk sought out a brother monk in his cell and told him of the strange experience. After hearing the story, the other monk said, “I too have planted a little tree. See how it is thriving! But I entrust my tree to it’s God. He who made it knows better than a man like me what it needs. I gave God no constraints or conditions, except to pray, “Lord, send what it needs – be it sunshine, wind, rain or frost. You made it and You know what it needs.”

Let us not pray for what we want, but let us pray for what God wants for us. And remember that we are to come to Him as a child and that God answers all prayers, but sometimes the answer is “No” because He knows better what we need!

See how the lilies of the field grow. (Matt 6:28)

There was this magician of some repute who was hired to do his act aboard a cruise ship. He had been there for several years and since the crowd was in continual change he did the same act over and over.

One day the Captain bought a parrot and over the months brought the parrot with him to see the nightly magic show.

Being a smart parrot the bird learned all the tricks as to where the cards, flower, etc were hidden by the magician in his act. Because the bird would say, “the card is up his left sleeve, the flower is under the pot, he hid the money under his shoe, etc.” the magician was FORCED to continually learn new tricks which was getting harder and harder by the day.

To put it mildly he HATED THAT PARROT, but since it was the Captains he didn’t want to weigh the bird down and deep six it overboard.

Late one night the engine room exploded and the ship sank within minutes. Miraculously, the magician found himself clinging to a timber, floating in the water at 0200 dark in the morning. He was the only one left alive.

But to his chagrin, resting on his shoulder was the annoying Parrot.

They glared at each other and said nothing. This went on for three days and neither said a word, just glared.

On the Fourth Day the Parrot finally broke the silence and said, “OK! I give up – what did you do with the ship!”

Sometimes we look at God as a magician, with all kinds of tricks up His sleeve. We think we have come to completely understand Him. But Isaiah 55:8 says “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. So next time trouble comes your way… don’t blame God. It was Satan who afflicted Job, not God. But God allowed it so that Job might prove his mettle. It is through the fires of life that we are purified. If your ship is sinking, maybe God is allowing you an opportunity to rest on his shoulder.

One morning I wasted nearly an hour watching a tiny ant carry a huge feather across my back terrace. Several times it was confronted by obstacles in its path and after a momentary pause it would make the necessary detour.

At one point the ant had to negotiate a crack in the concrete about 10mm wide. After brief contemplation the ant laid the feather over the crack, walked across it and picked up the feather on the other side then continued on its way.

I was fascinated by the ingenuity of this ant, one of God’s smallest creatures. It served to reinforce the miracle of creation. Here was a minute insect, lacking in size yet equipped with a brain to reason, explore, discover and overcome. But this ant, like the two-legged co-residents of this planet, also shares human failings.

After some time the ant finally reached its destination – a flower bed at the end of the terrace and a small hole that was the entrance to its underground home. And it was here that the ant finally met its match.

How could that large feather possibly fit down that small hole? Of course it couldn’t. So the ant, after all this trouble and exercising great ingenuity, overcoming problems all along the way, just abandoned the feather and went home.

The ant had not thought the problem through before it began its epic journey and in the end the feather was nothing more than a burden.

Isn’t life like that! We worry about our family, we worry about money or the lack of it, we worry about work, about where we live, about all sorts of things. These are all burdens – the things we pick up along life’s path and lug them around the obstacles and over the crevasses that life will bring, only to find that at the destination they are useless and we can’t take them with us.

Yes, indeed there’s so much to learn from the ANT.
Proverbs 6:6-8.

-Author Unknown