THE BRICK
A young and successful executive was traveling down a neighborhood street, going a bit too fast in his new Jaguar. He was watching for kids darting out from between parked cars and slowed down when he thought he saw something. As his car passed, no children appeared. Instead, a brick smashed into the Jag’s side door!
He slammed on the brakes and backed the Jag back to the spot where the brick had been thrown. The angry driver then jumped out of the car, grabbed the nearest kid and pushed him up against a parked car shouting, ’What was that all about and who are you? Just what the heck are you doing? That’s a new car and that brick you threw is going to cost a lot of money Why did you do it?’
The young boy was apologetic. ’Please, mister...please, I’m sorry but I didn’t know what else to do,’ He pleaded. ’I threw the brick because no one else would stop...’ With tears dripping down his face and off his chin, the youth pointed to a spot just around a parked car. ’It’s my brother, ’he said ’He rolled off the curb and fell out of his wheelchair and I can’t lift him up.’
Now sobbing, the boy asked the stunned executive, ’Would you please help me get him back into his wheelchair? He’s hurt and he’s too heavy for me.’
Moved beyond words, the driver tried to swallow the rapidly swelling lump in his throat.. He hurriedly lifted the handicapped boy back into the wheelchair, then took out a linen handkerchief and dabbed at the fresh scrapes and cuts. A quick look told him everything was going to be okay. ’Thank you and may God bless you,’ the grateful child told the stranger. Too shook up for words, the man simply watched the boy! push his wheelchair-bound brother down the sidewalk toward their home.
It was a long, slow walk back to the Jaguar. The damage was very noticeable, but the driver never bothered to repair the dented side door. He kept the dent there to remind him of this message: ’Don’t go through life so fast that someone has to throw a brick at you to get your attention!’ God whispers in our souls and speaks to our hearts. Sometimes when we don’t have time to listen, He has to throw a brick at us. It’s our choice to listen or not.
Thought for the Day:
If God had a refrigerator, your picture would be on it..
If He had a wallet, your photo would be in it.
He sends you flowers every spring.
He sends you a sunrise every morning Face it, friend - He is crazy about you!
FATHER’S EYES
Bob Richards, the former pole-vault champion, shares a moving story about a skinny young boy who loved football with all his heart. Practice after practice, he eagerly gave everything he had. But being half the size of the other boys, he got absolutely nowhere. At all the games, this hopeful athlete sat on the bench and hardly ever played.
This teenager lived alone with his father, and the two of them had a very special relationship. Even though the son was always on the bench, his father was always in the stands cheering. He never missed a game.
This young man was still the smallest of the class when he entered high school. But his father continued to encourage him but also made it very clear that he did not have to play football if he didn’t want to. But the young man loved football and decided to hang in there. He was determined to try his best at every practice, and perhaps he’d get to play when he became a senior. All through high school he never missed a practice nor a game but remained a bench warmer all four years. His faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him.
When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a ”walk-on”. Everyone was sure he could never make the cut, but he did. The coach admitted that he kept him on the roster because he always puts his heart and soul in every practice, and at the same time, provided the other members with the spirit and hustle they badly needed. The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games. This persistent young athlete never missed practice during his four years at college, but he never got to play in the game.
It was the end of his senior football season, and as he trotted onto the practice field shortly before the big play off game, the coach met him with a telegram. The young man read the telegram and he became deathly silent. Swallowing hard, he mumbled to the coach, ”My father died this morning. Is it all right if I miss practice today?”
The coach put his arm gently around his shoulder and said, ”Take the rest of the week off, son. And don’t even plan to come back to the game on Saturday
Saturday arrived, and the game was not going well. In the third quarter, when the team was ten points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were astounded to see their faithful teammate back so soon. ”Coach, please let me play. I’ve just got to play today.” said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him. There was no way he wanted his worst player in this close playoff game.
But the young man persisted, and finally feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. ”All right,” he said. ”You can go in”.
Before long, the coach, the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before was doing everything right. The opposing team could not stop him. He ran, he passed, looked and tackled like a star. His team began to triumph. The score was soon tied. In the closing seconds of the game, this kid intercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown. The fans broke loose. His teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders. Such cheering you never heard!
Finally, after the stands had emptied and the team had showered and left the locker room the coach noticed that the young man was sitting quietly in the corner all alone. The coach came to him and said, ”Kid, I can’t believe it. You were fantastic! Tell me what got into you? How did you do it?”
He looked at the coach, with tears in his eyes, and said, ”Well, you knew my dad died, but did you know that my dad was blind?’ The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile, ”Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could see me play, and I wanted to show him I could do it!”
Like the athlete’s father, God is always there cheering for us. He’s always reminding us to go on. He’s even offering us His hand for He knows what is best and is willing to give us what we need and not simply what we want. God has never missed a single game.
What a joy to know that life is meaningful if lived for the Highest. Live for HIM for He’s watching us in the game of life.
BEING THANKFUL
One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the countryside with the purpose of showing him how the poor people live there. They spent a couple of days and nights on a farm of a poor farmer.
On their return from the village, the father asked his son, ”How was the trip?”
”It was great, dad!”
”Did you notice how poor people live?”
”Oh, yes.”
”Then tell me what you have learnt from the trip.”
The son replied, ”I saw that we have one dog, whereas they have four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden, but they have a creak which has no end. We have an imported lantern in our garden, but they have innumerable stars at night. Our verandah reaches to the front-yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on, but they have farms that go beyond our sight. We have servants that serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around us to protect us, they have friends to protect theirs.”
The boy’s father was speechless. Then the boy added, ”Thanks dad, for showing me how poor we are!”
A Story Of A Porcupine
Little Miranda was alone in the garden. I was watching her distractedly, occasionally glancing over the top of my newspaper.
Almost kneeling, she was slowly approaching the fence, trying to make as little noise as possible. I thought she was looking for mushrooms or that she was pretending she was a giant mouse.
But after a few minutes I heard her cry out. It was a loud cry, followed by a bout of tears. I jumped out of my chair and ran out to the garden, in my bare feet.
Miranda was holding her index finger. It was bleeding, but it didn’t look too bad. I ran some water over it, asking what she could have touched that made her finger bleed, in a garden that I had planted with grass and other harmless plants.
”I wanted to touch the animal,” she replied, ”but it didn’t let me come close, so I stretched out my arm and it did this. Then it ran away. Why did it do that, she wailed....I did not want to hurt it.”
”What animal?” I asked.
”The white and black ball, down there,” she said, pointing to the end of the garden.
I picked up a broomstick I found in the kitchen and went back outside. In the garden, half buried in an old gopher hole, I found the animal. It was a porcupine. I remembered what I had learned in my natural science class.
The porcupine is a solitary animal. When confronted, it either retreats or projects its needles. Once the needles have penetrated the flesh, the wounds become infected and, in some cases, can even cause death.
Miranda had presented no danger to the porcupine, but it did not know what else to do except wound her, or get wounded itself. Nature, in creating its instinct, gave the porcupine no choice: instead of communicating, it had to launch its needles. That is the only strategy it knows, and no one can change it, not even a little girl who wants to make a friend.
Is the porcupine the only animal to use this type of defence?
No, we apply it every day of our lives too! And our needles though better hidden, are even more vicious! Words, blows, looks, anger, pride... these are the arms we use to attack those who we feel threatened by or dislike.
Let us stop now & reflect: What are our ’needles’ like? And what are we going to do about them?
The Goddesses Of Wealth And Misery
Once Wealth and Poverty approached a merchant and introduced themselves as Goddesses. The merchant offered his salutations to both of them and said: ”May
I know what brings you to my humble tenement?” The Goddess of Wealth said: ”We want you to judge and tell us as to who is more beautiful between the two of us?”
The merchant was in a fix. He knew he was between the devil and the deep sea. If he were to declare wealth as more beautiful than poverty, poverty would curse him. If he were to declare poverty as more beautiful than wealth, then wealth would forsake him. But, very soon he regained his composure and said: ”I have great respect for you both. Would you please act according to my instructions? Only then I can judge you two properly.”
The Goddesses agreed. He then said: ”Mother Wealth, would you please go to the entrance (gates) and walk into the house? Mother, Poverty! Would you please walk from here towards the gates? I can then have a good look at you both, from near and far.”
The two Goddesses walked as the merchant had wished them to. After seeing them walk, the merchant happily declared: ”Mother Wealth! You appear very beautiful when you enter the house. Mother Poverty! You look very beautiful when you leave the house!”
The merchant had very beautifully circumvented the predicament that had befallen him and in doing so had also not hurt the goddesses’ sentiments. The Goddesses immensely appreciated the wit and wisdom of the merchant. So, while the Goddess of Wealth happily stayed in his house, the Goddess of Poverty cheerfully walked away.
When a serious problem confronts us, if we look within and think calmly, a ray of hope and light will beam forth and show us the way.
. A Beautiful Rose !!!!!
There’s a story about a woman who did not keep a tidy house. One day someone gave her a beautiful rose which she brought home and put in a vase in her parlour.
The rose, though, showed up the vase which was tarnished and dusty, so she polished the vase and set the rose and vase on the table.
But now something was wrong with the table. It looked terrible. It had to be cleaned as well. At last the woman stood back and admired the sparkling table, the polished vase, and the beautiful rose.
But to her dismay, the whole parlour now seemed dull and murky. Before she knew it, she found herself scrubbing the walls, washing the curtains, and opening the windows to let light and air into every dark corner.
The moral of the story is if you make one small change in your life, light up one small corner, in no time your whole life can take on a different look.
If you’re dissatisfied with your life at this point, give some serious consideration to that one area you could change.
What goes around comes around.
One day a man saw an old lady, stranded on the side of the road, but even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her Mercedes and got out. His Pontiac was still sputtering when he approached her. Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe; he looked poor and hungry.
He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that chill which only fear can put in you. He said, ’I’m here to help you, ma’am. Why don’t you wait in the car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Bryan Anderson.’
Well, all she had was a flat tire, but for an old lady, that was bad enough. Bryan crawled under the car looking for a place to put the jack, skinning his knuckles a time or two. Soon he was able to change the tire. But he had to get dirty and his hands hurt.
As he was tightening up the lug nuts, she rolled down the window and began to talk to him. She told him that she was from St. Louis and was only just passing through. She couldn’t thank him enough for coming to her aid.
Bryan just smiled as he closed her trunk. The lady asked how much she owed him. Any amount would have been all right with her. She already imagined all the awful things that could have happened had he not stopped. Bryan never thought twice about being paid. This was not a job to him. This was helping someone in need, and God knows there were plenty, who had given him a hand in the past. He had lived his whole life that way, and it never occurred to him to act any other way.
He told her that if she really wanted to pay him back, the next time she saw someone who needed help, she could give that person the assistance they needed, and Bryan added, ’And think of me.’
He waited until she started her car and drove off. It had been a cold and depressing day, but he felt good as he headed for home, disappearing into the twilight.
A few miles down the road the lady saw a small cafe. She went in to grab a bite to eat, and take the chill off before she made the last leg of her trip home. It was a dingy looking restaurant. Outside were two old gas pumps. The whole scene was unfamiliar to her. The waitress came over and brought a clean towel to wipe her wet hair. She had a sweet smile, one that even being on her feet for the whole day couldn’t erase. The lady noticed the waitress was nearly eight months pregnant, but she never let the strain and aches change her attitude. The old lady wondered how someone who had so little could be so giving to a stranger. Then she remembered Bryan.
After the lady finished her meal, she paid with a hundred dollar bill. The waitress quickly went to get change for her hundred dollar bill, but the old lady had slipped right out the door. She was gone by the time the waitress came back. The waitress wondered where the lady could be. Then she noticed something written on the napkin.
There were tears in her eyes when she read what the lady wrote: ’You don’t owe me anything. I have been there too. Somebody once helped me out, the way I’m helping you. If you really want to pay me back, here is what you do: Do not let this chain of love end with you.’
Under the napkin were four more $100 bills.
Well, there were tables to clear, sugar bowls to fill, and people to serve, but the waitress made it through another day. That night when she got home from work and climbed into bed, she was thinking about the money and what the lady had written. How could the lady have known how much she and her husband needed it? With the baby due next month, it was going to be hard....
She knew how worried her husband was, and as he lay sleeping next to her, she gave him a soft kiss and whispered soft and low, ’Everything’s going to be all right. I love you, Bryan Anderson.’
There is an old saying ’What goes around comes around.’ Today I sent you this story and I’m asking you to pass it on. Let this light shine.
Good friends are like stars....You don’t always see them, but you know they are always there.
WHEN A LIZARD CAN, WHY CAN’T WE?
This is a true story that happened in Japan.
In order to renovate the house, someone in Japan breaks open the wall. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside hammered into one of its feet. He sees this, feels pity, and at the same time curious, as when he checked the nail, it was nailed 10 years ago when the house was first built.
What happened? The lizard has survived in such position for 10 years!!!!!!!!!! In a dark wall partition for 10 years without moving, it is impossible and mind-boggling.
Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 10 years!!! Without moving a single step--since its foot was nailed!
So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it has been doing, and what and how it has been eating.
Later, not knowing from where it came appears another lizard, with food in its mouth. Ah! He was stunned and touched deeply. For the lizard That was stuck by nail, another lizard has been feeding it for the past 10 years... Imagine? it has been doing that untiringly for 10 long years, without giving up hope on its partner.
Think, will u do that to your partner? Think that will you do it to your Mom, Who brought you after a big struggle of nine long months?
Or at least to your Dad, Friends, Co-workers, brothers and Sisters?
Imagine what a small creature can do that a creature blessed with a brilliant mind can’t. As information and communication technology advances, our access to information becomes faster and faster. But the Distance between human beings. . . is it getting closer as well?
Please never abandon your loved ones
Never Say U R Busy When They Really Need You ...
You May Have The Entire World At Your Feet.....
But You Might Be The Only World To Them....
A Moment of negligence might break the very heart which loves you thru all odds..
Before you say something just remember: It takes a moment to Break but an entire life to make...
To Live Use Heart and to Survive use Brains.
Then Life would be a paradise Unfurling only Love Joy and
Happiness.....
Spread this message to everyone you Love and Help them Live life and not Merely Survive..
The Greatest Foe And Friend Of Yourself
One day all the employees reached the office and they saw a big notice on the door on which was written:
’Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym’.
In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that man who hindered the growth of his colleagues and the company itself. The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room.
The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up. Everyone thought: ’Who is this guy who was hindering my progress?
Well, at least he died!’. One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see himself.
There was also a sign next to the mirror that said: ’There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: it is YOU. You are the only person who can revolutionize your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself. Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when your company changes.
Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life. ’The most important relationship you can have is the one you have with yourself’
Examine yourself, watch yourself. Don’t be afraid of difficulties, impossibilities and losses: be a winner, build yourself and your reality. It’s the way you face Life that makes the difference.
Don’t give up...
One day I decided to quit...
quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality... I wanted to quit my life.
I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.
”God”, I asked, ”Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”
His answer surprised me...
”Look around”, He said. ”Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”
”Yes”, I replied.
”When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light.
I gave them water.
The fern quickly grew from the earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor.
Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.
In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo. He said.
”In year three there was still nothing from the bamboo seed.
But I would not quit.
In year four, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. I would not quit.” He said.
”Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth. Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant...But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall.
It had spent the five years growing roots. Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.
I would not give any of my creations a challenge it could not handle.”
He asked me. ”Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots”.
”I would not quit on the bamboo.
I will never quit on you.”
”Don’t compare yourself to others.” He said.
”The bamboo had adifferent Purpose than the fern.
Yet they both make the forest beautiful.”
”Your time will come”, God said to me.
”You will rise high”
”How high should I rise?” I asked.
”How high will the bamboo rise?” He asked in return.
”As high as it can?” I questioned.
”Yes.” He said, ”Give me glory by rising as high as you can.”
I left the forest and brought back this story.
