A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see
the farmer and his wife open a package. "What food
might this contain?" He was devastated to discover
it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the
warning. "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is
a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head
and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern
to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot
be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a
mousetrap in the house."

The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry,
Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but
pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow. She said,"Wow, Mr. Mouse.
I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and
dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the
house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching
its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the
darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose
tail the trap had caught.

The snake bit the farmer's wife. The farmer rushed her
to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever.
Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken
soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard
for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and
neighbors came to sit with her around the clock. To
feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well; she died. So many
people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow
slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem
and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one
of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

In the book of Genesis, Cain said this about Able, his
brother, to our God: "Am I my brother's keeper?"

We are all involved in this journey called life. We
must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra
effort to encourage one another.

SEND THIS TO EVERYONE WHO HAS EVER HELPED YOU OUT
...LET THEM KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE.