Rings

A little boy was in a relative's wedding. As he was coming down the aisle he would take two steps, stop, and turn to the crowd (alternating between bride's side and groom's side). While facing the crowd, he would put his hands up like claws and roar... So it went, step, step, ROAR, step, step, ROAR all the way down the aisle.

As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit.

The little boy, however, was getting more and more distressed from all the laughing, and was also near tears by the time he reached the pulpit.

When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and said, "I was being the Ring Bear...."

Hello, folks. I so enjoy meandering through the many articles you have, and today I particularly enjoyed the lighthearted and sweet stories of the behavior of children: the ring bear and the little boy who prayed for a new bicycle.

I'm not expecting you to print the story about my old bicycle, but I just want to share it because I think the things that affect us in childhood stay with us all our lives. I was a sickly child and couldn't play outside very much without having a terrible bouts with asthma. Through many years of shots and medication I finally outgrew all evidence of this awful disease, but it left me permanently weakened in that I tire very easily if I overdo. This sort of existence is very lonely for an only child, but I had my dolls and make-believe friends and storybooks to keep me company on the many days I couldn't go to school.

By the time I was ten years old I really, really wanted a bicycle. My parents wondered if this were a good idea considering my health, but the real issue was that we simply didn't have the money for extras. But the topic of a bicycle for me was discussed quietly when they thought I was asleep. As I listened at the living room door, I heard my parents and grandparents discussing the problem of buying a bicycle, and my grandfather said he would do a paint contracting job for a man he knew who owned a bicycle shop.

So they made a trade, and I was told that on my tenth birthday I'd get the new bike. I remember sitting on the front steps watching the road near our house, and soon I saw a black pickup truck coming up the road and there was a bicycle in the back! I was overjoyed and rode up and down our road the rest of that day while my family looked on and smiled. Neighborhood children came out for a look, and I let them have rides on my new treasure.

I rode that bicycle for most of my life until it finally ended up in our basement when it became almost impossible to find parts and large tires. I sometimes regret that I gave the bicycle away once I was into middle age, and every once in a while when I climb onto my new and lighter weight bicycle to go off on an errand I think of my old bike and the fun I had with it. It brings home the point to me that so often we lose the childish joy over little things as we get older, and we certainly lose an apprebliption of simple pleasures. I feel like Steve does when he wants to go back to Dinky Land and play cars with the other kids. I wish I could go back and play with the neighborhood kids on my old green bicycle. - Jan L.

The Trouble Tree

The carpenter I hired to help me restore an old farmhouse had just finished a rough first day on the job. A flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric saw quit and now his ancient pickup truck refused to start. While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked topiano coversd the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation. His tanned face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss. Afterpiano coversd, he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier. "Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied. "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and children. So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home. Then in the morning I pick them up again."  

"Funny thing is," he smiled, "when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."      (author unknown)

Psalm 127:3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of the womb is his repiano coversd....
5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them...

Proverbs 18:22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD.