Inspirational Short Story, Female Fantasy Art, Relaxing Music

I meant to do my work today

But a brown bird sang in an apple tree,

And a butterfly flitted across the field

And all the leaves were calling me.

-- Richard LeGallienne

The harried hen scurried about her house, trying to put it in order. Some friends she hadn't seen for years were due to arrive later that day, and she wanted everything perfect for them.

In a flurry, she made the bed, put away the dishes, and scrubbed the floor.

Oh dear, she thought in dismay, I meant to wash the sheets today. Frantically, she flew back to the bedroom and tore the sheets from the made bed.

Just then, a neighbor arrived and stood at hen's door, watching her anxiously rush about. "Dear hen," he said in a patient loving tone, for he was quite fond of her, "You will never enjoy your visit if you continue to race about.

Come. Sit and rest and tell me of these friends. Have you any snapshots?"

The hen did as her neighbor had suggested, and soon her friends arrived to find her relaxed, refreshed, and warm with the memories of them.

Courage is resistance to fear,

mastery of fear not absence of fear.

-- Mark Twain

It is not unusual to feel afraid. It is unusual, however, to hear anyone admit to feeling afraid.

Sometimes we think there are some people who are so cool and calm that they never feel afraid.

This may make us think we're not as good because we know how often we feel afraid.

This is why it is important to think about what courage really is.

It is not the absence of fear.

Courage is not letting fear stop us from doing what we need to do.

We might have to get up in front of a group to give a speech.

We could give in to our fear and not give the speech, or we could admit our fear to those who love us, and then go ahead and do the best we can.

To go ahead in the face of fear is courage.

"The horror of that moment," the King went on,

"I shall never forget." "You will, though," the Queen said,

"if you don't make a memorandum of it."

-- Lewis Carroll

Crises come in many forms. When we are in the middle of any kind of crisis, we may feel like we have fallen into a deep hole.

We may see no way out, and begin to feel hopeless and overwhelmed by the size and darkness of the hole.

Yet we are not alone.

An animal caught in a hole would cry out until someone came along and helped it out.

We, too, can call out for help -- to our Higher Power and to the important people in our lives.

We can learn to trust that, with the help of our friends and our Higher Power, we will be able to crawl out of our holes.

With trust, we will climb out of our crises and be healed with the passage of time.

Such holes are a part of our landscape, ...

... yet every time we will be able to climb out and walk, leaving the darkness behind us.

_______________

11/06/2024

Graphics from Gran Gran's This and That Page (dead link 2002)

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