Spirit for Kids
Introduction
Spirit-21 delights in presenting original stories for children that incorporate living Spirit daily as experienced by the wonder of that child within us each.
We begin with one that was inspired synchronously with the creation of the Spirit-21 e-zine, a true tale (or is it tail) of one of the Team and one of his recent experiences. We won't tell you any more, as we invite you to read on.
We know there are lots of stories out there, waiting to be told, and we invite you to send them along to us.
These stories will be collected and archived here.
The Raising of Benny’s Spirit
into Beni’s Life
Once upon a time there was this lovable, playful, hugable dog and his name was Benny. He lived in the country, and was surrounded by all different kinds of animals, nature and fun. All of Benny’s animal friends used to laugh at Benny because whenever there was the sound of humans, Benny would get all excited and bark, bark, bark. He was always anxious to be the first to the door to greet his human friends when they arrived home. Oh Yes! Benny would get rubbed and rubbed and get all the attention he wanted.
His other animal friends thought this was foolish running after humans to get attention. "Who needs them," spouts the cat, "yah all he wants is attention, he doesn’t like our company anymore" says the cow. You would think he would stay with his own kind" blabbers the horse.
For fifteen years this went on, Benny had became the black sheep of the animal fellowship because he really didn’t fit in with all the other animals. The other animals would talk behind his back saying nasty things about him. He really didn’t care because he didn’t need any animal friends because he had the humans. He liked the warmth of the house and the scraps off the dinner table. He knew some dogs had to work for their food, but not Benny. He thought this was Heaven on Earth.
At the same time there was a human named Guy who loved dogs. Guy always felt something special when he was around dogs, like he was part dog himself. He agreed dogs were man’s best friend, loyal, trustworthy, and full of unconditional love.
Guy loved dogs so much he thought about changing his name to?????? Rover, Spot or maybe Hobo.
It was very comfortable for Benny, even the days when the human’s went to work Benny would get the run of the house. Checking out the sofa, "well that was too hard" then off to the chair, "not as hard", then off to his blanket "well that was just perfect". He would go to sleep and dream, dream, dream. And there he would stay until the humans would return from their work day. He usually wagged his tail really fast so they would pet him "oh yeh", "that feels good, oh just rub me a little more".
This was the daily routine for much of Benny’s life and he loved it so. For Benny he knew the animals outside didn’t really like him because they were jealous of his life style. He couldn’t imagine living outside with the other animals as in Benny’s heart he truly felt like he belonged with the humans. His life revolved around the humans, a little attention, a little food and some love and Benny was happy.
Each day the sun would rise and Benny had no regrets about his life as he always thought his life was Heaven on Earth. After about 13 years Benny started to feel his age. He was getting arthritis in his legs and he was even finding the time he spent with the humans not fun anymore. Benny was losing the Spirit. Now the humans had to carry Benny up and down the stairs as his legs would no longer carry him. Life was getting tiresome for Benny.
One day the humans had gone away for the day and Benny was left outside. He started to walk and walk, and walk for miles into the woods. After a while he looked around and noticed he was deep into the woods and did not recognize this particular spot he was at. As he stopped and looked around him his heart felt very light, and a sense of peacefulness came over him as he lied down beside the old oak tree. A thought crossed his mind that for him his time had come. For Benny he knew he had picked the perfect spot...................
…. Guy was with his friends outside under the beautiful big oak tree as they sat there watching the squirrels gather their nuts for the winter. All of a sudden it hit Guy like a freight train. He knew right away that his new name would be Beni.. All the other names like Rover, Spot or Hobo didn’t make any sense to him. This was the perfect name as Beni in french means blessed and Guy always felt blessed with everything in his life. He was so happy he had come up with his new name while sitting under the beautiful old oak tree and his friends were there to share this happy moment.
Four days later Beni walked off the plane, finding his way through the terminal and picked up his luggage. He has just returned from his friends, Olwe, Ava and Erik’s home and his heart was full of love and kindness. He continued on his way looking to meet his other friend Cory. Beni saw Cory from a distance and instead of waging his tail, he smiled and they gave each other a big hug..............
Cory
