I was up to my waist in weeds.  Tall grass surrounded me and the briers pulled at my jeans as I journey through a path with no trail.  All I needed was a machete and you might have thought I was in the African jungle.  I had decided to put my beliefs to the test and prove that you can find beauty and wonder in some of the most ordinary places. 

        As I traveled through a pasture that had been left to grow wild over a few years I found many unusual sights.  About 20 feet in front of me I saw a snake rise up and look around.  When he saw me he disappeared into the grassy wilderness and I unconsciously became very careful where I stepped.  As I made my way to the forgotten fence that bordered this property I spotted this strange bunch of orange bugs.  They appeared to treasure these crimson berries because there were crawling all over them. 

        After I spent a few moments observing their greedy behavior it became apparent that they intended to carry the berries across the leaf and to their great storehouse in the weeds.  But they had a dilemma.  There was a two inch gulf between the pile of berries and the leaf.  What did they do?  They built a bridge constructed of their own bodies joined together.  And when they had bridged the gap between their treasures and home their friends began to transport the fruit homewards.  Now that is teamwork! 

        They laid their lives down for their friends.  They never argued about who would form the bridge.  They simply did what was most helpful for the good of all.  I was humbled by the sacrificial love demonstrated before my eyes this day.  I silently whispered a prayer standing in the weeds; give me a servant’s heart.  When we don’t know what to do, let us do the most helpful things.  Let us search for ways to be supportive and useful.  Let us build bridges and not walls, because we will be happy in about the same degree that we are helpful.  Happiness is a choice; choose to be helpful.

Something to think about:

• A friend is one who helps you bridge the gaps between loneliness and fellowship, frustration and confidence, despair and hope, setbacks and success.

• He that demands mercy, and shows none, ruins the bridge over which he himself is to pass.  If you hug to yourself any resentment against anybody else, you destroy the bridge by which God would come to you.

• Most people are lonely because they build walls instead of bridges.

• Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.

• Group harmony is seldom achieved without personal sacrifice.

• This is the true greatness: to serve unnoticed and work unseen.

• Ten ways to get rid of the blues: Go out and do something for someone else—then repeat nine times.

• No one can help everybody, but everybody can help someone.

Thankful to the bridge-builders I have known
Rickey Moore