A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away..
As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing..
He asked her what was wrong and she replied, I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother and I don’t have enough money..
The man smiled and said, Come on in with me. I’ll buy you a rose..
He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers..
As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home. She said, Yes, please! You can take me to my mother..
She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave..
The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s house.. Author Unknown”
Sally jumped up as soon as she saw the surgeon come out of the operating room. She said.. How is my little boy?. Is he going to be all right?. When can I see him?.
The surgeon said, I’m sorry. We did all we could, but your boy didn’t make it. Sally said,
Why do little children get cancer?. Doesn’t God care any more?. Where were you, God, when my son needed you?..
The surgeon asked, Would you like some time alone with your son?. One of the nurses will be out in a few minutes, before he’s transported to the university..
Sally asked the nurse to stay with her while she said good bye to son..
She ran her fingers lovingly through his thick red curly hair..
Would you like a lock of his hair?. the nurse asked.. Sally nodded yes.. The nurse cut a lock of the boy’s hair, put it in a plastic bag and handed it to Sally.. The mother said, It was Jimmy’s idea to donate his body to the university for study.. He said it might help somebody else. I said no at first, but Jimmy said, Mom, I won’t be using it after I die.. Maybe it will help some other little boy spend one more day with his Mom.. She went on, My Jimmy had a heart of gold.. Always thinking of someone else.. Always wanting to help others if he could..
Sally walked out of Children’s mercy Hospital for the last time, after spending most of the last six months there.. She put the bag with Jimmy’s belongings on the seat beside her in the car.. The drive home was difficult.. It was even harder to enter the empty house.. She carried Jimmy’s belongings, and the plastic bag with the lock of his hair to her son’s room.. She started placing the model cars and other personal things back in his room exactly where he had always kept them.. She laid down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep..
It was around midnight when Sally awoke.. Laying beside her on the bed was a folded letter..
The letter said, Dear Mom, I know you’re going to miss me, but don’t think that I will ever forget you, or stop loving you, just ’cause I’m not around to say I LOVE YOU.. I will always love you, Mom, even more with each day.. Someday we will see each other again.. Until then, if you want to adopt a little boy so you won’t be so lonely, that’s okay with me.. He can have my room and old stuff to play with.. But, if you decide to get a girl instead, she probably wouldn’t like the same things us boys do.. You’ll have to buy her dolls and stuff girls like, you know..
Don’t be sad thinking about me.. This really is a neat place.. Grandma and Grandpa met me as soon as I got here and showed me around some, but it will take a long time to see everything.. The angels are so cool . I love to watch them fly.. And, you know what?. Jesus doesn’t look like any of his pictures.. Yet, when I saw Him, I knew it was Him.. Jesus himself took me to see GOD!. And guess what, Mom?. I got to sit on God’s knee and talk to Him, like I was somebody important.. That’s when I told Him that I wanted to write you a letter, to tell you good bye and everything..
But I already knew that wasn’t allowed.. Well, you know what Mom?. God handed me some paper and His own personal pen to write you this letter.. I think Gabriel is the name of the angel who is going to drop this letter off to you.. God said for me to give you the answer to one of the questions you asked Him Where was He when I needed him?.
God said He was in the same place with me, as when His son Jesus was on the cross. He was right there, as He always is with all His children..
Oh, by the way, Mom, no one else can see what I’ve written except you.. To everyone else this is just a blank piece of paper.. Isn’t that cool? I have to give God His pen back now. He needs it to write some more names in the Book of Life.. Tonight I get to sit at the table with Jesus for supper. I’m, sure the food will be great..
Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. I don’t hurt anymore.. The cancer is all gone. I’m glad because I couldn’t stand that pain anymore and God couldn’t stand to see me hurt so much, either. That’s when He sent The Angel of Mercy to come get me. The Angel said I was a Special Delivery!. How about that?. Signed with Love from God, Jesus & Me.. Author Unknown”
There was once a big wax candle who had the highest opinion of his merits.. I, he said, am made of the purest wax, cast in the best mold.. I burn more brilliantly than any other candle, and I outlast them all.. I belong in the high chandelier or the silver candlestick..
What a delightful life you must lead, the tallow candle admitted.. I am only tallow.. Just a tallow dip.. But it’s a comfort to think how much better off I am than the taper.. He’s only dipped twice, while I am dipped eight times to make a thick and respectable candle of me.. I’ m satisfied..
To be sure it would be better to be born of wax than of tallow, and a lucky thing to be shaped in a mold, but one isn’t asked how he wants to be born.. Your place is in the big rooms with glass chandeliers.. Mine is in the kitchen.. But kitchen is a good place too.. All the food in the house comes from there..
There are more important things in the world than food, the wax candle boasted.. There’s the glitter of good society in which I shine.. Why, I and all my family are invited to a ball that’s being given here this very evening..
No sooner had he said this than all the wax candles were sent for.. But the tallow candle was not left behind.. The mistress of the house took it in her own hand and carried it to the kitchen, where a poor boy waited with his basket full of potatoes and a few apples that she had given him..
And here’s a candle for you too, my little friend,. she told him.. Your mother can use it to work by when she sits up late at night..
The lady’s small daughter stood close beside her mother, and when she heard the magic words late at night, she forgot to be shy..
I’m going to stay up late tonight too!. she exclaimed. ” We are to have a ball this evening, and I’m to wear my big red ribbon.. No candle ever could shine like the eyes of a child..
Happiness is a blessed thing to see, the tallow candle thought to himself.. I mustn’t forget how it looks, for I certainly shan’t see it again.. They put him in the basket and closed the lid.. Away the boy went with it..
Where can he be taking me?. the candle wondered.. I may have to live with poor people who don’t even own a brass candlestick, while the wax candle sits in silver and beams at all the best people.. How fine it must be to shine in good company.. But this is what I get for being tallow, not wax..
And the candle did come to live with poor people.. They were a widow and her three children, who had a low ceilinged room across the way from the well to do house..
God bless our neighbor for all that she gave us, the widow said.. This good candle will burn far into the night..
She struck a match to it.. Fut, fie, he sputtered.. What a vile smelling match she lights me with.. Would anyone offer such a kitchen match to the wax candle, in the well to do house across the way?.
There the candles were lighted too.. They made the street bright as carriages came rumbling with guests dressed in their best for the ball. The music struck up.. Now the ball’s beginning..
The tallow candle burned brighter as he remembered the happy little girl whose face was more shining than the light of all those wax candles.. I’ll never see anything like that again.. The smallest of the poor children reached up, for she was very small, and put her arms around the necks of her brother and sister.. What she had to tell them was so important that it had to be whispered.. Tonight we’re going to have just think of it warm potatoes, this very night..
Her face beamed with happiness and the candle beamed right back at her.. He saw happiness again, and a gladness as great as when the little girl in the well to do house said, We’re having a ball this evening, and I’m to wear my red ribbon.. Is it such a treat to get warm potatoes?. the candle wondered.. Little children must manage to be happy here too.. He wept tallow tears of joy, and more than that a candle cannot do.. The table was spread and the potatoes were eaten.. How good they tasted!. It was a real feast.. There was an apple for everyone, and the smallest child said grace..
Now thanks, dear Lord, I give to Thee That Thou again hast filled me. Amen..
And didn’t I say it nicely?. the little girl asked..
Don’t say such things, her mother told her.. Just thank the good Lord for filling you up..
The children went to bed, were kissed good night, and fell fast asleep.. Their mother sat up late and sewed to make a living for them and for herself.. From the well to do house came light and music.. But the stars overhead shone on all the houses, rich or poor, with the same light, clear and kind..
This has been a wonderful evening, the tallow candle told himself.. Can the wax candle have had any better time of it in his silver candlestick?. I’d like to know that before I’m burned out..
He remembered the two happy children, one face lighted up by the wax candle, the other shining in the tallow candle’s light..
One was happy as the other. Yes, that is the whole story!.
Chuan and Jing joined a wholesale company together just after graduation.. Both worked very hard.. After several years, the boss promoted Jing to sales executive but Chuan remained a sales rep..
One day Chuan could not take it anymore, tender resignation to the boss and complained the boss did not value hard working staff, but only promoted those who flattered him..
The boss knew that Chuan worked very hard for the years, but in order to help Chuan realize the difference between him and Jing, the boss asked Chuan to do the following.. Go and find out anyone selling water melon in the market?. Chuan returned and said yes.. The boss asked how much per kg?. Chuan went back to the market to ask and returned to inform boss the $12 per kg..
Boss told Chuan, I will ask Jing the same question?. Jing went, returned and said, boss, only one person selling water melon.. $12 per kg, $100 for 10 kg, he has inventory of 340 melons..
On the table 58 melons, every melon weighs about 15 kg, bought from the South two days ago, they are fresh and red, good quality.. Chuan was very impressed and realized the difference between himself and Jing..
He decided not to resign but to learn from Jing.. My dear friends, a more successful person is more observant, think more and understand in depth.. For the same matter, a more successful person sees several years ahead, while you see only tomorrow.. The difference between a year and a day is 365 times, how could you win?.
Think! how far have you seen ahead in your life?. How thoughtful in depth are you?.
Here we are, afraid of losing what we have all the time, holding on to it so tight that not a soul can touch it.. We think by hiding it from the world, it’s hidden and it’s ours. Nothing is. Nothing ever will be.. For, nothing ever was..
If you think there is anything that you have, that’s yours, be it money, a house, a job, or a girlfriend.. it’s nothing but an illusion.. It’ll all disappear.. in one blow .
One blow, my man. Here we are, so insecure that we are afraid of re-starting our lives, so we just carry on trying to sort out the current mess.. The thought that we should give it all up and just start all over with nothing might cross our minds some time, sure, but we get scared and we push away anything that scares us..
There is nothing I can ever achieve or gain that I cannot lose, in a matter of seconds.. You have never gained enough to not be able to lose it all, in just a few minutes..
What you think is yours, was never yours and will never be yours.. Whatever you make here, you leave here.. You came naked and you’re going to go back naked..
So what are you afraid of ? Let all be lost.. Let them take away everything.. As long as you have your heart beating strong, as long as you have your nostrils working fine, as long as the blood flows in your veins, you will live, you will breathe and you can get it all back.. again and again.. For, if you can do it once, you can damn well do it again.. It’s just a game we play Life..
Perry had a rough childhood.. He was physically and sexually abused growing up, got kicked out of high school, and tried to commit suicide twice once as a preteen and again at 22..
At 23 he moved to Atlanta and took up odd jobs as he started working on his stage career..
In 1992 he wrote, produced, and starred in his first theater production, I Know I’ve Been Changed, somewhat informed by his difficult upbringing.. Perry put all his savings into the show and it failed miserably the run lasted just one weekend and only 30 people came to watch.. He kept up with the production, working more odd jobs and often slept in his car to get by. Six years later, Perry finally broke through when, on its seventh run, the show became a success.. He’s since gone on to have an extremely successful career as a director, writer, and actor..
In fact, Perry was named Forbes’ highest paid man in entertainment in 2011… ____
