Faithful are the wounds of a friend,
But the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.
Proverbs 27:6

There was once a bird who decided not to fly south before the arrival of winter. He thought that it would be a waste of time and efforts to make the long distance flight. It was simply too tiring and troublesome. He made up his mind to remain home as the rest of his folks flew off. After staying behind for two weeks, the weather turned terribly cold. When the bird realized his mistake, he changed his mind and began flying southwards.

As he was flying through the air, he was overwhelmed by the freezing temperatures. He became totally numb, and could not even flip his frozen wings. The only thing he could do was to glide downwards. He crashed landing into a barnyard full of hay.

Shivering and trembling all over, he was almost at the verge of his death. Then came a cow mooing as she feasted on the hay. As she did so, she dropped some of her dung onto the poor bird. It was filthy and smelly. But it brought much warmth and relief. After a while, the ice on the bird began to melt. He was not going to die! He rejoiced, and began to sing out loud under the covering of the dung.

His beautiful singing attracted a curious cat. How could a lump of cow dung sing? There must be something beneath. The cat removed some of the manure, and discovered the bird. Not able to escape, the bird became food for the cat.

There are five lessons for us to learn in this fictional and funny story:

1. Have foresight. Make the necessary preparations.
2. Don't be stubborn. Seek godly counsel.
3. Not everyone who drops dung onto us is necessarily our enemy.
4. Not everyone who removes dung off us is necessarily our friend.
5. Don't attract unnecessary attention.