Wayne & Jan Haws: Cleaning - FHE Play the Ball Where the Monkey Drops It

Another Monday!

Wayne and I are always amazed at the way they clean the outside lights. We caught this picture this morning, I think the pictures explains it. You can see the sidewalks being cleaned too. they really do keep everything clean.

I think the ladder has a sticker on the top that says, "Don't sit or stand"

You can see the guy cleaning the sidewalk behind

I have been in a cleaning mood too. I've wanting to rearrange the furniture in our apartment for a while so I finally did this morning. I like having some kind of change around here, even if it is just our furniture.

This week we had Family Home Evening!

Wayne was in charge.

We sang Called To Serve with Brother Ripple acompnaying us on his Harmonica. It was different, but very good.

I read this story on a blog post I happened upon and Wayne liked it too, so he used this story for the FHE lesson. It has a really good message so I wanted to share it.

"Play the Ball Where the Monkey Drops It."

The story is told of a golf course in India. Apparently, once the English had colonized the country and established their businesses, they yearned for recreation and decided to build a golf course in Calcutta. Golf in Calcutta presented a unique obstacle. Monkeys would drop out of the trees, scurry across the course, and seize the golf balls. The monkeys would play with the balls, tossing them here and there.

At first, the golfers tried to control the monkeys. Their first strategy was to build high fences around the fairways and greens. This approach, which seemed initially to hold much promise, was abandoned when the golfers discovered that a fence is no challenge to an ambitious monkey. Next, the golfers tried luring the monkeys away from the course. But the monkeys found nothing as amusing as watching humans go wild whenever their little white balls were disturbed. In desperation, the British began trapping the monkeys. But for every monkey they carted off, another would appear. Finally, the golfers gave in to reality and developed a rather novel ground rule: Play the ball where the monkey drops it.

As you can imagine, playing this unique way could be maddening. A beautiful drive down the center of the fairway might be picked up by a monkey and then dropped in the rough. Or the opposite could happen. A hook or slice that had produced a miserable shot might be flung onto the fairway. It didn't take long before the golfers realized that golf on this particular course was very similar to our experience of life. There are good breaks, and there are bad breaks. We cannot entirely control the outcome of the game.

Those golfers in India still sought out just the right kinds of clubs, took lessons to perfect their swing and did all they could to master their game. They learned to accept that no matter what they could do to be the best golfers, that in the end they would play the ball where the monkey drops it.

This can be compared to life, events going on in our own families, and things over which we have no control. Remind yourself to trust the Lord to open the doors that will ultimately bless your life and keep tightly shut those doors that would open before you the wrong paths. Try to find some kind of peace with whatever happens rather than stewing and storming and giving yourself all sorts of grief. Play the ball where the monkey drops it.

After Wayne told the story, we played a game like bingo. Everyone got a list of words that had something to do with the story of the monkeys and also Brother Ripple, because it was his birthday.

List of words to write in each of the squares of the bingo card

Each person made their own bingo card by writing one of the items on the list in a square of their bingo card. They could choose which ever words they wanted and they put them in whichever squares they wanted.

Empty bingo card

Writing the words in the squares to make their bingo cards.

The list of words were cut up and put into this tin.

We drew the words from the tin. As the words were read, the square was covered. Getting four in a row, across down or by the corners was a Bingo!

Wayne's bingo card

We had fun playing the game and everyone seemed to enjoy it. We had prizes for those getting a bingo, it was a fun way to remember the story of the monkeys.

We had Ice Cream and Cake for Brother Ripple's birthday. Sister Ripple made a carrot cake which was delicious. I brought the ice cream. We also had quiche, little potatoes with sauce, cheese and crackers, empanadas, and Chicha.