I can sleep when the Wind blows

Years ago a farmer owned land along the Atlantic seacoast. He constantly advertised for hired hands. Most people were reluctant to work  on farms along  the Atlantic. They dreaded the awful storms that raged across the ocean, wreaking havoc on the buildings and crops. As the farmer interviewed applicants for the job, he received a steady stream of refusals.

Finally, a short, thin man, well past middle age, approached the farmer. "Are you a good farmhand?" the farmer asked him. "Well, I can sleep when the wind blows," answered the little man. Although puzzled by this answer, the farmer, desperate for help, hired him. The little man worked well around the farm, busy from dawn to dusk, and the farmer felt satisfied with the little man's work.

Then one night the wind howled loudly in from offshore. Jumping out of bed, the farmer grabbed a lantern and rushed next door to the hired man's sleeping quarters. Farmer shook the little man and yelled, "Get up! A storm is coming! Tie things down before they blow away!"

The little man rolled over in bed and said firmly, "No sir. I told you, I can sleep when the wind blows."

Enraged by the response, the farmer was tempted to fire him on the spot. Instead, he hurried outside to prepare for the storm. To his amazement, he discovered that all the haystacks had been covered with tarpaulins. The cows were in the barn, the chickens were in the coops, and the doors were barred. The shutters were tightly secured. Everything was tied down. Nothing could blow away.

The farmer then understood what his hired man meant, so he returned to his bed to also sleep while the wind blew.

When you're prepared, spiritually, mentally, and physically, you have nothing to fear. Can you sleep when the wind blows through your life? The hired man in the story was able to sleep because he had secured the farm against the storm.

 

MORAL: Prevention is better than cure . Be proactive not reactive.

True Wealth is Qualitative not Quantitative

Once upon a time, there lived a poor lady in a city.  That poor lady had only one cow but she was very clever and simple. In the same city, there was another lady, her neighbor, who was very lavish. She had eight cows. Their income was only by selling milk and it’s by product. The lavish lady always got ghee from the poor lady but she never paid for it. So the poor lady took the case to her Panchayat head. The Panchayat head called both the women and heard both sides of argument.

 

The poor lady complained that everyday her neighbor gets ghee from her but never paid for it. Her neighbor cornered her by saying “I have eight cows but she has only one cow, then why should I get ghee from her?”  After hearing this, the head asked them to go home and come for the hearing the next day. The next morning, the head ordered his servant to make a muddy place and to keep two mugs of water of same size. The ladies were asked to cross the mud and to wash their feet with the water kept aside. First, the poor lady crossed the mud; she washed her feet and left some water in the mug. But her neighbor emptied the full mug and asked for some more water.

 

After witnessing this incident, the head gave the judgment, he asked the neighbor to give the money she owes from the poor lady. He explained that both have done the same activity, the poor lady has saved some water, but the neighbor has spent lavish without care. "So definitely with one cow she would have saved more ghee than you with eight cows", he told the lavish lady.

 

Moral: True wealth is not accomplished by possession of property. Prudence and thrift can only make a person king or beggar.

A small story about relationship

In order to renovate a house, a person in Japan is breaking the wall. Japanese houses normally have a hollow space between the wooden walls. When tearing down the walls, he found that there was a lizard stuck there because a nail from outside hammered into one of its feet. He sees this, feels pity, and at the same time curious, as when he checked the nail, it was nailed 5 years ago when the house was first built!!!

What happened? The lizard has survived in such position for 5 years! In a dark wall partition for 5 years without moving, it is impossible and mind-boggling. Then he wondered how this lizard survived for 5 years, without moving a single step–since its foot was nailed! So he stopped his work and observed the lizard, what it has been doing, and what and how it has been eating. Later, not knowing from where it came appears another lizard, with food in its mouth.

 

Ah! He was stunned and touched deeply. For the lizard that was stuck by nail, another lizard has been feeding it for the past 5 years… Imagine? It has been doing that untiringly for 5 long years, without giving up hope on its partner. Since a small creature can do, why not for a creature blessed with a brilliant mind can’t.!

 

So please never abandon your loved ones. Never Say you are Busy When They Really Need You. You May Have The Entire World At Your Feet. But You Might Be The Only World To Them.

 

Moral : A Moment of negligence might break the very heart which loves you throw all odds… Before you say something just remember… it takes a moment to Break but an entire lifetime to make…!!!!

The loser who never gave up!

When he was a little boy his uncle called him “Sparky”, after a comic-strip horse named Spark Plug. School was all but impossible for Sparky. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school, getting a grade of zero. And his record in sports wasn’t any better. Though he did manage to make it to the school’s golf team, he promptly lost the only important match of the season. Oh, there was a consolation match; he lost that too.

 

Throughout his youth, Sparky was awkward socially. It wasn’t that the other students disliked him; it’s just that no one really cared all that much. In fact, Sparky was astonished if a classmate ever said hello to him outside of school hours. He never once asked a girl out in high school. Sparky was a loser. He, his classmate everyone knew it. So he learned to live with it. He made up his mind early that if things were meant to work out, they would.

 

One thing was important to Sparky, however — drawing. He was proud of his artwork. No one else appreciated it. But that didn’t seem to matter to him. In his senior year of high school, he submitted some cartoons to the yearbook. The editors rejected the concept. Despite this brush-off, Sparky was convinced of his ability. He even decided to become an artist.

 

So, after completing high school, Sparky wrote to Walt Disney Studios. They asked for samples of his artwork. Despite careful preparation, it too was rejected. One more confirmation that he was a loser.

 

But Sparky still didn’t give up. Instead, he decided to tell his own life’s story in cartoons. The main character would be a little boy who symbolized the perpetual loser and chronic underachiever. You know him well. Because Sparky’s cartoon character went on to become a cultural phenomenon of sorts. People readily identified with this “lovable loser.” He reminded people of the painful and embarrassing moments from their own past, of their pain and their shared humanity. The character soon became famous worldwide: “Charlie Brown.” And Sparky, the boy whose many failures never kept him from trying, whose work was rejected again and again,… is the highly successful cartoonist Charles Schultz. His cartoon strip, “Peanuts,” continues to inspire books, T-shirts and Christmas specials, reminding us, as someone once commented, that life somehow finds a way for all of us, even the losers.

 

Moral:  Sparky’s story reminds us of a very important principle in life. We all face difficulty and discouragement from time to time. We also have a choice in how we handle it. If we’re persistent, if we hold fast to our faith, if we continue to develop the unique talents God has given us, who knows what can happen? We may end up with an insight and an ability to inspire that comes only through hardship. In the end, there are no “losers” with God. Some winners just take longer to develop!

Rescue at sea

Years ago, in a small fishing village in Holland, a young boy taught the world about the rewards of unselfish service. Because the entire village revolved around the fishing industry, a volunteer rescue team was needed in cases of emergency. One night the winds raged, the clouds burst and a gale force storm capsized a fishing boat at sea. Stranded and in trouble, the crew sent out the S.O.S. The captain of the rescue rowboat team sounded the alarm and the villagers assembled in the town square overlooking the bay. While the team launched their rowboat and fought their way through the wild waves, the villagers waited restlessly on the beach, holding lanterns to light the way back.

 

An hour later, the rescue boat reappeared through the fog and the cheering villagers ran to greet them. Falling exhausted on the sand, the volunteers reported that the rescue boat could not hold any more passengers and they had to leave one man behind. Even one more passenger would have surely capsized the rescue boat and all would have been lost.

 

Frantically, the captain called for another volunteer team to go after the lone survivor. Sixteen-year-old Hans stepped forward. His mother grabbed his arm, pleading, "Please don’t go. Your father died in a shipwreck 10 years ago and your older brother, Paul, has been lost at sea for three weeks. Hans, you are all I have left."

 

Hans replied, "Mother, I have to go. What if everyone said, ‘I can’t go, let someone else do it?’ Mother, this time I have to do my duty. When the call for service comes, we all need to take our turn and do our part." Hans kissed his mother, joined the team and disappeared into the night.

 

Another hour passed, which seemed to Hans’ mother like an eternity. Finally, the rescue boat darted through the fog with Hans standing up in the bow. Cupping his hands, the captain called, "Did you find the lost man?" Barely able to contain himself, Hans excitedly yelled back, "Yes, we found him. Tell my mother it’s my older brother, Paul!"

 

MORAL:

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“Wisdom is knowing what to do next; virtue is doing it and blessing is the gift of the virtue.”

Wealth, Love and Success

A woman came out of her house and saw three old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don't think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat." "Is the man of the house in home?” they asked. “No", she replied. "He's out." "Then we cannot come in", they replied. In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.

"Go tell them I am in home and invite them in!" The woman went out and invited the men in.

"We do not go into a House together," they replied. "Why is that?" she asked.

One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home?"

The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!” he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"

His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don't we invite Success?"

Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!" "Let us hear our daughter-in-law's advice," said the husband to his wife.

"Go out and invite Love to be our guest."

The woman went out and asked the three old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."

Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other two old men also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you all coming in?"

The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would've stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him.”

Moral: Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!! So try to love every one and lead happy life.