Vietnamese - English
Walter Elias froze with fascination.
A sensitive child, Walter had grown
up in the city until when he was five years old, his family moved to a farm.
One day, two years later, Walter was walking through an apple orchard when he
discovered, to his amazement, a owl perched on a low branch.
Remembering that his father had told
him that owls hunted at night but slept during the day, Walter crept quietly
towards the sleeping bird.
"What a wonderful pet this
funny creature would make," he thought to himself. So, sneaking right up
behind it, he stealthily reached up and seized it by the legs.
Whew! What a shock both were in for.
Terrified, the owl went berserk. Flapping wings frantically, screeching loudly,
and struggling furiously, it did everything in its power to escape.
Equally terrified, Walter panicked.
He clung to the bird for dear life. In utter terror, he eventually threw it to
the ground and stomped it to death. When the struggle ended and the pounding of
his heart subsided somewhat, Walter looked down at the broken and bloodied
bird...and cried.
Feeling terrible, he ran from the
orchard, but later returned to bury the owl. For months he dreamed of this bird
he had wanted for a pet but in terror had killed.
Too ashamed to tell anyone, he kept
his secret to himself. Only years later did he share it.
Perhaps it was this grief more than
anything else that helped make Walter the person he became. Never could he
bring that owl back to life but he made all the animals of the forest come
alive through his drawings and the wonderful entertainment center named after
himself.
Too
ashamed to tell anyone, he kept his secret to himself.
His full name? Walter Elias Disney.
Have you ever failed or felt as if
you had? Ever done something that you later felt terrible about? Or experienced
a business or personal setback that gave your self-concept a beating? Or gone
through a relationship breakdown that left you feeling less than whole? Or
perhaps experienced some physical hardship, handicap, sickness or mental
breakdown that devastated you?
If so, welcome to the human race.
When we fail or feel as though we have failed, we tend to think we are the odd
person out. It isn't so. Everyone of us has failed at something. We have all
faced setbacks at some time or another and felt as if we were going under. In
fact, everyone has a story.
My home fell apart when I was a
teenager. Eventually my parents divorced. In those days divorce was not
accepted as readily as it is today and I felt terribly ashamed and very
insecure.
And when it comes to doing wrong,
I've committed enough sins to know that I am less than perfect. I've known what
it is to struggle in business and be on the verge of going under. And I've
known years of family sickness and disaster too.
I can't say that I like trouble.
Neither am I a good sufferer. But this one thing I know: you and I can rise
above our failures, misfortunes, and negative circumstances.
Walt Disney turned his childhood
nightmare into a beautiful dream, which in turn became a reality. You and I can
do the same too, if we want to badly enough and will persevere. Not that it
comes easily. It rarely does. It didn't for Walt Disney either. Apparently he
went broke seven times and had a nervous breakdown before he realized his dreams
and became successful.
Here's how you, too, can turn a bad
days into good days:
·
Accept
yourself as human
First, accept yourself as human.
Realize that it's all right to fail and not feel okay. It's all part of the
human experience. You don't have to be perfect to be a worthwhile person. You
just need to be you.
·
Don't
stay down
Second, when you fall don't stay
down. Recognize that the only real failure is not to get up one more time than
you've been knocked down. So get up, determined with God's help that you are
going to make something worthwhile of your life and that you are going to
contribute something of value to mankind.
·
Learn
through your experiences
Third, learn through your trials and
failures. Turn them into learning experiences that you can use as stepping
stones on your pathway to fulfillment and success. Problems and failures can be
our greatest teachers.
·
Learn
to trust in God
Fourth, learn to trust in God.
Accept your disappointments as his appointments, knowing that he is seeking to
use these to draw you closer to himself and to enrich and mature your life. And
even if you don't feel like it, thank God for the lessons he is wanting to
teach you through your painful situations.
The
only real failure
is not to get up one more time than you've been knocked down.
is not to get up one more time than you've been knocked down.
·
Don't
quit
Fifth, don't quit. The story is told
about one concert the famed pianist, Paderewski, held. An air of expectancy
filled the crowded hall as the audience anxiously awaited the entrance of the
great musician.
A nine-year-old boy, impatient with
waiting and fascinated by the magnificent Steinway grand piano on center stage,
slipped away unnoticed from his parents and made his way to the platform.
After observing the beautiful
instrument in great detail, and totally oblivious to the packed house, the boy
sat down on the piano bench and began to play his rendition of his most
polished piece of music — "Chopsticks!"
At first there was deadly silence as
the audience gasped in amazement. Some began to snicker. Another called out in
anger, "Whose kid is that?" followed by the not too kind directive,
"Somebody get him out of here!"
Backstage, Paderewski looked up to
see what all the commotion was about. Quickly summing up the situation, he
quietly slipped alongside the boy and began to play a beautiful counter-harmony
around the child's "Chopsticks" melody.
"Keep playing," Paderewski
whispered to the boy. "Don't stop. Play on. You're doing magnificently.
Just don't quit!"
And that's exactly what Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, does for each one of us when we surrender our hearts
and lives to him. He sits down beside us, no matter what our situation, and
whispers, "Don't stop. Keep playing. Don't give up. I'm here beside you to
help you, to encourage you, to enrich your life. Just don't quit. Trust me and
I will make something beautiful out of your life."
Copyright © by Dick Innes
