There is a funny story
in circulation about an optimistic farmer who couldn't wait to greet each new
day with a resounding, "Good morning, God!" He lived near a woman whose
morning greeting was more like, "Good God... morning?" They were each a trial
to the other. Where he saw opportunity, she saw problems. Where he was
satisfied, she was
discontented.
One bright
morning he exclaimed, "Look at the beautiful sky! Did you see that glorious
sunrise?"
"Yeah," she
countered. "It'll probably get so hot the crops will
scorch!"
During an afternoon
shower, he commented, "Isn't this wonderful? Mother Nature is giving the corn
a drink today!"
"And if it
doesn't stop before too long," came the sour reply, "we'll wish we'd taken
out flood insurance on the
crops!"
Convinced that he
could instill some awe and wonder in her hardened attitude, he bought a
remarkable dog. Not just any mutt, but the most expensive, highly-trained and
gifted dog he could find. The animal was exquisite! It could perform
remarkable and impossible feats which, the farmer thought, would
surely amaze even his neighbor. So he invited her to watch his
dog perform.
"Fetch!" he
commanded, as he tossed a stick out into a lake, where it bobbed up and down
in the rippling water. The dog bounded after the stick, walked ON the water,
and retrieved it.
"What do you
think of that?" he asked,
smiling.
"Hmmm," she frowned.
"Can't swim, can he?"
Sometimes I think that negative thoughts are the world's most communicative
diseases. More catching than any known virus, and just as deadly. But an
attitude of awe and wonder can be just as
contagious!
