Are You Blessed?

If you can read now, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read at all.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation.......you are ahead of 500 million people in the world.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness.......... you are more blessed than the million who have not survived.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead and a place to sleep...you are luckier than 75% of this world's population.

If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish someplace....... you are among the top 50% of the world's wealthy.

If your parents are still alive and still married........you are among the top 25% of this world's blessed ones.

If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful.....you are among the top 10% and blessed because the majority can, but most do not.

If you prayed yesterday and today........you are in the minority because you believe God does hear and answer prayers.

B: Begin your day with
L: Love in your heart
E: Ever ready to help
S: Sharing love and
S: Spreading light like the sun
I: Inspiring all and
N: Never forgetting that
G: God is with you all the time

Life is full of Opportunities

A young man wished to marry the farmer's beautiful daughter. He went to the farmer to ask his permission.

The farmer looked at him and said, "Son, go stand out in that field. I'm going to release three bulls, one at a time. If you can catch the tail of the best of the three bulls, you can marry my daughter."

The young man stood in the field awaiting the first bull. The barn door opened and out came the meanest looking bull he had ever seen.. He decided that one of the next bulls had to be a better choice than this one, so he ran over to the side and let the bull pass through.

The barn door opened again. Unbelievable. He had never seen anything so big and fierce in his life. It stood pawing the ground, it eyed him. 'Whatever the next bull was like, it had to be a better choice than this one,' he thought. He ran to the fence and let the bull pass through.

The door opened a third time. A smile came across his face. This was the best bull he had ever seen. This one was his bull, he said to himself. As the bull came running by, he positioned himself just right and jumped at just the exact moment. He threw his hands to grab..... But alas..... The bull had no tail !!!!!

We do not get unlimited chances to get the things we want. Nothing is worse than missing an opportunity that would've changed our lives. Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises. One will always regret the opportunities missed more than the mistakes made. Weak men wait for opportunities. Strong men make them.

Live a life full of Love

'Why is it that some people can resolve the most complicated problems really easily, whilst others struggle over every tiny crisis and end up drowning in a glass of water?' the student asked the Master.

Master replied by telling the following story:

'Once upon a time, there was a man who had been the soul of kindness all his life. When he died, everyone assumed that he would go straight to Heaven, for the only possible place for a good man like him was Paradise. The man wasn't particularly bothered about going to Heaven, but that was where he went.

But the angel who received him there, gave only a cursory glance through the index cards before her and when she couldn't find the man's name, she sent him straight to Hell.

And in the hell no one checked, for anyone who turned up is invited in. The man entered and stayed…

Some days later, Lucifer stormed up to the gates of Heaven to demand an explanation from St Peter. "What you're doing is pure terrorism!" he said.

St Peter asked why Lucifer was so angry, and an enraged Lucifer replied: "You sent that man down into Hell, and he's completely demoralizing me! Right from the start, there he was listening to people, looking them in the eye, talking to them. And now everyone's sharing their feelings and hugging and kissing. That's not what I want in Hell! Please, take him into Heaven!'

When the Master had finished telling the story, he looked at the student fondly and said: 'Live your life with so much love in your heart that if, by mistake, you were sent to Hell, the Devil himself would deliver you up to Paradise.'

Only the Heart can view right

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they were eating breakfast, the young woman saw her neighbor hanging the wash outside.

"That laundry is not very clean; she doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap."

Her husband looked on, remaining silent.

Every time her neighbor hung her wash to dry, the young woman made the same comments.

A month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and told her husband: "Look, she's finally learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this."

The husband replied, "I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows."

And so it is with life. The world doesn’t become green just because you view it with green glasses. The fault doesn’t lie with the world. Its your colored glasses that’s preventing you from seeing the reality and creates an illusory world. It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. When the heart is pure and clean, what the eyes see is also pure and clean. 

God is in everything

A Bengali Folktale

"Where is God?" asked the disciple.

"Everywhere, in everyone and everything," said his Guru.

Later, as the disciple was going home, he saw an elephant charging towards him.

"Get out of the way, get out of the way," shouted the elephant-driver. "He has gone mad!"

But the disciple thought: "God is everywhere. He is in the elephant and he is in me. Would God attack God? No, therefore the elephant will not attack me."

He stood where he was. The elephant picked him up in his trunk and flung him aside. Fortunately, he landed in a haystack and was not too badly hurt. But he was terribly shaken and confused.

When the Guru and the other disciples came to help him and take him home, he said, "You said God is in everything, but see what the elephant did to me!"

"It is true that God is in everything," said his Guru. "He is in the elephant, but he is also in the mahout who kept telling you to get out of the way. Why didn't you listen to him?"

Evil begets Evil

There was once a king who was so cruel and unjust that his subjects yearned for his death or dethronement.

However, one day he surprised them all by announcing that he had decided to turn over a new leaf.

“No more cruelty, no more injustice,” he promised, and he was as good as his word. He became known as the ‘Gentle Monarch’. Months after his transformation one of his ministers plucked up enough courage to ask him what had brought about his change of heart.

And the king answered, “As I was galloping through my forests I caught sight of a fox being chased by a hound. The fox escaped into his hole but not before the hound had bitten into its leg and lamed it for life.

Later I rode into a village and saw the same hound there. It was barking at a man. Even as I watched, the man picked up a huge stone and flung it at the hound, breaking its leg.

The man had not gone far when he was kicked by a horse. His knee was shattered and he fell to the ground, disabled for life. 

The horse began to run but it fell into a hole and broke its leg. 

Reflecting on all that had happened, I thought: ‘Evil begets evil. If I continue in my evil ways, I will surely be overtaken by evil’. So I decided to change”.

The minister went away convinced that the time was ripe to overthrow the king and seize the throne. Immersed in thought, he did not see the steps in front of him and fell, breaking his neck

"As you sow so shall you reap", says the Bible. Cycle of Deeds always gives us back what we give to others. If we do good to others, good will happen to us. If we do bad to others, our turn will also come.

Acts of kindness turn around lives

In one of the training programs for managers, the coordinator asked the participants, “What has caused you to stay long enough to become a manager?"

One participant, with her voice almost breaking, said, "It was a Rs 200 baseball glove."

Mary told the group that she originally took a clerk job as an interim position while she looked for something better.

On her second or third day behind the counter, she received a phone call from her nine-year old son, Bobby. He needed a baseball glove for Little League. She explained that as a single mother, money was very tight, and her first check would have to go for paying bills. Perhaps she could buy his baseball glove with her second or third check.

When Mary arrived for work the next morning, the store manager, asked her to come to the small room in back of the store that served as an office. Mary wondered if she had done something wrong or left some part of her job incomplete from the day before.

She was concerned and confused.

The manager handed her a box. "I overheard you talking to your son yesterday," she said, "and I know that it is hard to explain things to kids. This is a baseball glove for Bobby because he may not understand how important he is, even though you have to pay bills before you can buy gloves. You know we can't pay good people like you as much as we would like to; but we do care, and I want you to know you are important to us."

The thoughtfulness, empathy and love of this store manager is what has caused her to change her mind to look for something better and stay long enough to become a manager.

This demonstrates vividly that people remember more how much an employer cares than how much he pays.

An important lesson for the price of a Little League baseball glove.

My thoughts:

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Acts of kindness does not only benefit receivers of the kind act, but also the giver, as a result of feeling a sense of contentment and relaxation when such acts are committed. 

   

Care for your parents

An 80 year old man was sitting on the sofa in his house along with his 45 years old highly educated son. Suddenly a crow perched on their window.

The father asked his son, "What is this?" The son replied, "It is a crow".

After a few minutes, the father asked his son the 2nd time, "What is this?"
The son said "Father, I have just now told you 'It's a crow'."

After a little while, the old father again asked his son the 3rd time, "What is this?"
At this time some expression of irritation was felt in the son's tone when he said to his father with a rebuff. "It's a crow, a crow, a crow...".

A little after, the father again asked his son the 4th time, "What is this?"
This time the son shouted at his father, "Why do you keep asking me the same question again and again, although I have told you so many times 'IT IS A CROW'. Are you not able to understand this?"

A little later the father went to his room and came back with an old tattered diary, which he had maintained since his son was born.

On opening a page, he asked his son to read that page. When the son read it, the following words were written in the diary :-
"Today my little son aged three was sitting with me on the sofa, when a crow was sitting on the window. My son asked me 23 times what it was, and I replied to him all 23 times that it was a Crow. I hugged him lovingly each time he asked me the same question again and again for 23 times. I did not at all feel irritated I rather felt affection for my innocent child".

While the little child asked him 23 times "What is this", the father had felt no irritation in replying to the same question all 23 times and when today the father asked his son the same question just 4 times, the son felt irritated and annoyed.

So..

If your parents attain old age, do not repulse them or look at them as a burden, but speak to them a gracious word, be cool, obedient, humble and kind to them. Be considerate to your parents. From today say this aloud, "I want to see my parents happy forever. They have cared for me ever since I was a little child. They have always showered their selfless love on me. They crossed all mountains and valleys without seeing the storm and heat to make me a person presentable in the society today".

Say a prayer to God, "I will serve my old parents in the BEST way. I will say all good and kind words to my dear parents, at all costs, at all times, at all places, by all means."

You are part of the Ocean

A short story by Mitch Albom in “Tuesdays with Morrie“

A little wave, bobbing along in the ocean is having a grand old time.

He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air – until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore. “My God, this is terrible”, the wave says. “Look what’s going to happen to me!”

Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him: “Why do you look so sad?”

The first wave says: “You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn’t it terrible?”

The second wave says: “No, you don’t understand. You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.”

Pray for others

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men on it were able to swim to a small, desert like island.

The two survivors who have been a good friends, not knowing what else to do, agreed that they had no other recourse but to pray to God. However, to find out whose prayer was more powerful, they agreed to divide the territory between them and stay on opposite sides of the island.

The first thing they prayed for was food. The next morning, the first man saw a fruit-bearing tree on his side of the land, and he was able to eat its fruit.

The other man’s parcel of land remained barren.

After a week, the first man was lonely and he decided to pray for a wife. The next day, another ship was wrecked, and the only survivor was a woman who swam to his side of the land.

On the other side of the island, there was nothing.

Soon the first man prayed for a house, clothes, more food. The next day, like magic, all of these were given to him.

However, the second man still had nothing.

Finally, the first man prayed for a ship, so that he and his wife could leave the island. In the morning, he found a ship docked at his side of the island. The first man boarded the ship with his wife and decided to leave the second man on the island.

He considered the other man unworthy to receive God’s blessings, since none of his prayers had been answered.

As the ship was about to leave, the first man heard a voice from heaven booming, “Why are you leaving your companion on the island?”

“My blessings are mine alone, since I was the one who prayed for them,” the first man answered. “His prayers were all unanswered and so he does not deserve anything.”

“You are mistaken!” the voice rebuked him. “He had only one prayer, which I answered. If not for that, you would not have received any of my blessings.”

“Tell me,” the first man asked the voice, “What did he pray for which I should owe him anything?”

“He prayed that all your prayers be answered."

Value your friends; don’t leave your loved ones behind. "Be motivated by love for God and a desire to help others (Hebrews 6:10, NIV)."

My thoughts:

For all we know, our blessings are not the fruits of our prayers alone, but include those of others praying for us either singly or in a group. Praying for others is vital for our own spiritual growth. We have to recognize the absolute necessity of praying for each other even when they have not requested us to pray for them. We must not excuse ourselves by saying, “How can I pray for them when they do not tell me their needs?” Most often, others’ needs are often similar to our own.