On the first day God created the cow. God said: “You must go to the field with the farmer all day long and suffer under the sun, have calves and give milk to support the farmer. I will give you a life span of 60 years.”
The cow said to God: “That’s a tough life you want me to live for 60 years. Let me have 20 years and I’ll give you back the other 40.” God agreed.
On the second day God created the dog. God said: “I want you to sit all day by the door of your house and bark at anyone who comes in or walks past. I will give you a life span of 20 years.”
The dog said to God: “That’s too long to be barking. Give me 10 years and I’ll give you back the other 10.” God agreed.
On the third day God created the monkey. God said: “Entertain people, do monkey tricks, make them laugh. I will give you a life span of 20 years.”
The monkey said to God: “How boring! Monkey tricks for 20 years? I don’t think so. The dog gave you back 10 years, so that’s what I’ll do too. Okay God?” God agreed again.
On the fourth day God created man. God said: “Eat, sleep, play and enjoy life. Do nothing. Just enjoy! I’ll give you 20 years.”
The man said to God: “What!! Only 20 years! No way! I’ll tell you what, God….I’ll take my 20 years and the 40 years the cow gave back, and the 10 years the dog gave back, and the 10 years the monkey gave back. That makes 80 years. Okay?”
“Okay,” said God, “You’ve got a deal.”
So that’s why for the first 20 years we eat, sleep, play, enjoy life and do nothing. For the next 40 years we slave in the heat of the day to support our families. For the next 10 years we do monkey tricks to entertain our grandchildren. And for the last 10 years we sit in the front of the house and bark at everybody!!
Where does time go? Here we are at the start of a New Year. Each of us is at a different stage of the man, cow, monkey, and dog story. No matter what stage you and I are at as this New Year of 2019 begins, God will give each of us the spiritual opportunity to grow. A God-Poke. God will provide for those God guides. God is calling us this year to use our gifts, our talents and our resources to help others, here and around the world. A God-Alert.
You and I are being called to move beyond, far beyond simply being a man, a woman, a cow, a monkey, or a dog in our life. On average each one of us has been given 25,000 days to live. A God-Provide. Many of us have lived out a lot of those 25,000 days already.
A New Year wipes out all the yesterdays and offers us 365 shining new tomorrows where we can become more like Jesus.
You cannot always HAVE Happiness,
But you can always GIVE Happiness!
