Lessons From the Geese
by Milton Olson

1. As each goose flaps its wings, it creates an uplift for the bird following. By flying in the V formation the whole flock adds 71% more flying range than if each bird flew alone.
LESSON: People who share a common direction & sense of community can get where they are going quicker & easier because they are traveling on the thrust of one another.

2. When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation & another goose flies at the point position.
LESSON: It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks & sharing leadership with people, as with geese, interdependent with one another.

3. The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.
LESSON: We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging, not something less helpful.

4. When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation & follow their fellow member of the flock until he is able to fly again or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation or catch up with their own flock.
LESSON: If we have as much sense as the geese, we’ll stand by one another like they do.

Rejoice & Be Thankful For Those Around You!
Thank you God!

Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Clergy Counselor

Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me!
— Matthew 25:40,

Ye Have Done it Unto Me

My friend just sent this to me on Facebook.

“I had a wonderful experience this afternoon. A young woman at the checkout line behind me paid for my items when my debit card was rejected at the Dollar Tree. She said she was unemployed and understood what it was like to be short of cash. I was moved practically to tears. I hugged her and assured her that her kindness would be returned to her multiplied!!”

Remember my friends, in this time of crisis and every day, “pay it forward” whenever possible! What goes around comes around!

Thank You God!

Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Clergy Counselor

Good News

It often seems every headline, viral commotion or public uproar encountered today, reveal another scandal, catastrophy, or tragic event with negative outcomes. Do not dispair, because the human conditions is NOT solely one of Doom & Gloom! Recently, the New York Times reported that “The World IS Beating Disease, Poverty & Illiteracy”. Here are some of the more positive statistics from the article.

• In the 1990s, approximately 90% of the world’s population suffered from extreme poverty (less than $2 per person/per day). Today, only 10% of the world languish under similar economic hardships!
• Every single day, World Bank statisticians estimates:
  • ~250,000 more people graduate from extreme poverty.
  • ~300,000 experience the benefits of electricity, for the first time.
  • ~285,000 gain their first easy access to clean, drinking water.
• The United Nations estimates that more than 85% of the world’s citizens can now read.
• More than 100 million children’s lives have been saved through family planning, vaccinations, improved nutrition & medical care. Over the past 30 years, many routinely lethal infant & children diseases have been virtually eradicated.
• Experts anticipate to eliminate leprosy deformation in humans, by 2020.

All may not be well, but there are many reasons to rejoice, & be thankful for….
Thank you God!

Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Clergy Counselor

Keep your face always toward the sunshine & shadows will fall behind you — Walt Whitman

Complain or Give Thanks? It’s Up to YOU!

It seems there is always something to complain about: the weather. Right now it is hot. But I am grateful that while it might be hot where I am, there are other places where it is hotter. I am grateful that I can sleep in a cool room. I am grateful that I don’t have to work outside in the hot weather. I am grateful I have air conditioned transportation to take me from place to place.

Or I might complain about my body, how my knees creak when I go downstairs. And I am grateful that I can go up & down the stairs, that my legs & creaky knees work together getting me from floor to floor effectively & fairly efficiently. All those stairs are probably keeping my body healthier, too.

Instead of complaining, what if we gave thanks for what is, even if it is a challenge. I give thanks for this challenge in my life today, knowing there is a lesson for me to learn in it. Our spiritual path is strewn with flowers (blessings) & rocks (challenges) & we can choose how we look at each of them. I choose to look at the rocks as stepping stones to more flowers.

AFFIRMATION
I am alive & embrace sobriety! Thank you God!

Rev. Dr. Rainbow Johnson
ADAAP Clergy Counselor