7 . Last Sunday, an earthquake struck the Napa Valley area of northern California. It happened in the middle of the night, becoming the strongest earthquake to strike the Napa Valley in 15 years. No one was killed, but many people were treated in hospitals.

I said to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and three-year-old Meghan, “We have so much, and these poor people in trouble now have nothing. We’ll share what we have with them.”

I filled a box with foods and clothes. While I was doing this, I advised the boys to choose their toys and donate some of their less favourite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys took out their old toys and put them together. Then she walked away. A few minutes later she came back with Lucy, her much-loved doll. She put the doll on top of the other toys.

“Oh, dear,” I said. “You don’t have to give Lucy. You love her so much.” Meghan said, “Lucy makes me happy, Mummy. Maybe she’ll make another little girl happy, too.”

I looked at Meghan for a long moment. She taught me a lesson. It’s easy to give something that we don’t want any more, but hard to give what we cherish (珍爱), isn’t it?

10 . Priest (牧师) had a cat that climbed up a tree in his backyard and then was afraid to come down. The priest persuaded (劝说) and offered warm milk, etc. The kitty would not come down. The tree was not strong enough to climb, so the priest decided that if he tied a rope to his car and drove away so that the tree would bend down, he could then reach up and get the kitty. He did so, checking his progress in the car again and again, then worked out if he went just a little bit further, the tree would be bent enough for him to reach the kitty, But as he moved a little further forward, the rope broke.

The tree went “boing!” and the kitty at once sailed through the air out of sight. The priest felt terrible. He walked all over the neighborhood asking people if they’d seen his kitty. Nobody had seen a lost kitty.

So, he prayed, “God, I just give this kitty to your keeping.” And then he went on about his business.

Several days later he was at the grocery store, meeting one of his church members. He happened to look into her shopping cart and was amazed to see cat food. Before this woman was a cat hater and everyone knew it, so he asked her, “Why are you buying cat food when you hate cats so much?”

She replied ,“You won’t believe this.” and told him how her little girl had been begging her for a cat, but she kept refusing. Then a few days before, the child begged again, so the mom finally told her little girl. “Well, God gives you a cat, you can keep it.” She told the priest, “I watched my child go out in the yard, get on her knees, and ask God for a cat. You won’t believe this, but saw it with my own eyes. A cat suddenly came flying out of the blue sky, with its paws spread out. and landed right in front of her.”