Message Number Eight

I was just sitting here eating my bowl of cereal contemplating what my message for today would be.  I noticed on facebook that a friend had posted that he felt like pond scum. I began to relate to him a story from my past that I have written about before and is actually a chapter in my book, but it is a story about pond scum, and I am going to repeat it here with a little different twist to the original message the Angels gave me at the time of the original writing.

Years ago I attempted to build my first pond. I was poor, and couldn't afford all the things that go into making a successful pond, so I dug a hole, bought a cheap swimming pool liner, filled it with water and about fourteen fish. I was uneducated about the need for a pump and plants to create a healthy environment for the fish, but it was getting cooler and winter would be coming soon. Within a few days most of the fish had been eaten by cats or other predators. Then winter came and the pond froze over. I assumed that the remaining fish had frozen to death and in the spring when the ice melted the water began to turn murky and green. With little money to reassemble the pond properly, I decided to drain the pond. At some point I realized that there were two remaining fish living in the pond. Always the rescuer, I "fished" them out and gave them a spanking new bowl with fresh, clean water. I went back outside to work on draining the pond. In about a half hour I came back inside and both fish were belly up in the bowl. I was devastated. They had lived all winter in a frozen pond and all spring in this green goop and seemed to be thriving. Then I rescued them and they died.

The fact was that the pond scum was creating an environment that was feeding the fish and protecting them from predators. They were thriving until, in my self proclaimed wisdom, I decided to rescue them. A friend of mine told me that the fish had grown accustomed to the pond scum and I had shocked them to death. He said I should have taken them and put them in a bowl with mostly pond scum and a little clean water. Every day, he said, replace some of the pond scum with a little more clean water. Eventually they will be accustomed to a cleaner environment.

The message for today is, if you feel yourself to be pond scum, then be the best pond scum you can be! Remember that you are feeding the fish who live in your pond and you are protecting them from predators, and possibly even rescuers, like me. Every day, replace some of the goop that makes up your pond with a little clean water. In other words, every day, replace a limiting belief like.. I am pond scum.... with a more positive belief, like... I am really good pond scum....then the next day..... maybe your belief could be......I am replacing my old goop with some better goop.... and the next day.....hey, I can see to the bottom of the pond and there is less goop than there was a few days ago.... and the fish seem to be okay.........and now I can see that there are a couple of frogs who have taken up residence as well.....

You can't jump out of the green goopy pond straight into a fresh new bowl of sparkling clean water.  But you can raise your beliefs, one at a time, until you believe that there is no pond scum better than you are and everything in life has a purpose, including pond scum.....