Mister G the Sad Goat -Children's Story

Have you ever been really sad and nobody seemed to understand why you were upset, but you knew why you were upset? The story I want to tell you this morning is about a goat. He was an old goat. His name was Mr. G, and Mr. G was well over 10 years old, and that's pretty old for a goat. Mr. G had to go to a new home because his old home couldn't look after him anymore. And so some lovely people came up who rescued animals, and they came and they rescued Mr. G, and they took him to a special place that they'd made just for him, a special little corner in the barn where they gave him hay and they gave him a nice place to live and to eat. But when he got there, he was very sad. And they couldn't tell if he was sad or he was sick or what was wrong. But when they gave him food, he wouldn't eat. And when they tried to get him up to take a walk, he wouldn't walk. He just laid in the corner of his shed and he stayed there and he didn't move. For a whole day he didn't eat. And then for a second day he didn't eat. And then for a third day he didn't eat. He didn't move. He just laid there in the corner. And Mr. G was laying there and the people that had rescued him thought, What's wrong with him? Is he sick? Is, is something different here than was where he was before? I wonder if he was like this before. And so they called and talked to the people who had him before. No, he was always running around and doing things. He was never sick. And so another day went by and another day went by. Finally, on the 6th day, they said, there has to be something, something that's different about here because Mr. G is not eating and Mr. G will not get up and go for a walk. So what can do to help our goat? So they called the lady who had Mr. G before, and they said, look, we can't figure out what's wrong with Mr. G. He's just laying in the corner and he won't get up and he won't go anywhere. He won't do anything. He just seems sick. And she said, well, maybe he's sad because when he was here, he had Jellybean. And they said, you fed Mr. G jellybeans? She said, no, Jellybean is a donkey. And Jellybean and Mr. G were in the same paddock the whole time, and they did everything together for the last 10 years. They were best friends. And Mr. G went to a different place when, um, you came and got him than where Jellybean went, because Jellybean was a donkey and you could only care for goats. And they said, really? Oh, we didn't realize that he had a best friend. And so they got off the phone and they asked a few people and one of their friends said, I will go. Was not a small trip, 7 hours. This man went with towing a horse trailer behind his four-wheel drive. And he went 7 hours and to where Mr. No, to where Jellybean had been moved. And he went and he found Jellybean. And they said, of course you can take Jellybean. Jellybean was so upset. And when the man got there to pick up Jellybean, he remembered when he picked up Mr. G that Jellybean had been in the field behind yelling and making a horrible noise. And he just thought that Jellybean was a mean donkey. He didn't realize that Jellybean was upset because they were taking Mr. G away from him. So the man loaded Jellybean into the horse caravan. Trailer, and he closed the door, and he started driving, and he drove the 7 hours back. And when he got back, as they were unloading Jellybean, Jellybean made some Jellybean noises. Ee-aww! And guess whose ears perked up? And guess whose eyes lifted up? And guess whose head lifted up off of his paws where he had been laying for the last 6 days? That's right, Mr. G. Mr. G heard Jellybean and he wobbled himself up onto his elbows and then he got up onto his hooves and then he came slowly out of his shed door and he looked around the corner and he saw Jellybean, his best friend, was just being let into the paddock through the gate. And he bounded over to him, and he sniffed at him, and then he walked away. Follow me, he said. Well, probably in goat language, that's what he did. But he just sniffed at Mr. Jellybean, and then he walked away. But then he turned around and he sniffed at his nose again, and he walked away. And then he turned and he sniffed at his nose again. And Jellybean followed him along, and they walked all the way through their new enclosure. And they were very happy. Best of friends again. And you know, Mr. G, Dave Edgren did not have any trouble eating right after that. In fact, within 10 minutes, they had put food out for Mr. G and Jellybean, and both of them were eating together out of the same bowl, just like they had for years and years before. Do you know, sometimes when we get sad, other people don't know why we're sad. And often the reason we're sad is because our relationships aren't the way that they used to be. Sometimes maybe a friend is gone. Sometimes maybe someone has had a fight with us, or we've had a fight with them, and we're not talking right now. And so we're grumpy and we're upset, and maybe we're a little bit sad. But when we are put back together, when our relationships are mended, when we're reconciled, guess what happens? We can get up, we can eat, we can feel good again because we have our happiness back. We have our relationships, and we have our friends, and we have our happiness. Thank you for listening to my story.