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”
Born into poverty, Lincoln was faced with defeat throughout his life.. He lost eight elections, twice failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown.. He could have quit many times but he didn’t and because he didn’t quit, he became one of the greatest presidents in the United States history..
Here is a sketch of Lincoln’s road to the White House 1816 His family was forced out of their home.. He had to work to support them..
1818 His mother died.. 1831 Failed in business.. 1832 Ran for state legislature lost.. 1832 Also lost his job wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in.. 1833 Borrowed some money from a friend to begin a business and by the end of the year he was bankrupt..He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off this debt.. 1834 Ran for state legislature again won.. 1835 Was engaged to be married, sweetheart died and his heart was broken.. 1836 Had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for six months.. 1838 Sought to become speaker of the state legislature defeated.. 1840 Sought to become elector defeated.. 1843 Ran for Congress lost.. 1846 Ran for Congress again this time he won went to Washington and did a good job.. 1848 Ran for re-election to Congress lost.. 1849 Sought the job of land officer in his home state rejected.. 1854 Ran for Senate of the United States lost..
1856 Sought the Vice-Presidential nomination at his party’s national convention get less than 100 votes.. 1858 Ran for U.S. Senate again again he lost.. 1860 Elected president of the United States…__
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!.
There may be days when you get up in the morning and things aren’t the way you had hoped they would be…
That’s when you have to tell yourself that things will get better.. There are times when people disappoint you and let you down…
But those are the times when you must remind yourself to trust your own judgments and opinions, to keep your life focused on believing in yourself..
There will be challenges to face and changes to make in your life, and it is up to you to accept them..
Constantly keep yourself headed in the right direction for you.. It may not be easy at times, but in those times of struggle you will find a stronger sense of who you are..
So when the days come that are filled with frustration and unexpected responsibilities, remember to believe in yourself and all you want your life to be.. Because the challenges and changes will only help you to find the goals that you know are meant to come true for you..
Imagine there is a bank, which credits your account each morning with Rs 86,400, carries over no balance from day to day, allows you to keep no cash balance, and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day.. What would you do?.
Draw out every pence, of course!.
Well, everyone has such a bank.. Its name is Time.. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds.. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever of this you have failed to invest to good purpose.. It carries over no balance.. It allows no overdraft..
Each day it opens a new account for you.. Each night it burns the records of the day.. If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours..
There is no going back.. There is no drawing against the
tomorrow.
Therefore, there is never not enough time or too much time.. Time management is decided by us alone and nobody else.. It is never the case of us not having enough time to do things, but the case of whether we want to do it..____
A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam.. He called his parents from San Francisco.. Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask.. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me.. Sure, they replied, we’d love to meet him..
There’s something you should know, the son continued, he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting.. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg.. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us..
I’m sorry to hear that, son.. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live..
No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us..
Son, said the father, you don’t know what you’re asking.. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us.. We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives.. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy.. He’ll find a way to live on his own..
At that point, the son hung up the phone.. The parents heard nothing more from him.. A few days later, however, they received a call from the San Francisco police.. Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told.. The police believed it was suicide..
The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son.. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg…__
Thomas Edison tried two thousand different materials in search of a filament for the light bulb.. When none worked satisfactorily, his assistant complained, All our work is in vain.. We have learned nothing..
Edison replied very confidently, Oh, we have come a long way and we have learned a lot.. We know that there are two thousand elements which we cannot use to make a good light bulb..
One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well.. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.. Finally he decided the animal was old and the well needed to be covered up anyway it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him.. They all grabbed a shovel and begin to shovel dirt into the well.. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly..
Then, to everyone’s amazement he quieted down.. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was astonished at what he saw.. With every shovel of dirt that fell on his back, the donkey was doing some thing amazing.. He would shake it off and take a step up.. As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up..
Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and totted off!..
#Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt.. The trick is too not to get bogged down by it.. We can get out of the deepest wells by not stopping.. And by never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up!!.
