I thought of this story the other day

A father asked his 12 year old daughter to mow the back yard.  She did a pretty good job it seemed.  She finished and put the mower away. 

The dad figured that all was well since the daughter was watching TV and texting on her phone.  He looked outside at the back yard and noticed that there was a small section that was left un-mowed.

The dad had been having a bad week and this was just the last straw.  He started in on his daughter about the small area that she had left un-mowed.  The daughter tried to explain, but the dad was so angry that he did not give her a chance to speak.

[this is not a good place to be as a parent]

The dad went to the garage, got the mower out and headed for the back yard.  He started the mower and began working on the section of long grass.  When he got close to the middle, he stopped.  He let go of the handle and the mower died.  There, right in the center of the un-mowed section was a box turtle.  The turtle was camped out, taking it easy in the back yard.

The dad started to cry.  He felt ashamed.  He went inside and found the daughter.  She had been watching through the window.  She was crying too.  The dad apologized.

The moral of this story?  There are several.

Sometimes you have to break the rules to keep from hurting people.
Don't be so sure of yourself.
Think before you speak.
Maybe someone that you will be dealing with today has run across a turtle.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.