Perspectives....

This  might give you cold chills, but puts life into
perspective!

At  a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning-disabled children, the  father of one of the school's students delivered a speech that would never be  forgotten by all who attended.

After extolling the school and its  dedicated staff, he offered a question.

"Everything  God does is done with perfection. Yet, my son, Shay, cannot learn things as  other children do. He cannot understand things as other children do.  Where is  God's plan reflected in my son?"

The  audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. "I believe," the father  answered, "that when God brings a child like Shay into the world, an opportunity  to realize the Divine Plan presents itself. And it comes in the way people treat  that child."

Then, he told the following story: Shay and his father had  walked past a park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked,  "Do you think they will let me play?" Shay's father knew that most boys would  not want him on their team. But the father understood that if his son were  allowed to play it would give him a much-needed sense of  belonging.

Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and  asked if Shay could play. The boy looked around for guidance from his teammates.  Getting none, he took matters into his own hands and said, "We are losing by six  runs, and the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and  we'll try to put him up to bat in the ninth inning." In the bottom of the eighth  inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind by three.

At  the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and played in the outfield.  Although no hits came his way, he was obviously ecstatic just to be on the  field, grinning from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the  stands.

In  the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with two outs and  bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base. Shay was scheduled to be  the next at-bat. Would the team actually let Shay bat at this juncture and give  away their chance to win the game?

Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat.  Everyone knew that a hit was all but impossible because Shay didn't even know  how to hold the bat properly, much less connect with the ball. However, as Shay  stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved a few steps to lob the ball in softly  so Shay could at least be able to make contact. The first pitch came and Shay  swung clumsily and missed..

The pitcher again took a few steps forward to  toss the ball softly toward Shay.  As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball  and hit a slow ground ball to the pitcher. The pitcher picked up the soft  grounder and could easily have thrown the ball to the first baseman. Shay would  have been out and that would have ended the game.

Instead, the pitcher  took the ball and threw it on a high arc to right field, far beyond reach of  the first baseman. Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first. Run to first."  Never in his life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered down the  baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled "Run to second, run to  second!" By the time Shay was rounding first base, the right fielder had the  ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second baseman for a tag. But the  right fielder understood what the pitcher's intentions had been, so he threw the  ball high and far over the third baseman's head. Shay ran toward second base as  the runners ahead of him deliriously circled the bases
toward  home.

As Shay reached second base, the opposing shortstop ran to him,  turned him in the direction of third base, and shouted, "Run to third!" As Shay  rounded third, the boys from both teams were screaming, "Shay! Run home!"  Shay  ran home, stepped on home plate and was cheered as the hero, for hitting a  "grand slam" and winning the game for his team.

"That day," said the  father softly with tears now rolling down his face,
"the boys from both  teams helped bring a piece of the Divine Plan into this world."

And now,  a footnote to the story. We all send thousands of jokes through e-mail without a  second thought, but when it comes to sending messages regarding life choices,  people think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar, and sometimes the obscene  pass freely through cyber space, but public discussion of decency is too often  suppressed in school and the workplace.

If you are thinking about  forwarding this message, you are probably thinking about which people on your  address list aren't the appropriate"  ones to receive this type of  message.

The  person who sent this to you believes that we can all make a difference. We all  have thousands of opportunities a day to help realize your God's plan..

So  many seemingly trivial interactions between two people present us with a choice:  Do we pass along a spark of the Divine? Or do we pass up that opportunity, and  leave the world a bit colder in the process?