Chapter 45
Angels On Earth
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Today's Empowering Quote
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"If you want others to be happy,
practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice
compassion."
-Dalai Lama
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Today's Empowering Question
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"Who helped me when I needed it most
desperately? How did it make me feel?"
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Today's Fast Session
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The quick story below is possibly the
most uplifting and motivating I have ever read in my life. At
the end I have a message for you.
Do yourself a favor. Read this
story when you can be by yourself, not when you have someone
breathing down your back. Trust me. See you at the
bottom.
...Don't major in the minors.
At a fundraising dinner for a school
that serves learning-disabled children, the father of one of the
school's students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten
by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its
dedicated staff, he offered a question. "Everything God does is done
with perfection. Yet, my son, Shay, cannot learn things as
other children do. He cannot understand things as other
children do. Where is God's plan reflected in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query.
The father continued. "I believe," the
father answered, "that when God brings a child like Shay into the
world, an opportunity to realize the Divine Plan presents itself.
And it comes in the way people treat that child."
Then, he told the following story:
Shay and I walked past a park where
some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do you think
they will let me play?" Shay's father knew that most boys would not
want him on their team. But the father understood that if his son
were allowed to play it would give him a much-needed sense of
belonging.
Shay's father approached one of the
boys on the field and asked if Shay could play. The boy looked
around for guidance from his teammates. Getting none, he took
matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six runs, and
the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our
team and we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth
inning."
In the bottom of the eighth inning,
Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.
At the top of the ninth inning, Shay
put on a glove and played in the outfield. Although no hits
came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be on the field,
grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning,
Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and the bases loaded,
the potential winning run was on base.
Shay was scheduled to be the next
at-bat.
Would the team actually let Shay bat
at this juncture and give away their chance to win the game?
Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.
Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't
even know how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the
ball. However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a
few steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able
to make contact.
The first pitch came and Shay swung
clumsily and missed.
The pitcher again took a few steps
forward to toss the ball softly toward Shay. As the pitch came in,
Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could easily have thrown
the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and
that would have ended the game.
Instead, the pitcher took the ball and
threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of the first
baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first.
Run to first."
Never in his life had Shay ever made
it to first base. He scampered down the baseline, wide-eyed
and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run to second!"
By the time Shay was rounding first
base, the right fielder had the ball. He could have thrown the ball
to the second baseman for a tag. But the right fielder
understood what the pitcher's intentions had been, so he threw the
ball high and far over the third baseman's head.
Shay ran toward second base as the
runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases towards home.
As Shay reached second base, the
opposing shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third
base, and shouted, "Run to third!"
As Shay rounded third, the boys from
BOTH teams were screaming, "Shay! Run home!"
Shay ran home, stepped on home plate
and was cheered as the hero, for hitting a "grand slam" and winning
the game for his team.
"That day," said the father softly
with tears now rolling down his face, "the boys from both teams
helped bring a piece of the Divine Plan into this world."
And now, a footnote to the story.
We all have thousands of opportunities a day to help realize God's
plan. So many seemingly trivial interactions between two
people present us with a choice: Do we pass along a spark of the
Divine? Or do we pass up that opportunity, and leave the world a bit
colder in the process?
I'm back.
Wasn't that incredible?
The first time I read it, I missed
something important. I don't want you to miss it.
Shay had played baseball a number of
times. Before that day, no one had gone out of their way to
help him. He had never made it to first base before.
Shay may never completely be able to
appreciate what happened that day, even though it was probably the
thrill of his life.
The biggest thing that happened was
that over 20 other kids got to experience what helping someone else
can do for them. They got to feel the excitement that you can
feel by putting yourself second, instead of first.
The world was made better just then...
from the ripple effect it had on them, and now that this story is
getting out.
And I too feel privileged to be able
to share this story with you so that you can get closer to what may
be the meaning of life.
I think it's to help ease the burden
of it for others...and feel that joy.
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Today's Winning Beliefs
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-- I help others every chance I get
-- I feel better helping someone than I do at any other time
-- I believe what goes around comes around
-- I become more and receive more every time I help someone
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