Things are not always what they seem ~

Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion's guest room. Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement.

As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it. When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, "Things aren't always what they seem."

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife. After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night's rest. When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.

The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel how could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him, she accused. The second family had little but was willing to share everything, and you let the cow die. "Things aren't always what they seem," the older Angel replied.

"When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn't find it. Then last night as we slept in the farmer's bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead. Things aren't always what they seem."

Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don't turn out the way they should. If you have faith, you just need to trust that every outcome is always to your advantage. You just might not know it until some time later..

Pass this message on to remind your friends and family that they always have guardian angels looking over them, and things aren't always what they seem!

The Turtles

A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. 

Turtles, being naturally slow about things, 

took seven years to prepare for their outing. 

Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place for their outing. 

During the second year of their journey 

they found a place ideal for them at last!

 For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked the picnic basket,

and completed the arrangements.   

Then they discovered they had forgotten the salt.

A picnic without salt would be a disaster, they all agreed. 

After a lengthy discussion, 

the youngest turtle was chosen to retrieve the salt from home. 

Although he was the fastest of the slow moving turtles, 

the little turtle whined, cried, and wobbled in his shell. 

He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he returned.

The family consented and the little turtle left. 

Three years passed and the little turtle had not returned. 

Five years... six years...then on the seventh year of his absence, 

the oldest turtle could no longer contain his hunger. 

He announced that he was going to eat and begun to unwrap a sandwich.

At that point the little turtle suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, 

"SEE! I knew you wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt."

Moral of Story

Some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our expectations. 

We are so concerned about what others are doing 

that we don't do anything ourselves.

The Frogs

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant 

if he could use a million frog legs. 

The restaurant owner was shocked 

and asked the man where he could get so many frog legs!

The farmer replied, 

"There is a pond near my house that is full of frogs - millions of them. 

They croak all night long and they are about to make me crazy!"

So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement

that the farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, 

five hundred at a time for the next several weeks.

The first week, 

the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather sheepish, 

with two scrawny little frogs.

The restaurant owner said, "Well... where are all the frogs?"

The farmer said, "I was mistaken. 

There were only these two frogs in the pond. 

But they sure were making a lot of noise!"

Moral of Story

Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you, 

remember, it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. 

Also remember that problems always seem bigger in the dark. 

Have you ever laid in your bed at night worrying about things

 which seem almost overwhelming like a million frogs croaking? 

Chances are pretty good that when the morning comes,

 and you take a closer look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.

The Pretty Lady

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. 

They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge damaged. 

They had to wade across the river. 

There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge 

and couldn't cross the river.

The  big monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his back. 

The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. 

"How can big disciple brother carry a lady 

when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?" 

thought the little monk. But he kept quiet.

The big monk carried the lady across the river

and the small monk followed unhappily. 

When they crossed the river, 

the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her. 

All along the way for several miles,

the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. 

He was making up all kinds of accusations about the big monk in his head. 

This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. 

And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation.

Finally, at a rest point many hours later, 

the little monk could not stand it any further, 

he burst out angrily at the big monk. 

"How can you claim yourself a devout monk, 

when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, 

especially when she is very pretty?

All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite."

The big monk looked surprised and said, 

"I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, 

how come you are still carrying her along?"

Moral of Story 

This very old Chinese zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. 

We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, 

they irritate us and they make us angry. 

Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, 

sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous. 

But like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go away. 

We keep on carrying the baggage of the "pretty lady" with us. 

We let them keep on coming back  to hurt us, make us angry,

 make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony. 

Why? 

Simply because we are not willing to put down 

or let go of the baggage of the "pretty lady". 

We should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river, 

immediately after the unpleasant event is over. 

This will immediately remove all our agonies. 

There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.

It is just that simple.

The Difference Between Focus on Problems & Focus on Solutions

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn’t work at zero gravity. (Ink won’t flow down to the writing surface)

In order to solve this problem, they hired AndersenConsulting (Accenture today). It took them one decade and 12 million dollars.

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

The Russians used a pencil..

God's Boxes

I have in my hands two boxes,
Which God gave me to hold.
He said, "Put all your sorrows in the black box,
And all your joys in the gold."

I heeded His words, and in the two boxes,
Both my joys and sorrows I stored,
But though the gold became heavier each day,
The black was as light as before.

With curiosity, I opened the black,
I wanted to find out why,
And I saw, in the base of the box, a hole,
Which my sorrows had fallen out by.

I showed the hole to God, and mused,
"I wonder where my sorrows could be!"
He smiled a gentle smile and said,
"My child, they're all here with me."

I asked God, why He gave me the boxes,
Why the gold and the black with the hole?
"My child, the gold is for you to count your blessings,
The black is for you to let go."

The Teacher

The mediocre teacher tells.
The good teacher explains.
The superior teacher demonstrates.
The great teacher inspires.