Posts tagged best

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Not knowing the only restaurant with the best steak in town.

“Now your patient is his mother’s son.

While working your hardest, quite rightly, on other fronts, you must not neglect a little quiet infiltration in respect of gluttony.


Being a male, he is not so likely to be caught by the ‘All I want’ camouflage.

Males are best turned into gluttony with the help of their vanity.


They ought to be made to think themselves very knowing about food, to pique themselves on having found the only restaurant in the town where steaks are really ‘properly cooked.

What begins as vanity can then be gradually turned into habit.”  C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters

…the calamity of vanity.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to not knowing the only restaurant with the best steak in town.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

The best nest.

“Mr. Bird was happy.  He was so happy he had to sing.  


This was Mr. Bird’s song:

“I love my house.  I love my nest.  In all the world my nest is best!”


Then Mrs. Bird came out of the house.

“It’s NOT the best nest!” she said.  ”I’m tired of this old place,” said Mrs. Bird. “I hate it.  Let’s look for a new place right now!”

So they left the old place to look for a new one.


“This place looks nice,” said Mr. Bird.  ”Let’s move in here.”

But somebody else had already moved in.  So they looked at another house.

“This one looks nice,” said Mr. Bird.  ”And there’s nobody in it.”

“You’re wrong,” said Mrs. Bird.  ”This house belongs to a foot!”


So they went on looking.  ”I like this one,” said Mr. Bird.  ”It has a pretty red flag on the roof.”  

“I’ve always wanted a house with a flag,” said Mrs. Bird.  ”Maybe this place will be all right.”

But it was not all right!  

“I guess I made a mistake,” said Mr. Bird.


“You make too many mistakes,” said Mrs. Bird.  ”I’m going to pick the next house.  ”And here it is - right here!”  

They flew in.  They looked around. 

“Isn’t it too big?” asked Mr. Bird.  

“I like this big place,” said Mrs. Bird.  ”This is the place to build our new nest.”


They went right to work.  They needed many things to build their nest.  First they got some hay.  They got some soda straws and broom straws.  They got some sweater string.  They got some stocking string…and mattress stuffing. They got some horse hair.  They got some man hair.  

Soon they had all the hay, all the straw, all the string, all the stuffing, and all the man hair they could carry.  They took it all back to build their nest.

Mr. and Mrs. Bird worked very hard.  It took them the rest of the morning to finish their nest. 

“This nest is really the best!” said Mrs. Bird.  ”I want to stay here forever.”


Mr. Bird was very happy too.  He flew to the top of his house.  

He sang his song again:

“I love our house.  I love our nest.  In all the world our nest is best!”



He was so busy singing, he didn’t even see Mr. Parker coming.


Every day at twelve o’clock, Mr. Parker came to the church.  Mr. Parker came to pull a rope.  The rope went up the Birds’ new nest.  The rope rang the big bell right under Mrs. Bird’s nest.


BONG!  BONG!  BONG!


Mrs. Bird got out of there as fast as she could fly.


BONG!  BONG!  BONG!  BONG!  BONG!  BONG!  BONG!


When Mr. Bird came in all he could see was a mess of hay and string and stuffing and horse hair and man hair and straws.  

Where was Mrs. Bird?

“I will look for her until I find her,”  said Mr. Bird.  

He looked high.  He looked low.  He looked everywhere for Mrs. Bird.


He looked down into a chimney.  But Mrs. Bird wasn’t there.

He looked down into a water barrel.  But Mrs. Bird wasn’t there.  


Then he saw a big fat cat.  There was a big fat smile on the fat cat’s face. There were some pretty brown feathers near the fat cat’s mouth.

Mr. Bird began to cry.  ”Oh, dear!” he cried.  ”This big fat cat has eaten Mrs. Bird!”


Mr. Bird flew off.

“I’ll never see Mrs. Bird again,” he cried.


It was getting dark.  It began to rain.  It rained harder and harder.  Mr. Bird could not see where he was going.


Crash!

Mr. Bird bumped into something!


It was his old house - that old, old house that Mrs. Bird hated.  

“I’ll go inside,” said Mr. Bird.  ”I’ll rest here until the rain stops.”


Mr. Bird went in.  

And there was Mrs. Bird!  

Sitting there, singing!

“I love my house.  I love my nest.  In all the world my nest is best!”



“You!  Here!” gasped Mr. Bird.  ”I thought you hated this old nest!”


Mrs. Bird smiled.  ”I used to hate it,” she said.  ”But a mother bird can change her mind.

You see…there’s no nest like an old nest - for a brand new bird!”


And when the egg popped open, the new bird thought so too!”  P.D. Eastman, The Best Nest

Not even in the church.  









…there’s no nest like an old nest.

I have a GIVENNESS NOW to the best nest.

What do I have a GIVENNESS NOW to?

Where best friends won’t be left behind.

Why is “DOG” spelled backwards “GOD”?

I don’t know.  But I do know that dogs depict the nature of God.  


Our family dog was a beautiful tri-colored Beagle named “Freckles”.  We enjoyed her for 14 years.  I was somewhat surprised how much we grieved when she died a few months ago…especially me.  

My brother’s family dog was a beautiful black Labrador named “Emmy”.  They enjoyed her for 14 years, too.  And he was surprised, just as I was, of the grief, the sadness, the loss, when she died a few days ago.


Perhaps, I’m too “Franciscan” or “Narnian”.  

This story reminds me…I’m not:

A man and his dog were walking along a road.  The man was enjoying the scenery, when it suddenly occurred to him that he was dead.  He remembered dying, and that the dog walking beside him had been dead for years.  He wondered where the road was leading them.  After a while, they came to a high, white stone wall along one side of the road.

It looked like fine marble…At the top of a long hill, it was broken by a tall arch that glowed in the sunlight.  When he was standing before it, he saw a magnificent gate in the arch that looked like mother-of-pearl, and the  street that led to the gate looked like pure gold.

He and the dog walked toward the gate, and as he got closer, he saw a man at a desk to one side.

When he was close enough, he called out, ‘Excuse me, where are we?’

‘This is Heaven, Sir,’ the man answered.

‘Wow! Would you happen to have some water?’  the man asked.

‘Of course, Sir. Come right in, and I’ll have some ice water brought right up.’  The man gestured, and the gate began to open.

‘Can my friend,’ gesturing toward his dog, ‘come in, too?’ the traveler asked.

‘I’m sorry; Sir, but we don’t accept pets.’

The man thought a moment and then turned back toward the road and continued the way he had been going with his dog.

After another long walk, and at the top of another long hill, he came to a dirt road leading through a farm gate that looked as if it had never been closed.  There was no fence.  As he approached the gate, he saw a man inside, leaning against a tree and reading a book…..     

‘Excuse me!’ he called to the man. ‘Do you have any water?’

‘Yeah, sure, there’s a pump over there, come on in.’

‘How about my friend here?’ the traveler gestured to the dog.

‘There should be a bowl by the pump, ’ said the man.

They went through the gate, and sure enough, there was an old-fashioned hand pump with a bowl beside it.  The traveler filled the water bowl and took a long drink himself, then he gave some to the dog.  When they were full, he and the dog walked back toward the man who was standing by the tree.

‘What do you call this place?’ the traveler asked.

‘This is heaven,’ he answered.

‘Well, that’s confusing,’ the traveler said.

‘The man down the road said that was heaven, too.’

‘Oh, you mean the place with the gold street and pearly gates? Nope. That’s hell.’

‘Doesn’t it make you mad for them to use your name like that?’

‘No, we’re just happy that they screen out the folks who would leave their best friends behind.’


Fill the water bowl.

Take a long drink.


I have.

With Freckles.


I have a GIVENNESS NOW to a place where best friends won’t be left behind.