Hello Steve, I love this one. It's beautiful. Thanks for sharing. Original message: > THE WATER > It was one of the hottest days of the dry season. We had not seen rain in > almost a month. The crops were dying. Cows had stopped giving milk. The > creeks and streams were long gone back into the earth. It was a dry season > that would bankrupt several farmers before it was through. Every day, my > husband and his brothers would go about the arduous process of trying to get > water to the fields. Lately this process had involved taking a truck to the > local water rendering plant and filling it up with water. But severe > rationing had cut everyone off. If we didn't see some rain soon...we would > lose everything. It was on this day that I learned the true lesson of > sharing and witnessed the only miracle I have seen with my own eyes. I was > in the kitchen making lunch for my husband and his brothers when I saw my > six-year old son, Billy, walking toward the woods. He wasn't walking with > the usual carefree abandon of a youth but with a serious purpose. I could > only see his back. He was obviously walking with a great effort...trying to > be as still as possible. Minutes after he disappeared into the woods, he > came running out again, toward the house. I went back to making sandwiches; > thinking that whatever task he had been doing was completed. Moments later, > however, he was once again walking in that slow purposeful stride toward the > woods. > This activity went on for an hour: walk carefully to the woods, run back to > the house. Finally I couldn't take it any longer and I crept out of the > house and followed him on his journey (being very careful not to be > seen...as he was obviously doing important work and didn't need his Mommy > checking up on him). He was cupping both hands in front of him as he > walked; being very careful not to spill the water he held in them...maybe > two or three tablespoons were held in his tiny hands. I sneaked close as he > went into the woods. Branches and thorns slapped his little face but he did > not try to avoid them. He had a much higher purpose. As I leaned in to spy > on him, I saw the most amazing site. Several large deer loomed in front of > him. Billy walked right up to them. I almost screamed for him to get away. > A huge buck with elaborate antlers was dangerously close. But the buck did > not threaten him...he didn't even move as Billy knelt down. And I saw a > tiny fawn laying on the ground, obviously suffering from dehydration and > heat exhaustion, lift its head with great effort to lap up the water cupped > in my beautiful boy's hand. > When the water was gone, Billy jumped up to run back to the house and I hid > behind a tree. I followed him back to the house; to a spigot that we had > shut off the water to. Billy opened it all the way up and a small trickle > began to creep out. He knelt there, letting the drip, drip slowly fill up > his makeshift "cup," as the sun beat down on his little back. And it came > clear to me. The trouble he had gotten into for playing with the hose the > week before. The lecture he had received about the importance of not > wasting water. The reason he didn't ask me to help him. > It took almost twenty minutes for the drops to fill his hands. When he > stood up and began the trek back, I was there in front of him. His little > eyes just filled with tears. "I'm not wasting," was all he said. As he > began his walk, I joined him...with a small pot of water from the kitchen. > I let him tend to the fawn. I stayed away. It was his job. I stood on the > edge of the woods watching the most beautiful heart I have ever known > working so hard to save another life. As the tears that rolled down my face > began to hit the ground, they were suddenly joined by other drops...and more > drops...and more. I looked up at the sky. It was as if God, himself, was > weeping with pride. Some will probably say that this was all just a huge > coincidence. That miracles don't really exist. That it was bound to rain > sometime. And I can't argue with that...I'm not going to try. All I can > say is that the rain that came that day saved our farm...just like that > actions of one little boy saved another.
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