Patience to Learn

A young man presented himself to the local expert on gems and said he wanted to become a gemologist. The expert brushed him off because he feared that the youth would not have the patience to learn. The young man pleaded for a chance. Finally the expert consented and told the youth, "Be here tomorrow."

The next morning the expert put a jade stone in the boy's hand and told him to hold it. The expert then went about his work, cutting, weighing, and setting gems. The boy sat quietly and waited.

The following moring the expert again placed the jade stone in the youth's hand and told him to hold it. On the third, fourth, and fifth day the expert repeated the exercise and the instructions.

On the sixth day the youth held the jade stone, but could no longer stand the silence. "Master," he asked, "when am I going to learn something?"

"You'll learn," the expert replied and went about his bussiness.

Several more days went by and the youth's frustation mounted. One morning as the expert approached and beckoned for him to hold out his hand, he was about to blurt out that he could go on no longer. But as the master placed the stone in the youth's hand, the young man exclaimed with-out looking at his hand, "This is not the same jade stone!"

"You have begun to learn," said the master.

Transform

A seed was born. It lived a comfortable life within its shell for sometime. then the rains came. The seed got soaked and began to rot.

The seed thought to itself : I will die as a seed anyway, so let me create something that will stay alive beyond me. The seed then decided to crack open its shell and transformed itself into a green plant.

The plant grew rapidly with the help of the rain & fertile soil. Soon it reached the stage of maturity where it could grow no more in its present form. The plant then transformed itself into a beautiful flower bud. The flower bloomed with the spring. When the spring was over, the flower began to wither.

No one admired the wilting flower any more. So the flower decided to transform itself into fragrance. As the smell of the flower spread far & wide , bees came to visit the flower.

As a result of this relationship new seed were born. That old seed which had decided to transform itself came alive again in a million seeds.

Pray First

There once was a man who had nothing for his family to eat. He had an old rifle and three bullets. So, he decided that he would go out hunting and kill some wild game for dinner.

As he went down the road, he saw a rabbit. He shot at the rabbit and missed it. The rabbit ran away.Then he saw a squirrel and fired a shot at the squirrel and missed it. The squirrel disappeared into a hole in a cottonwood tree.

As he went further, he saw a large wild “Tom” turkey in the tree, but he had only one bullet remaining. A voice spoke to him and said, “Pray first, aim high and stay focused.”

However, at the same time, he saw a deer which was a better kill. He brought the gun down and aimed at the deer. But, then he saw a rattlesnake between his legs about to bite him, so he naturally brought the gun down further to shoot the rattlesnake. Still, the voice said again to him, “I said ‘Pray, Aim high and Stay focused.” So, the man decided to listen to God’s voice.

He prayed, then aimed the gun high up in the tree and shot the wild turkey. The bullet bounced off the turkey and killed the deer. The handle fell off the gun and hit the snake in the head and killed it. And, when the gun had gone off, it knocked him into a pond. When he stood up to look around, he had fish in all his pockets, a dead deer and a turkey to eat for his family.

The snake (Satan) was dead simply because the man listened to God.

Moral of the story:

Pray first before you do anything, Aim and shoot high in your goals, and stay focused on God.

Never let others discourage you concerning your past. The past is exactly that, “the past.”

Live every day one day at a time and remember that only God knows our future and that he will not put you through any more than you can bear. Do not look to man for your blessings, but look to the doors that only He has prepared in advance for you in your favor.

Wait, be still and patient: keep God first and everything else will follow.

“Do not ask the Lord to guide your footsteps, if you’re not willing to move your feet.”

Two Acrons

If you want to understand adversity, take two identical acorns from the same oak tree and plant them in two different locations. Plant the first in the middle of a dense forest, and the other on a hill by itself.

Here's what will happen. The oak standing on a hillside is exposed to every storm and gale. As a result its roots plunge deep into the earth and spread in every direction, even wrapping themselves around giant boulders. At times it may seem the tree isn't growing fast enough - but the growth is happening under ground. It's as if the roots know they must protect the tree from the threatening elements.

What about the acorn planted in the forest? It becomes a weak, frail sapling ­ having to compete with giant oaks for nutrients and space. And since it is protected by its neighbors, the little oak doesn't sense the need to spread its roots for support.

Don't be afraid of adversity ­ welcome it! That's your sure-fire route to ultimate success.

Monk & Baby

Once there was a monk who lived in a village. One day a young village girl became pregnant and was unmarried. She did not want to expose her boyfriend. Out of fear when her parents asked her who is responsible, she pointed her finger to that monk.

Her parents were infuriated. The next day, the whole village turned up to blame the him. "How could you?" "You dirty old man!" "You are a disgrace!" "Get out of our village, you hypocrite!" Some villagers even threaten his life.

After listening to all the accusations, what he said was "Is that so?" and went back to meditate. Months went by; the young girl gave birth to a baby. The parents of the young girl were forced to find a father for the child.

The parents and the villagers went up to approach him saying "You are responsible for this baby; therefore you should bring up the baby!" Once again, he said "Is that so?" He took the young baby in his arms and went back.

By this time he has lost his reputation but it did not trouble him. He took very good care for this baby and he manages to obtain milk and everything the child needed from his neighbors.

After a year, he young girl felt ashamed and guilty and wanted to see her baby. She finally told the real story to her parents. When all the villagers came to know the truth, they all felt ashamed of having wrong him.

So all of them gathered and went to the monk asking for forgiveness. Once again, after listening to them said "Is that so?" He handed the baby back to the young girl.

********

When you are right, one thousand angels swearing that you are wrong does not

matter. But when you are wrong, ten thousand angels swearing that you are right will not make any difference.

What are you made of ?

There occur some moments in life when we are awestruck by the spirit and courage of the people around us. I am sharing one of those moments of mine.

What is the first reaction that we have when we see any person with physical challenges? Most often it is a feeling of sympathy and pity towards that person. However, it is not until you talk to them or see them doing something awesome that it dawns on you, that these guys actually have a character of steel within them, incomparably stronger than our own. It is then that, that feeling of pity evaporates and is replaced by awe and respect. It is then that you realize that this person is an icon of grit, determination, courage and passion to look up to...

Quite some time ago, when I was in college, there was this friend of mine. We had first met in a pretty unusual way. After college, I was waiting for an auto to go home. Today, it was taking pretty long to find an empty one. My hands were tiring from waving incessantly. Another auto came by. I could see it was occupied and so did not wave to it. Quite to my surprise, it screeched to a halt just past me. A boy's face popped out and he asked me to get in.

At my first glance towards him, my brain responded "I am not sure but I think I have seen this guy, he is probably from my college". So I thanked him and got into the auto. He asked me where was I headed for. Incidentally, the place I wanted to go was en-route his destination.

The auto started on its way ahead. We exchanged introductory greetings. And I was right, he was from my college but in another department. So, now we had lots in common to talk about while moving towards our destinations. Out of the talk, somehow came up the topic of helping people.

He was saying that, "People should always help each other in whatever capacities possible. For example, I often see that when college ends and students hurry to catch an auto, they do not bother to call out their fellow mates who are also waiting for an auto, and ask them where do they want to go? Who says that you should call out only to your best friends and not someone who belongs to your college and whom you know by face at least."

What he was telling was simple and obvious, yet very relevant. His way of talking reminded me of school days, when during the moral science periods we were taught some very basic and simple acts of benevolence, but we never bothered to inculcate them in our practical lives till date. I actually felt guilty for having acted in the same manner myself quite a few times.

Time went by as we talked and his destination arrived. He got down from the auto, and the next visual that my brain interpreted left me temporarily dazed. His one leg was crippled. He had to use his hand to hold the crippled leg by knee and then bend to move the leg forward with his hand. I could hardly recollect my senses back to realize that he was waving me good bye. I somehow managed to wave him back with a smile.

We had hardly talked for some 10-15 minutes but he had left a permanent impression on me by the time we parted ways. He had talked of helping people, He had. Until now, through my narrow brain, I used to think that these guys can 'Only Be Helped'. But 'Him' talking about helping others and my recollection of thoughts as a so-called 'Normal' guy who had acted in the opposite direction in the earlier times made me realize the shallowness of my character and the depth of his. Thanks to this anonymous friend of mine, he changed some of my perceptions forever.

Days passed by. Now whenever we used to meet in college, we used to greet each other, sometimes even have a talk if we had time, though I never mentioned to him what he had gifted me with on our first encounter. A few days later, we had the annual technical festival of our college. Given the pride and prestige of my college and the scale of the festival, it was considered to be the best in the country. So obviously, it was a huge crowd puller.

It was to take place over 3 days during which there would be many competitions and exhibitions. I spent the first day watching some competitions and decided to check out the exhibitions on the second. The exhibitions were scattered over the campus but the main attraction among them was the central exhibition at the college grounds. It had the best scientific projects from across the country on display. It had gained such fame that the minimum time it took for a person to enter the exhibition after being through serpentine queues was about 2 hours.

In order to discipline the thronging crowds into proper queues, quite a few volunteers had been deployed at the spot.

After having had my share of the 2-hour ordeal in the afternoon sun, I was finally getting close to the entrance. I could hear the volunteer guarding the entrance shouting instructions to the people on how to move through the large exhibition inside. Upon drawing closer, I saw the volunteer. He was none other than the new friend of mine, confidently guarding the door not allowing more than 10 people inside at a time. He dazed me much more this time than he had last time. Like magma erupting from a volcano, thoughts erupted in my mind.

I wanted to go upto him and bow to him. In my mind, I already had. I wanted to ask him, "What are you made of?" The confidence that was radiating from him was disarming. I started wondering how can a person like him have this level of confidence. Did he actually ever think that he had a physical challenge? Was he even aware of it? Probably not. Nor I think were the event managers who had given him this responsibility. A job which would have even a full fledged 'normal' person in sweats, because it demanded facing people and showing command, was being performed by Him.

I became so lost in my thoughts that I actually had to be nudged by the person standing behind me to wake me up and move ahead in the line. I was completely overwhelmed and at a loss of words to say anything to this great human whom I had befriended just a few days ago, so that when I actually came up to him, all I could manage was a smile and a wave of hand.

Till that day, I had almost always attributed spirit and courage to the physical realm of a man with a well built physique who could stand tall with a broad chest to face the world in the eye. But here I was, standing dumbstruck, looking in awe at the personification of spirit and courage well Beyond Boundaries...

The Window

A young couple relocated to a new place due to their transfer. The next morning, while they are enjoying their morning tea, the young woman sees her neighbor hang the wash to dry.That laundry is not very clean, she said, she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better washing powder.

Her husband looked on, but he remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.

About one month later, one fine morning while these young couple enjoying their morning tea, 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. "