A water bearer in India carried two large pots on the end of a pole.  He went daily to the stream and returned to his master's house with water.  One of the pots was perfect, while the other had a crack, leaking at least half of its contents before the servant reached his master's house.

After a year, the perfect pot was proud of is accomplishment.  However, the cracked pot was ashamed of its flaw and apologized for its inability to provide a full pot of water at the end of each day's journey.

The water bearer told the cracked pot to notice the road as they returned from the stream.  The cracked pot watched and saw a wide variety of beautiful flowers blooming only on one side of the road. The water bearer said,"I have always known about your flaw, so I took advantage of it.  I planted flower seeds on your side of the road.  Every day you watered them.  If you hadn't been just the way you are, I would not have been able to pick those beautiful flowers to grace my master's table."

Each of us, like this pot has our own strengths and flaws.  Uniqueness is what sets us apart from others.  Our gift might be that we can make others laugh or that we live our life with integrity.  Let's celebrate our own uniqueness, and try to find it in those around us as well.
(Anitra from "Simply Living Smart" 9/1/2009)

"Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee ...[the Lord]." Psalms 85:5 
[The Lord said,] "...my grace is sufficient for thee:
[The Apostle Paul said,] for my strength is made perfect in weakness..."
2 Corinthians 12:9 (Bible, PP. 1471-1472.) 

One of my favorite Book of Mormon scriptures says: "If men come unto me [the Lord Jesus Christ] I will show unto them their weakness.  I give unto men weakness that they may become humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them." 
( Ether 12:27 (BOM., P. 510.)

My wife, Jeanne, and I raise Parakeets, English Budgerigars and their American Hybrids. American Budgerigars are produced by breeding Parakeets and English Budgerigars, just like crossing a horse and a donkey to produce a mule, but unlike the mule, the American Budgerigar can breed and produce offspring.  You can see a cute little Parakeet, by going 4 pages down my website to "The Kitten and The Parakeet. We buy baby birds which are handicapped, or physically challenged, and raise them as long as they have breath in their bodies. While to others, these little ones seem of little worth, to us, they are precious little souls whose bodies are weak or broken. 

Some of them are blind; others are lame or have dislocated hips or broken wings.  On more than one occasion, we have driven 130 miles round trip to purchase baby birds at full price in order to prevent their being thrown to the family's cats for cat food.  Can you imagine the terror and terrific pain of being clawed and chewed alive by a cat?  Both Jeanne and I firmly believe that our mission on earth is to save these helpless baby birds and to love and to care for them as parents love their children, because these little birds are our children!  They seem to know and understand that we want them, love them, and care for and about them!

We know and understand, by the words of Modern Day Prophet of the Lord, that in the last days,o ur pets will testify to the Lord Jesus Christ how we treated them.  And if we treated them well, we will have the great honor and opportunity to again raise them in the Eternities as our pets.  What a wonderful gift to those of us who love and have loved all of our pets here on earth, even those pets who have departed this world.

"James E. Faust," "Sherrie Dew," Spicer," "Jeanne Marie," and "Candace" are alive today, because Jeanne and I bought them and raised them with an over abundance of love and caring.  This is reminiscent of the love and care which we showered on "Mandy Keet," on "Rho-Rho," and  on "Ren II" many years ago. That is the quality of a good nurse in Jeanne, a retired Registered Nurse with 39 years of experience as an O.B. nurse, caring for mothers and babies.  And it shows iby how she cares for our mother birds and their baby birds.

We are also favored to have a beautiful baby boy Peach-Cheeked Love Bird, which Jeanne named "Shy Guy."  He was given to us on 12/10/2008 by a friend whose daughter found him on the way to school. He and his daughter saved the little bird from being eaten alive by cats.  It took us more than three months to tame and to allay his fears and suspicions about being hurt or killed.  in the interim, we discovered that Love Birds have very strong, sharp beaks, which can easily puncture skin and draw blood.  Those of you who are old enough to remember the old fashioned piercing can opener can testify just how stong and sharp that piercing point can be. "Shy Guy" was quite adept at drawing blood and causing severe pain. Jeanne wanted to give him away, but she soon fell in love with him, and now "Shy Guy," as she calls him, is without a doubt, Jeanne's bird.  He no longer bites.  He only nibbles, an action which draws a severe reprimand, and her promise of "No Bath!" If he bites her or me, she will not give him a bath, something which he loves. She read in her bird book that Peach Cheeked Love Birds like a bath 2 or 3 times a week.  It is so cute to see this little red and green head with big black eyes sticking out of a terry cloth towel.  I do not know who is more pleased at "Bath Time" "Shy Guy" or Jeanne! 

She has taught him to climb up onto her finger, then to climb up the power cord on the portable fan in her bathroom and then to look donw at her and whistle at her from his perch on the top of the fan.  She has taught him to climb up the ladder from the livingroom floor to the side of his cage and then to crawl around the side of his cage and enter the door of his cage.  He is truly a very smart, beautiful and loving bird!

The word, "Sine-Cera" and how it came to be... In the days of ancient of Rome, purveyors of kiln dried, clay pots would treat flawed pots with wax in order to seal the cracks and holes to make them appear to be water-tight.  Only when the buyer took these flawed pots home and put them on the hearth to cook their food or to boil their water, would the unfortunate buyer discover the flaws.  Other, more honest and reputable pot dealers would boast of the quality of their flawless wares, by enthusiastically displaying signs reading "Sine-Cera" which translated from the Latin means "Without Wax." It is from these two words that we got our English word, "Sincere." or genuine. (An abridged version of the late Paul Harvey's "The Rest of the Story.")

Another word of interest is the etymology or the origin of the word, "understand." 
To "under stand" means to "stand under," which means to "look up to," which is the only true and lasting way to "understand."  This leads us back to turning our weaknesses into strengths by humbling ourselves, looking to the Lord and relying upon the Lord Jesus Christ to teach and to guide us.  And then we are to magnify callings in our humility, which means "teachability" by truly and selflessly loving and caring for the helpless creatures which our Father in Heaven has made. I draw your attention to John 9:1-3, wherein Jesus taught the people an important lesson:

          And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth.

          And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or
          his parents, that he was born blind?

          Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but
          that the works of God show be manifest in him. 

These helpless creatures, whether animal or human, are put here to help us and them, grow and progress and to keep us, and them, humble and teachable.  May it always be so, for it is the reason we are here: to be tried and tested to see if we will do our very best and then to obey the Lord and to trust in Him to handle the rest. I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Jeanne and Randy Faulk

5 September 2009.