THE ANT
-------

This story is interesting.  Perhaps we should stop & ponder
for a few minutes.  What are we really looking for in life?  
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.

__________________________________________




It's the Journey. . ."

      We convince ourselves that life will be better after
we get married, have a baby, then another.  Then we're frustrated
that the kids aren't old enough and convince ourselves that we'll be
more content when they are.  After that we're frustrated that we
have teenagers to deal with.  But, we'll certainly be happier when
they're out of that stage and the house.  We tell ourselves that our
life will be complete when our spouse gets promoted,  when we get a
bigger house, nicer car, are able to go on longer vacations, when we
finally
retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now.
If not now, when?  Your life will always be filled with challenges.
It's best to accept this and decide to be happy anyway.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D. Souza.  He said,
"For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin 
- real life.  But there was always some obstacle in the way, 
something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, 
time still to be served, a debt to be paid.  Then life would begin.
At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life." This
perspective helps us see that there is no way to happiness.
Happiness  is the way.  So, treasure every moment that you have.  
And treasure it more because you shared it with someone special,
a person special enough to spend your time with...and remember 
that time waits for no one...

So stop waiting until you finish school or go back to school, 
until you lose ten pounds or  gain ten pounds, until you have
kids or until they leave the house, until you start work or retire 
from it, until you get married or get divorced, until Friday night 
or Monday morning, until you get a new home or a new car, until your
home or car is paid off, until spring or summer or winter or fall, 
until you have some money or until you have no more, until the first 
or fifteenth, until you've had a drink or until you've sobered up, 
until you die or until you are born again to decide that there is 
no better time than right now to be happy...


Happiness is the journey, not the destination.


Thought for everyday:

Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one watching...