In his delightful children’s book, The Ant and the Elephant, Bill Peet tells a story not only of gratitude but of cooperation. The elephant who has very big ears hears an ant stuck on a leaf in a body of water crying for help and reaches down with his trunk and helps to rescue the ant.
Incredibly grateful, the ant thanks the elephant but the elephant tells the ant it wasn’t a big thing for him to do and returns to sauntering about the jungle thinking that nothing can harm him because of his size. However, he slips into a trap and ends up on his back, unable to move.
The ant hears the elephant trumpeting for help and rushes over to the pit. “What can you do?” cries the elephant. “I’ll be right back,” replies the ant and with the cooperation of the entire colony, they manage to carry the elephant out of the pit. The moral of the story is that no matter how small we are, if we work together, we can accomplish our purpose. It’s an important lesson for all of us.
Prayer for the Day
Open to us the power of dreams, God of infinite vision;
And open us to the possibilities that reflect your justice;
We pray for imagination through your righteousness,
So we see with our hearts and not just our eyes.
May we realize your dream of a world reconciled in peace,
May we realize your dream of a world reconciled in love.
We ask this in the name of him who points the way,
Even Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
A choir is made up of many voices, including yours and mine. If one by one all go silent then all that will be left are the soloists.
Vera Nazarian, Armenian-American writer
If you want to make peace with your enemy, you have to work with your enemy. Then he becomes your partner.
Nelson Mandela, Nobel Peace Laureate (1918-2013)
How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head running down upon the beard,
The beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon which falls on the mountains of Zion,
For there the Lord ordained a blessing, life forevermore
Psalm 133