Life moves like the river—sometimes gentle, sometimes wild, shaping everything in its path. Love, the current that runs deepest, is both a gift and a test. It binds souls together, yet, like the water, it must be free to flow. Loyalty, love's best friend, is a weighty promise—a tether that can anchor or drown. And boundaries? They are the quiet keepers of peace, the unseen lines that protect what is sacred. Here is the story of Milo, a monkey with a heart as golden as the setting sun, and Carl, a crocodile torn between devotion and duty. Their journey through Love, trust and sacrifice, is more than a tale—it is a reflection of the choices we all must make. Because in life, love without wisdom can lead to loss, and loyalty without discernment can blur into destruction.
Beneath the golden haze of a Southern sunset, there lived a monkey named Milo. His home was a gnarled cypress tree, its branches sagging with persimmons so ripe they glowed like little suns. Milo’s days were spent in quiet joy, sharing his bounty with the creatures of the marsh—a blue heron with a bent wing, a family of turtles, even a sly raccoon. But his greatest friendship began one humid afternoon when a crocodile named Carl surfaced, his eyes weary and belly hollow.
“Take as much as you need,” Milo said, showering Carl with fruit. His kindness was instinctive, a reflex of the heart. Over time, their bond deepened. Carl returned daily, not just for the persimmons, but for the solace of Milo’s affection. “How do you stay so unshaken?” Carl once asked, after confessing his fears of the river’s unpredictable currents. Milo smiled softly. “The tree doesn’t fight the storm,” he said. “It bends, but its roots hold firm.”
Love, for Milo, was a language of action—not grand gestures, but the daily choice to nourish others, even when it cost him a lot of work. He saw Carl’s loneliness, the way his armored back sagged under unseen weights, and offered not just fruit, but kinship. It mirrored the love spoken of in 1 Peter, covering faults like moss softening rough bark.
But love’s light sometimes casts shadows. Carl’s mate, Carla, watched their friendship with a thorny heart. “You’re a fool,” she snapped one evening, her voice sharp as a snapping turtle’s bite. “You’re a fool. That monkey doesn’t love you. If you bring me his heart, I’ll prove he’s not as kind as he seems.”
Carl’s soul split like driftwood. Loyalty to Carla clashed with gratitude for Milo, but doubts tipped the scales. The next dawn, he invited Milo to a “grove of juicier fruits” across the river. Trusting, Milo climbed onto Carl’s back, his small hands gripping the croc’s jagged ridges. Midway, the truth spilled out—Carl’s voice 'wanting to know the truth', eyes fixed on the murk.
For a breath, the world stilled. Then Milo laughed—a sound like wind chimes, not cruel, but clever. “Oh friend! My heart’s back in the cypress. Turn around, and I’ll give it gladly.” Carl, desperate to believe, obeyed. As the tree neared, Milo leapt to safety, his gaze both sorrowful and steady. “You broke trust,” he said, kindly. “That’s a bridge even love can’t rebuild.”
Yet Milo’s compassion didn’t wither. He still tossed persimmons to Carl—but only from the highest branch, that met sky. He led not by decree, but by example: Love, he showed, doesn’t mean surrendering your heart to those who’d crush it. And leading with grace doesn’t require you to drown while pulling others ashore.
Years later, the bayou’s creatures still speak of Milo. They tell how he taught the heron to fly again, how the raccoon learned honesty, and how Carl, now aged and solitary, lingers beneath the cypress, nursing a quiet regret. Milo’s legacy wasn’t in the fruit he gave, but in the boundaries he honored—proof that true love shields as much as it shares.
In the Stillness, Three Truths Remain:
Love Freely: Like the cypress offering shade to all beneath it, love without tallying costs. Yet even the tree knows: not every seed belongs in its soil.
Lead with Grace: A leader’s strength is measured not by commands, but by how they lift others—“as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve” (Matthew 20:28).
Guard Your Heart: For as Proverbs whispers, everything you are flows from it. Some wounds are lessons; others, cautions.
Love freely, lead with grace, but guard your heart wisely. For in a world where currents shift and loyalties fray, some bridges, once burned, are best left un-mended. And remember, to love is to risk, but to guard is to preserve. In that balance, we find the sacred art of living—tender, wise, and unapologetically whole. Be careful not to throw pearls to pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and might as well turn to tear you apart.