In it was a note that read, "Take good care of me and I'll take good care of you. You'll never have to buy food again."
At first, Doris didn't know what that meant but each morning when she opened the refrigerator, she discovered all the food she had eaten the prior day had been replaced with fresh food identical to what she had eaten. And she found additional food she had been meaning to try.
"This is great," Doris proclaimed. "I'll save a fortune!"
For the first month, Doris took excellent care of the refrigerator, keeping it clean and running well.
But as time passed, she took the refrigerator for granted, not only not cleaning it, but sometimes leaving its door open, forcing the refrigerator to work extra hard to keep itself cold.
Then one day when she got home from work, Doris discovered the refrigerator had quit and all of her refrigerated food was ruined.
"You're a piece of junk," she screamed in anger. "I'm putting you in the trash where you will be sold for scrap."
Doris put the refrigerator in the trash and the next day, although the trash collectors hadn't yet come, mysteriously the refrigerator was gone.
Across town was a rundown old home in which a very old couple lived. They had little money and were surprised to find their brokendown refrigerator had been replaced with this old refrigerator.
In it was the note that read, "Take good care of me and I'll take good care of you. You'll never have to buy food again."
Soon they too discovered the refrigerator replaced their eaten food, and offered food they had wished for, and they were thrilled.
But unlike Doris, they recognized it as a blessing and treated it as one, keeping the refrigerator clean and in top condition, and it served them well.
The moral to ths story is as old as mankind: Treat a blessing as trash and it will become trash. Treat a blessing with respect and gratitude and it will last a lifetime.
Dick
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