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Blessed are the Cub Scouts

Mike Floyd wites: Several weeks ago my son and I attended the Fun with Son at Camp Rainey Mountain in the Northeast Georgia Council. We had a great time. The Sunday morning devotional was done by Wayne Ewing, Cubmaster from Pack 535 in Loganville, Ga. I asked his permission to share part of his devotional.

Blessed are the Cub Scouts who are taught to see beauty in all things around them...

For their world will be a place of grace and wonder.

Blessed are the Cub Scouts who are led with patience and understanding...

For they will learn the strength of endurance and gift of tolerance.

Blessed are the Cub Scouts who are provided a home where family members dwell in harmony and close communion...

For they shall become the peacemakers of the world.

Blessed are the Cub Scouts who are taught the value and power of truth...

For they shall search for knowledge and use it with wisdom and discernment.

Blessed are the Cub Scouts who are guided by those with faith in a loving God...

For they will find Him early and will walk with Him through life.

Blessed are the Cub Scouts who are loved and know that they are loved...

For they shall sow seeds of love in the world and reap joy for themselves and others.

AMEN..

-- Thanks to Mike Floyd, FLOYD@FOODSER.UGA.EDU, "and if I may add; blessed be the father/mother/scout leader who sets the example to scouts.........."

A Boy's Eyes

"I'd like to be a Cub Scout -----"
(His eyes were deepest blue)
"I'd like to learn, and play, and build
Like Jim and Freddy do."

"I know how to use a hammer;
I can drive a nail if I try.
I'm eight years old, I'm big and strong
And hardly ever cry."

I gave him the application
And parent participation sheet.
(His eyes were filled with sunshine
As he left on dancing feet.)

Next day, my friend was back again,
A dejected little lad.
"I guess I'll skip the Cub Scouts."
(His eyes were dark and sad.)

"My Mom is awful busy,
She has lots of friends, you see.
She'd never have time for a den;
She hardly has, for me."

"And Dad is always working ----
He's hardly ever there.
To give them any more to do
Just wouldn't be quite fair."

He handed back the papers
With the dignity of eight years,
And, smiling bravely, left me
(His eyes were filled with tears.)

Do you see your own boy's eyes
As other people may?
How he looks when you're "too busy"
Or "just haven't time" today?

A boy is such a special gift ----
Why don't you realize,
It only takes a little time
To put sunshine in his eyes.

(Credit given to Pat Beardslec, Den Mother, Hawthorne, California)

I Wish I Was That Brother

A Scoutmaster's Minute, from the SCOUTS-L Youth Groups Discussion List

Here's a story I heard this weekend that would make a great SM's minute! It was told verbally to me so I may not have quoted it perfectly. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! It was a great object lesson for my son who is going into Webelos.

Upon graduation from college, a few years back, a young man received a gift from his older brother. It was a shiny brand new Packard. The car of his dreams! One morning as he approached the car he saw a young lad of 12 peering through the windows into the car! Obviously enthrawled with the car, the lad didn't hear the young man approach. "Is this your car?" the lad asked when he noticed the man. "Yes it is!" the man responded! "Wow! This is a nice car!" remarked the lad, "How much did it cost?" "I don't know!" answered the man. "It's your car, but you don't know how much it cost?" exclaimed the young lad. "No," stated the man, "you see, my brother bought it for me!"

"I wish...I wish...I wish" stuttered the lad. The man thinking he's going to say, I wish I had a car like this. "I wish I was like that brother!" finished the boy! Amazed at the lads response he offerred to drive him around the block! As they were driving, the lad requested if he would drive him home. Thinking he wanted to show off that he was riding in a new car to his friends, the man agreed! They drove more than a few blocks to where the boy lived and as he turned onto the street the man noticed that it wasn't the best kept neighborhood! The houses were dirty and broken. He pulled up in front of the boys house. "Please wait," the boy yelled as he ran into the house! "Oh, he's probably going to get his family to show off the new car", the man thought to himself. The door to the front door opened and out came the young lad. In his arms he carried a small boy, crippled from birth! The lad brought him out to the car and stated as he hugged his younger brother, "See just like I told you! It's a brand new car! And someday, I'm going to buy you one just like it!"

How unselfish this boy was....to be the kind of brother that looked after the other first! What kind of Scout are you...Are you like the older brother!

-- Thanks to Peter Van Houten

What is a Scout

He enjoys a hike through the woods more than he does a walk over the city streets.

He knows the stars by name and can find his way by them.

When he walks through the woods, he sees things others do not see.

He speaks softly and answers questions modestly.

He knows a braggart but does not challenge him.

His sense of honor is his only taskmaster, and his honor he guards as jealously as did the knights of old.

A Scout practices self-control, for he knows that men who master problems in the world must first master themselves.

A Scout never flinches in the face of danger. He must be alert to preserve his safety and that of others.

He desires a strong body, an alert mind, and an unconquerable spirit.

Always to "Be prepared".

-- Thanks to Charles Nusbaum, aa904@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU

Within My Power

by Forest Witcraft

I am not a Very Important Man, as importance is commonly rated, I do not have great wealth, control a big business, or occupy a position of great honor or authority.

Yet I may someday mold destiny. For it is within my power to become the most important man in the world in the life of a boy. And every boy is a potential atom bomb in human history.

A humble citizen like myself might have been the Scoutmaster of a Troop in which an undersized unhappy Austrian lad by the name of Adolph might have found a joyous boyhood, full of the ideals of brotherhood, goodwill, and kindness. And the world would have been different.

A humble citizen like myself might have been the organizer of a Scout Troop in which a Russian boy called Joe might have learned the lessons of democratic cooperation.

These men would never have known that they had averted world tragedy, yet actually they would have been among the most important men who ever lived.

All about me are boys. They are the makers of history, the builders of tomorrow. If I can have some part in guiding them up the trails of Scouting, on to the high road of noble character and constructive citizenship, I may prove to be the most important man in their lives, the most important man in my community.

A hundred years from now it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove. But the world may be different, because I was important in the life of a boy.

-- Thanks to Chuck Bramlet, ASM Troop 323, Thunderbird District, Grand Canyon Council

Boys Grow Best When ...

They are with adults who are at ease with them and who seem to enjoy them most of the time...

They are permitted to make mistakes, which will not harm them unduly, and are permitted to live with adults who do not pretend to be perfect...

Those about them believe in them and express confidence through word and through giving them freedom...

Those about them understand what they are trying to do and support them in their endeavors...

Those about them permit them to express doubts, to raise questions, to try their own ideas...

They understand the limits of the freedom within which they can make decisions, and when this freedom is limited to the responsibility they feel they can carry at their stage of development...

Those about them deal with them firmly and consistently...

Adults around them behave as adults and show what the adult way is like...

Those about them help them to succeed when they need help, but let them struggle when they are winning by themselves...

Those around them gear their expectancy of a child's behaviour to his capacity for that behaviour...

Those about them understand how they grow, and encourage sound growth...

They feel strong within themselves, when they feel they are just the kind of person wanted by their family and friends, and their nation...

There is an atmosphere of friendliness and warmth whether with adults or children...

They meet actual life situations, emotionally charged, and deal with them successfully, with or without adult help...

Their performance expectancy is related to themselves and not to others...

They are interested in what they are doing for it's own sake. They will be interested when it has meaning for them. Boys who are forced to perform at tasks they are not interested in are not learning, but are actually blocked. This attempt of battery against human nature will lose in the end...

-- Thanks to the Scout Association of Australia

A Scout's Prayer

From Scouting in New South Wales

We have hiked along life's pathway,
Our packs upon our backs,
We have pitched our tents and rested
Here and there along the tracks.
We have used our compass wisely
To guide us on our way
And hope to reach the campsite
Of our Great Chief Scout some day.

We have tried to be trustworthy -
Kept our honor high and clean,
We have been as loyal as any
To our Country and our Queen.
We have done our best at all times -
Kept our Promise - been prepared,
And hope our good deeds please Him
When at last our souls are bared.

We have lightened others' burdens,
With our smiles along the way,
We have kept our hand in God's hand,
Walked beside Him day by day.
And when our span of life runs out,
We'll make this gentle plea -
May we sit around His Campfire
At the Final Jamboree.

-- Thanks to Michael F. Bowman, DDC-Training, GW Dist. Nat Capital Area Council, mfbowman@CAPACCESS.ORG

A Little Fellow Follows Me

by Lee Fisher

A careful leader I want to be
A little felow follows me;
I do not dare to go astray,
For fear he'll go the same way.

I cannot once escape his eyes,
Whate'er he sees me do, he tries
Like me, says he's going to be...
The little chap who follows me.

I must remember as I go,
Through summer's sun and winter's snow;
I am builder for years to be,
That little chap who follows me.

A Little Scout Follows Me

Adapted by Merl Whitebook, from "A Little Fellow Follows Me" by Lee Fisher

A careful scouter I ought to be,
A little Scout follows me.
I do not dare to go astray,
For fear he will go the same way.

Not once can I escape his eyes,
Whatever he sees me do, he tries.
Like me he says he's going to be,
That little Scout who follows me.

He thinks that I am good and fine,
Believes in every word of mine,
The bad in me he must not see,
That little Scout who follows me.

I must remember as I go,
Through summer sun and winter snow,
I'am building for the years to be,
That scout who follows me.

A Comer

by Edmund Leamy, as Adapted by Merl Whitebook

He may be now a Tenderfoot,
A messenger, or clerk,
The lowest rank, always under foot
But if he toils with willingness
And wears a cheery grin,
He's on the roadway to success,
That chap is bound to win!

No power can keep that fellow down;
He'll leave them all behind,
The higher rank who leer and frown
And tell him he is blind
To do more than he's asked to do
And not to ever shirk;
Who say: "At five o'clock I'm through
With this miserable work!"

Not long he'll be a Tenderfoot;
Leaders quickly see
Who works because the task is joy
And not just for his fee;
And others too will help him climb
To far heights of success --
The Eagle will be his in time,
He who works with willingness.

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