NEED WASHING??

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in a Store. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence.. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Store. We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day. The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in 'Mom let's run through the rain,' she said. 'What?' Mom asked. 'Let's run through the rain!' She repeated 'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied. This young child waited about another minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain,' 'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said.. 'No, we won't, Mom.. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm. This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet? 'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!' The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything
but the rain.. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith. 'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD lets us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing,' Mom said. Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing. Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories every day. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven. I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN. They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Take the time to live!!! Keep in touch with your friends, you never know when you'll need each other -- and don't forget to run in the rain

THE HAPPY PEASANT

A king once set out in disguise to discover for himself the happiest man in his kingdom. Having met hundreds of people, at long last he came across a poor peasant, singing happily as he tilled the soil. There was such a radiant joy on his face that the king was drawn irresistibly towards him. “Dear friend,” he said to the peasant. “Tell me the secret of your joy.” “It’s very simple, really,” said the peasant. “One-fourth of what I earn, I repay as the debt I owe; one-fourth, I invest in the future; one-fourth, I give away in charity and one-fourth, I spend on my duty.” The king was thoroughly bewildered. He begged the peasant to explain further. “My parents gave me the great gift of life, and I owe them a deep debt of gratitude. I now cherish them and look after them in their old age. One fourth of my income is thus spent in repaying this debt.” “My children represent the future. I spend one-fourth of my income on feeding, clothing and educating them. This is my investment in the future.” “Poor though I am, there are people worse off than me. I help them as much as I can, and one-fourth of my income is spent on charity.” “My wife has placed her trust in me. It is my duty to love and protect her till the end of my life. One-fourth of my income is spent on giving her a good home. “This is the secret of my happiness!” Moral: True happiness comes from discharging your obligations and duties towards God, family and others and not on wealth, name and fame!

Salt, Glass of Water& the lake

Once an unhappy young man came to an old master and told he had a very sad life and asked for a solution
The old Master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it
“How does it taste?” – The Master asked.
“Terrible.” – spat the apprentice
The Master chuckled and then asked the young man to take another handful of salt and put it in the lake. The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and when the apprentice swirled his handful of salt into the lake.
The old man said, “Now drink from the lake.”
As the water dripped down the young man’s chin, the Master asked, “How does it taste?”
“Good!” – remarked the apprentice
“Do you taste the salt?” – asked the Master.
“No.” – said the young man.
The Master sat beside this troubled young man, took his hands, and said, “The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains the same, exactly the same. But the amount we taste the „pain‟ depends on the container we put it into. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake.”

The Cookie Thief

A woman was waiting at an airport one night, with several long hours before her flight. She hunted for a book in the airport shops, bought a bag of cookies and found a place to drop.
She was engrossed in her book but happened to see, that the man sitting beside her, as bold as could be. . .grabbed a cookie or two from the bag in between, which she tried to ignore to avoid a scene.
So she munched the cookies and watched the clock, as the gutsy cookie thief diminished her stock. She was getting more irritated as the minutes ticked by, thinking, “If I wasn’t so nice, I would blacken his eye.”
With each cookie she took, he took one too, when only one was left, she wondered what he would do. With a smile on his face, and a nervous laugh, he took the last cookie and broke it in half.
He offered her half, as he ate the other; she snatched it from him and thought… oooh, brother. This guy has some nerve and he’s also rude, why he didn’t even show any gratitude!
She had never known when she had been so galled and sighed with relief when her flight was called. She gathered her belongings and headed to the gate, refusing to look back at the thieving ingrate.
She boarded the plane, and sank in her seat, then she sought her book, which was almost complete. As she reached in her baggage, she gasped with surprise, there was her bag of cookies, in front of her eyes.
If mine are here, she moaned in despair, the others were his, and he tried to share. Too late to apologize, she realized with grief, that she was the rude one, the ingrate, the thief.

“The Turtle and The Rabbit”

We all know the good old “The Turtle and The Rabbit” story and its moral “Slow and steady wins the race”. But the story doesn’t end there!
Race 2:
The rabbit was disappointed at losing the race and he did some soul-searching. He realized that he'd lost the race only because he had been overconfident, careless and lax. There was no way the turtle could have beaten him, if he had not taken things for granted.
So he challenged the turtle to another race. The turtle agreed. This time, the rabbit went all out and ran without stopping from start to finish and He won by several miles!
The moral of the story is that… Fast and consistent will always beat the slow and steady!
It's good to be slow and steady; but it's better to be fast and reliable!
Race 3:
The Turtle did some thinking this time, and realized that there's no way he can beat the rabbit in a race the way it was currently formatted. He thought for a while, and then challenged the rabbit to another race, but on a slightly different route. The rabbit agreed.
They started off. In keeping with his self- made commitment to be consistently fast, the rabbit took off and ran at top speed until he came to a broad river. The finishing line was a couple of kilometers on the other side of the river. The rabbit sat there wondering what to do. In the meantime the Turtle trundled along, got into the river, swam to the opposite bank, Continued walking and finished the race!!!
The moral of the story is that… First identify your core competency and then change the playing field to suit your core competency.
But the story still hasn’t ended, it continues.
Race 4:
The Rabbit and the Turtle, by this time, had become pretty good friends and they did some thinking together. Both realized that the last race could have been run much better. So they decided to do the last race again, but to run as a team this time!
They started off, and this time the rabbit carried the turtle till the riverbank. There, the turtle took over and swam across with the rabbit on his back. On the opposite bank, the rabbit again carried the turtle and… They reached the Finishing Line together!!!
The moral of the story is that… It's good to be individually brilliant and to have strong core competencies, but unless you're able to work in a team and harness each other's core competencies, you'll always perform below par because there will always be situations at which you'll do poorly and someone else does well.
Teamwork is mainly about situational leadership, letting the person with the relevant core competency for a situation take leadership!!!
Another important lesson we learn here is that you will perform better when you stop competing with a rival and start competing against the situation you face!

Sally and the Duck

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with, out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting A little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck Square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved.
In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see. His sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the Dishes." But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen." Then she whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go Fishing and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make Supper." Sally just smiled and said," Well that's all right because Johnny
told me he wanted to help." She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally Went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's, He finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done. And the devil Keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad Habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) .Whatever it is....You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven.
He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He Not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God's grace and Mercy that we are saved.