Never give up

 Dear Family in Christ, 

I pray you will find the following message helpful….

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Once upon a time, there was a donkey.

It was a  stubborn old donkey and even the farmer who owned it didn’t like him.

The farmer owned a large property and one day he heard in the distance the loud, distinctive “eye-ore, eye-ore” of the donkey.  He wondered what the stubborn donkey had done now, so he looked all over his property until at last he found the animal at the bottom of an old abandoned well.

Exasperated, the farmer rang his neighbours and asked them each to bring a shovel.  He’d had enough of the stubborn donkey, so he had decided to bury it in the well.

All of his friends came over and together they started to shovel dirt into the well.  At first, the donkey protested loudly, crying out with all of his might, but after about 10 minutes, he stopped.

The farmers kept shovelling.

After a while, someone decided to have a look into the well to see what had happened to the donkey.  What he saw astonished him.

Instead of being buried, the donkey would dodge the incoming dirt, standing on the ever-increasing mound. 

Now the mission changed and the farmers went from trying to bury the donkey to trying to save him, shovelling more and more dirt into the abandoned well until he jumped out of the top victorious. 

Upon his release, the farmers all dropped their shovels and applauded the old stubborn beast with a newfound admiration.

There are times in life when it seems as though we are that donkey.  Trapped and feeling as though life is trying to bury us.  Don’t go under, but continue to find a way to overcome your challenges one at a time until you too emerge victorious.

(the previous story is from https://betterlifecoachingblog.com)

In the parable of the sower sowing seeds.  We all are familiar with this Gospel where the word of God is being spread to the hearts of people and compared to a farmer spreading seeds.  We understand that this parable explains that our hearts must become the good soil to allow the seeds God has planted to grow and flourish.

You see when we are inspired by Christ to follow Him things at first may seem easy, however soon enough, it can become harder and harder for us to be good and prayerful Christians.  One of the most important ingredients to the soil of our heart we must learn is persistence leading to perseverance. 

   

A baby doesn't give up every time he falls when he's learning how to walk. He pulls himself up and tries again. In fact, he never stops trying to walk. He keeps trying for as long as it takes. It never occurs to him that he might fail. So he repeats the process in spite of the bruises and bumps along the way.

Failure is simply a price we pay to succeed.

Winston Churchhill said in facing the enemy of the Nazis “ never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never-give in, nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Never give up! Like the donkey in the story, find a way!  Persist and persevere in your Chistian struggle my brothers and sisters and your heart will be good soil for the seeds of God.  This good soil in our hearts will take the seeds of God planted and help you to live a fulfilled life with Christ.  They will also lead to the triumph of eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven.

Amen

In Christ's Love 

Fr Ted Toppses