St. Michaels Catholic Church at Corner of W. High St. and Antwerp Dr., Hicksville, OH 43526 US - Sometimes with Laughter the Best Medicine
| Sometimes with Laughter the Best Medicine |
Again more emails it seems like there is always another one out there.
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"Where Is God"
A couple had two little boys ages 8 and 10, who were excessively mischievous.
They were always getting into trouble and their parents said that if any mischief occurred in their town, the sons were probably involved.
The boys' mother heard that a clergyman in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys.
The clergyman agree but asked to see them individually.
So the mother sent her 8-year-old first, in the morning, with the older
boy to see the clergyman in the afternoon.
The clergyman, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Where is God?"
The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there with his mouth hanging open, wide-eyed. So the clergyman repeated the question in an even sterner tone,
"Where is God!!?"
Again the boy made no attempt to answer. So the clergyman raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed,
"WHERE IS GOD!?"
The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.
When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?
The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied,
"We are in BIG trouble this time, dude.
God is missing and they think WE did it!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Subject: Puppies
A client brought a litter of golden-retriever puppies to my veterinary clinic for inoculations and worming.
As the look-alike pups squirmed over and under one another in their box, I realized it would be difficult to tell the treated ones from the rest.
I turned on the water faucet, wet my fingers, and moistened each dog's head when I had finished.
After the fourth puppy, I noticed my hitherto talkative client had grown silent.
As I sprinkled the last pup's head, the woman leaned forward and whispered,
"I didn't know they had to be baptized."
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Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."
* * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * *
Teacher Debbie Moon's first graders were discussing a picture of a family.
One little boy in the picture had a different color hair than the other family members.
One child suggested that he was adopted and a little girl said, "I know all about adoptions because I was adopted."
"What does it mean to be adopted?" asked another child.
"It means," said the girl, "that you grew in your mommy's heart instead of her tummy."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A four year old was at the pediatrician for a check up. As the doctor looked down her ears with an otoscope, he asked,
"Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?"
The little girl stayed silent. Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked,
"Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down there"
Again, the little girl was silent. Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heart beat, he asked,
"Do you think I'll hear Barney in there?"
"Oh, no!" the little girl replied.
"Jesus is in my heart.
Barney's on my underpants."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As I was driving home from work one day, I stopped to watch a local
Little League baseball game that was being played in a park near my home. As I sat down behind the bench on the first-base line, I asked one of the boys what the score was.
"We're behind 14 to nothing," he
answered with a smile.
"Really," I said. "I have to say you don't look very discouraged."
"Discouraged?" the boy asked with a puzzled look on his face.
"Why should we be discouraged? We haven't been up to bat yet."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Whenever I'm disappointed with my spot in life, I stop and think about little Jamie Scott.
Jamie was trying out for a part in a school play.
His mother told me that he'd set his heart on being in it, though she
feared he would not be chosen..
On the day the parts were awarded, I
went with her to collect him after school.
Jamie rushed up to her, eyes shining with pride and excitement.
"Guess what Mom," he shouted, and then said those words that will remain a lesson to me:
"I've been chosen to clap and cheer."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
A lesson in "heart" is my little 10 year old daughter, Sarah, who was born with a muscle missing in her foot and wears a brace all the time.
She came home one beautiful spring day to tell me she had competed in "field day" - that's where they have lots of races and other competitive events. Because of her leg support, my mind raced as I tried to think of
encouragement for my Sarah, things I could say to her about not letting this get her down, but before I could get a word out, she said:
"Daddy, I won two of the races!" I couldn't believe it! And then Sarah said, "I had an advantage." Ah. I knew it. I thought she must have been given a head start... some kind of physical advantage.
But again, before I could say anything, she said,
"Daddy, I didn't get a head start... My
advantage was I had to try harder!"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
An Eye Witness Account from New York City, on a cold day in December:
A little boy about 10 years old was standing before a shoe store on the
roadway, barefooted, peering through the window, and shivering with cold.
A lady approached the boy and said, "My little fellow, why are you looking so earnestly in that window?"
"I was asking God to give me a pair of shoes," was the boy's reply. The lady took him by the hand and went into the store and asked the clerk to get half a dozen pairs of socks for the boy.
She then asked if he could give her a basin of water and a towel. He quickly brought them to her.
She took the little fellow to the back part of the store and, removing her gloves, knelt down, washed his little feet, and dried them with a towel.
By this time the clerk had returned with the socks.. Placing a pair upon the boy's feet, she purchased him a pair of shoes.
She tied up the remaining pairs of
socks and gave them to him. She patted him on the head and said,
"No doubt, my little fellow, you feel more comfortable now?" As she turned
to go, the astonished lad caught her by the hand, and looking up in her face, with tears in his eyes, answered the question with these words:
"Are you God's Wife?"
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
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Grace before Meals
An old farmer visited a neighboring mansion on business and was asked to stay for lunch.
Noting that his well-to-do companions began to eat as soon as they sat down, the old man bowed his head and quietly said grace to himself. When he looked up, his host was smiling indulgently. "Do many of the people around here still follow such an old-fashioned custom?" remarked the rich man in a teasing way. "Isn't there anyone nearby sufficiently enlightened not to parade their prayers at table?"
The farmer thought a moment and then said, "Well, I reckon there are some over at my place who never pray over their food."
"College graduates, no doubt?" "No, sir," said the farmer, "my pigs."
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Worrying?
Is there a magic cutoff period when offspring become accountable for
their own actions?
Is there a wonderful moment when parents can become detached spectators in the lives of their children and shrug,"It's their life," and feel nothing? When I was in my twenties, I stood in a hospital corridor waiting for doctors to put a few stitches in my son's head.
I asked, "When do you stop worrying?" The nurse said, "When they get out
of the accident stage."
My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my thirties, I sat on a little chair in a classroom and heard how one of my children talked incessantly, disrupted the class,
and was headed for a career making license plates.
As if to read my mind, a teacher said,
"Don't worry, they all go through this stage and then you can sit back, relax and enjoy them."
My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
When I was in my forties, I spent a lifetime waiting for the phone to ring, the cars to come home, the front door to open. A friend said, "They're trying to find themselves. Don't worry in a few years, you can stop worrying. They'll be adults."
My mother just smiled faintly and said
nothing.
By the time I was 50, I was sick & tired of being vulnerable.I was still worrying over my children, but there was a new wrinkle--there was nothing I could do about it.
My mother just smiled faintly and said nothing.
I continued to anguish over their failures, be tormented by their frustrations and absorbed in their disappointments.My friends said that
when my kids got married I could stop worrying and lead my own life.
I wanted to believe that, but I was haunted by my mother's wan smile and
her occasional, "You look pale.
Are you all right? Call me the minute you get home. Are you depressed about something?"
Can it be that parents are sentenced to a lifetime of worry? Is concern for
one another handed down like a torch to blaze the trail of human frailties and the fears of the unknown? Is concern a curse or is it a virtue that elevates us to the highest form of life?
One of my children became quite irritable recently, saying to me,
"Where were you? I've been calling for 3 days,and no one answered. I was worried."
I smiled a wan smile.
The torch has been passed.
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CHILDREN
Author and lecturer LEO BUSCAGLIA once talked
about a contest he was asked to judge.
The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.
The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an
elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife.
Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old
gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.
When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor,
the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry."