There is an old saying.

"There are three things that cannot be recalled
- a spent arrow
- a spoken work, and
- a lost opportunity."

That last word reminds me of a saying which a friend of
mine is very fond:

"The trouble with opportunities is that they always look
much better going than coming."

Don't let one go by today.




It was some time since the Lady of the House had seen
Marjorie and when she called she found her friend had
a new dog - a large mongerel called Buster.

Marjorie was in fact, eating her dinner and put it down
on a low table while she talked.

"Mind Buster doesn't eat it," warned the Lady of the
House.

"Oh, Buster won't touch it," came the confident reply
"I've been taking him to dog training classes. He'll
only take it if I say 'Buster, take!' "

At that, Buster finished off her dinner in two gulps!

There was an old Indian story of a woman suffering from inconsolable grief who went to a holy man for help.

He thought for some time and then said, "Take this bowl and visit every house in the city. From each house where sorrow has not entered, beg one grain of rice. When your
bowl is full, your sorrow will have disappeard."

Months later, she visited him again. Her bowl was still empty but on her face was a look of serenity.

"I could find no home where sorrow had not entered," shesaid. "But as my heart went out in sympathy, so the pain went from it.

Years ago on a winter's night, the dining room of a large
house in North America was brilliantly lit and the table
set for a meal. All the guests were ready except one. A
servant said that he had arrived an hour before and been
shown to a room where he could wash and rest before
dinner. At last the host excused himself and went
upstairs to find the missing guest.

On his way he had to pass the nursery and there was a
man, a baby astride his foot. He was "riding the child
to Boston" and singing lustily, to the delight of another
small child standing by. When he saw his host, he finished the song and then rose to bid the children goodnight.

The father said to the children, "Say 'Goodnight and
thank you, General George Washington.' "

And so they called "Goodnight" to a great man
- a man humble enough to forget his dinner and his
fellow guests in order to sing and play with the
children

A Vicar met one of his flock in the street and said to
him, "I didn't see you in church on Sunday - In fact,
I hear you were playing golf instead."

Came the honest reply:
"That's not true, Vicar - and I've got the fish to
prove it!"

HENRY WARD BEECHER, the famous American preacher, used to tell the story of an unemployed stonemason who went to Brooklyn in search of work.

Finding a large building in the course of construction,
he approached the foreman and asked him for work. The
foreman gave him a small piece of a large design and
told him to carve it in stone.

When he had completed the work, he took it to the
foreman who gave him another similar task. This went on
for some time and the mason felt a little disappointed
that he wasn't given something bigger to do, but he
carried on putting all his skill and effort into these
small pieces.

When at last the building was completed and the
scaffolding removed, showing the building in all its
splendour, the mason was astonished to find that all
his small pieces of his work, which at the time
seemed insignificant, had been fitted together to make
one of the outstanding features on the front of the
building.

Overcome with emotion he cried, "I'm glad I did it well!
I'm glad I did it well!"

Like that mason, we may often think the small deeds we
do don't matter very much. This story shows, how wrong
we can be.