Heartfelt Apology...

     There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence. The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down. He discovered it was easier to hold temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

     Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail to each day that he was able to hold his temper.

     The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone. The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same.

     When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. "A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

    

So True...

     I bumped into a stranger as he passed by, "Oh excuse me please" was my reply.
    
     He said, " Please excuse me too; I wasn't really watching for you." We were very polite, this stranger and I. We went on our way and we said good-bye.

     But at home a different story is told, how we treat our loved ones, young and old. Later that day, cooking the evening meal, my son stood beside me very still. When I turned, I nearly knocked him down. "Move out of the way," I said with a frown.

     He walked away, his little heart broken. I didn't realize how harshly I'd spoken. While I lay awake that night in beg, God's still small voice came to me and said, " While dealing with a stranger, common courtesy you use, but the children you love, you seem to abuse. Go and look on the kitchen floor, you'll find some flowers there by the door. Those are the flowers he broght for you. He picked them himself : pink, yellow and blue. He stood very quietly not to spoil the surprise, you never saw the tears that filled his little eyes."

     By this time, I was feeling very small, and then my tears began to fall. I quietly went and knelt by his bed ; " Wake up, little one, wake up," I said. " Are these the flowers you picked for me?" He smiled, " I found 'em, out by the tree. I picked 'em because they're pretty like you. I knew you'd like 'em, especially the blue." I said, " Son, I'm very sorry for the way I acted today ; I shouldn't have yelled at you that way." He said, " Oh, Mom, that's okay. I love you anyway." I said, " Son, I love you too, and I do like the flowers, especially the blue."

     Are you aware that if we died tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than into our own family - an unwise investment indeed, don't you think? So what is behind this story?

     Do you know what the word FAMILY means?

FAMILY = (F)ATHER  (A)ND  (M)OTHER,  (I)  (L)OVE  (Y)OU !! 

Triple Filter Test...

     In ancient Greece , Socrates (469 - 399 BC) was widely lauded for his wisdom.

     One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, " Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students? "

     " Wait a moment ", Socrates replied, " Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple Filter Test."

     " Triple Filter ? "

     " That's right ", Socrates continued, " Before you talk to me about my student, let's take a moment to filter what you're going to say. The first filter is Truth.  Are you absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true? "

     " No ", the man said, " Actually I just heard about it and..."

     " Alright ", said Socrates, " So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second filter - the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good ? "

     " No, on the contrary...."

     " So ", Socrates continued, " You want to tell me something bad about him, even though you're not certain if it's true ? "

     The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.

     Socrates continued, " You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student going to be useful to me ? "

     " No, not  really..."

     " Well ", concluded Socrates, " If what you want to tell me is neither True nor Good nor even Useful, why tell it to me at all ? "

     The man was defeated and ashamed.

     This is the reason why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.

     Next time someone starts to spread gossip, think of this !  ;)

An Old Story...

     An old man lived alone in a village. He wanted to spade his potato garden, but it was very hard work. His only son, who would have helped him, was in prison.

     The old man wrote a letter to his son and mentioned his situation :

     Dear Son,

          I am feeling pretty bad because it looks like I won't be able to plant my potato garden this year. I hate to miss doing the garden, because your mother always loved planting time. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. If you were here,  all my troubles would be over. I know you would dig the plot for me, if you weren't in prison.

     Love,
     Dad

     Shortly, the old man received this telegram :

     "For Heaven's sake, Dad, don't dig up the garden !! That's where I buried the GUNS !!"

     At 4 a.m. the  next morning,  a dozen FBI agents and local police officers showed up and dug up the entire garden without finding any guns.

     Confused, the old man wrote another note to his son telling him what happened, and asked him what to do next.

     His son's reply was :

     "Go ahead and plant your potatoes, Dad... It's the best I could do for you from here."

Moral :
     No matter where you are in the world, if you have decided to do something deep from your heart you can do it. It is the thought that matters not where you are or where the person is.  :-)

Today I can see more clearer...

     A young couple moves into a new neighbourhood. The next morning, while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbour hang the wash outside. That laundry is not very clean, she said, she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap. Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbour would hand her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

     About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband : "Look ! She has learned how to wash correctly, I wonder who taught her this." The husband said : " I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows !"

     And so it is with life : " What we see when watching others depends on the purity of the window through which we look. Before we give any criticism, it might be a good idea to check our state of mind and ask ourselves if we are ready to see the good rather than to be looking for something in the person we are about to judge."

     And oh yes ! I almost forgot..... I see you today much clearer than I  did yesterday..... And you?

Nature's Ordeal Crippled by Kindness...

     A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. After a few days a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had got as far as it could, and it could go no further.

     So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

     Neither happened ! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

     Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we went through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we have been. We would never fly ! Life becomes wonderful and more fruitful when it is full of difficulties.

The Present...

     Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. Every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing the scenes and sounds of the world outside.

     The man in the other bed began to live, for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and colour of the world outside. The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

     As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.

     As soons as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch. Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up to take his first look at the world outside. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to describe such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to make you happy."

     The richest person in the world is one who knows how to make each moment happy for the self and others. Today is a gift, that's why it is called the present.