Hey, how about that!

Hope Builders and Dream Thieves

The Hope Builders would make their nests in the trees like most birds do, but the Dream Thieves built theirs on the ground because they were flightless birds. As it happened, one day a big wind storm blew a Hope Builder egg out of its nest, but as luck would have it, the egg landed safely below in the nest of Dream Thief.

The Dream Thief mother bird sat on the Hope Builder's egg along with her own eggs. When the eggs hatched, the mother Dream Thief raised the Hope Builder chick as her own. The Hope Builder ran on the ground along with his family of Dream Thieves, never suspecting he could fly.

One day while watching other birds flying, the Hope Builder told his adoptive family that he wished he could fly. All the other birds laughed at him and made fun of him for being so silly. He felt so stupid he vowed to keep his dreams to himself from then on.

The Hope Builder lived and died as a Dream Thief, never suspecting he could really fly if he'd only tried. If only the little Hope Builder hadn't listened to the Dream Thieves laughter and ridicule, he may have one day taken his rightful place in the big blue sky.

If you listen to the Hope Builders in your life, you too may discover that you can soar to your hopes and dreams; but if you listen to the Dream Thieves, they may crush your hopes and dreams with their criticism and ridicule. There are Hope Builders and Dream Thieves in everyone's life, be careful who you let influence you, lest your hopes and dreams be stolen without a chance of being realized.