One hot day at Ponderings Pond, Pedro Persistence was working in his garden all morning, and as it got close to noon, he decided to take a break. So, he got a glass of ice water and sat down in the shade.

It felt so good to relax in the shade that he began to sing a hymn. “Crown Him with many crowns, the Lamb upon His throne,” Pedro loudly sang.

As he was singing, it seemed like the birds were singing with him, and though he had been very tired, the more he sang the more he felt better.

It was so good just to sit in the shade, relax and drink the cool refreshing water. As he did so, Pedro looked at his garden and was very pleased to see that many of his plants were growing very nicely.

As he kept looking, he saw Freddy the frog hopping around.

“How are you today?” asked Pedro.

“Gung! Just fine,” said Freddy.

“You look like you are very busy,” said Pedro.

“Gung! I am sure am,” said Freddy. “I am so busy because it has been very hot these past few days and there are less bugs to be found all the time.”

“Perhaps you should take a rest Freddy. Come sit up here with me in the shade to cool off for awhile,” said Pedro.

“Gung! I would like to, but I am very, very hungry,” said Freddy, and so he kept looking for insects.

Pedro kept watching him. Then, to his surprise, he watched as Freddy lifted up a round block to look for insects.

“My. oh my. Freddy. You are strong for a frog. But you’d better be careful. The sun is shining very brightly and it is getting hotter as the day goes on. Please take a rest and come up here in the shade with me,” pleaded Pedro.

“Gung! Thank you Pedro, but I will be fine,” said Freddy.

After he found only one or two bugs under the block, he laid it back down again. He then hopped around the corner.

Pedro was worried about Freddy. He really felt that Freddy needed to have a break. After some time, Pedro was too concerned about Freddy to just sit there, so he got up and went around the corner.

It was a good thing he went to check on Freddy, because as he went around the corner, he saw Freddy lying on the ground in the hot sun next to a big stone.

“Freddy! Freddy! Are you OK?” called Pedro as he ran over to help him.

Freddy did not say anything at all. Pedro saw that the big stone had been moved, and so he figured Freddy had been looking for bugs under that stone and had fainted.

Pedro quickly picked up Freddy and brought him to the shade of a nearby bush. He then went and called for a Ponderings Pond ambulance.

Delilah the duck was on duty that day and, when she came, she quickly checked Freddy and cooled him off with some water. Pedro told Delilah that Freddy kept lifting things in the hot sun, that he would not take a break, and that he had asked Freddy a couple of times to sit awhile in the shade with him.

Pedro then ran into his cottage and got a bowl of ice water for Freddy to drink.

Pedro came back outside and gave the bowl of ice water to Freddy while Delilah helped him.

After drinking quite a bit of ice water, Freddy said, “Gung! Thank you guys. Thank you very much.”

“We are glad you are OK Freddy, but you should have listened to Pedro,” said Delilah.

“Gung! Yes I should have listened. It is good to eat and work hard looking for food, but we should rest when we are supposed to,” said Freddy.

“Si, Freddy. And a good thing to do now would be to sing a hymn and thank God that He provides a rest and refreshing things for us,” said Pedro.

And that is exactly what they did, and the birds sang with them.