Toys or Manure?

A Story:

So, there is a married couple who are parents to twins. The twins are POLAR opposites of each other. One child is always pessimisstic, negative... a real downer; nothing can ever really seem to make him happy and he has no strive to reach for the stars. The other child, on the other hand, is extremely optimistic, happy and positive... nothing can ever bring him down; he's the kinda of kid that not only wants to be president someday, but he was to be president of the GALAXY.

The parents have a hard time dealing with the two extremes. It's hard for them to understand how one child can always have the "woe is me" mind set, while the other is always "happy happy, joy joy!" They decided that they would try to do something to lessen the two extremes.

For the first child, they filled a big room full of all the latest and greatest toys. They put the child in that room, and told him, "All the toys in this room are for you and only you! You don't have to share with anyone! So go in there, open them and have some fun!" They close the door behind them, but staying close by to listen for a reaction from within the room. They just KNOW this will cheer him up! After a few minutes, they hear the child sigh. A couple minutes later, they hear a small whimper, almost like a child crying quietly. They think, "Oh no, maybe he's hurt." So, the parents opened the door to see what could possibly be wrong. The child is sitting there on the floor with some toys open around him... he had obviously taken some out to try. The parents ask him, "Honey, what's wrong?" The boy responds, "There's got to be at least one toy in here that's going to end up breaking."

The parents are confused by the child's reaction, so they move on to the next child. For the second child, they fill another room with the stinkiest, most foul-smelling cow manure they could find. Then they put the child in the room and told him, "All you get to play with is this stinky manure today." The child sits looking a bit confused and the parents leave the room, closing the door behind them. This will HAVE to make him unhappy! Once again, they stay close as to hear how the child reacts. After a few minutes, they hear the child laughing and shouting joyfulling. Very confused, they open the door to see what's going on. The child is completely burried in the manure; only his shoes can still be seen. The parents rush over and pull him out, asking, "What are you doing?! Why are you digging through the manure?!" The [now very dirty] child smiles widely and says, "I just KNOW there HAS to be a pony in here somewhere!!"

Moral of the story:
Are you going to sit around all of your life just waiting for things to break? Or, are you gonna jump right into the crap that surrounds you, digging nice and deep, in order to find that treasure you know is waiting for you?



My teacher shared this story with us in class today. It really hit close to home.

Then, there was also Pastor John's message that he shared with the youth last night. It also hit very close to home.

I have my seasons of highs and lows. I've been in a low for a while now. But I don't WANT to be anymore. I'm gonna try my hardest to DIG through all this manure to FIND that pony that I just KNOW is waiting for me! And, as long as I depend on my Heavenly FATHER to help me and to give me strength, I KNOW I can do it. It's when I turn my focus from Him, that my doubts, hurts and pains begin to conquer. I can't let that happen.