Collected Stories for Inspiration

EGG, CARROT COFFEE

A daughter complained to her father about how hard things were for her. "As soon as I solve one problem," she said, "another one comes up. I'm tired of struggling."

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen where he filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second, eggs, and in the last, ground coffee beans. He let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

The daughter impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After a while, he went over and turned off the burners. He fished out the carrots and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them a bowl. He poured the coffee into a bowl. Turning to her he asked, "Darling, what do you see?"

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled, as she tasted its rich flavor.

She asked, "What does it mean, Father?" He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity—boiling water—but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg was fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. By being in the boiling water, they changed the water.

He asked his daughter, "When adversity knocks on your door, which are you?"

THE CHINESE BAMBOO

Once upon a time in the heart of the Western kingdom, lay a beautiful garden.  And thee in the cool of the day was the Master of the garden went for a walk.  Of all the denizens of the garden, the most beautiful and most beloved was a gracious and noble bamboo.  Year after year, bamboo grew yet nobler and gracious, conscious of his Master's love and watchful delight, but modest and gentle withal.  And often, when wind came to revel in the garden, bamboo would cast aside his grave stateliness to dance and play right merrily tossing and swaying and leaping and bowing in the joyous abandon, leading the Great Didance of the garden which most delighted the Master's heart.

Now upon a day, the Master himself drew near to contemplate his bamboo with eyes of curious expectancy.  And bamboo, in a passion of adoration bowed his great head to the ground in loving greeting.  The master spoke, "Bamboo, bamboo, I would use thee".  Bamboo flung his head to the sky in utter delight.  The day of the days had come, the day for which he had been made, the day to which he had been growing hour by hour, this day in which he would find his completion and his destiny.  His voice came low.

"Master, I am ready.  Use me as Thou wilt".

"Bamboo", the Master's voice was grave-, "I would take thee and cut thee down".

A trembling of great horror shook bamboo.  "Cut me down whom thou Master hast made the most beautiful in all thy garden… to cut me down…Ah, not that, Use me for thy joy O master but cut me not down'.

"Beloved bamboo", the Master's voice grew graver still-, "if I cut thee not down, I cannot use thee".  The garden grew still.  Wind held his breath.   Bamboo slowly bent his proud and glorious head.  There came a whisper.  "Master, if thou cannot use me but thou cut me down… then Do thy will and cut."

"Bamboo, bellied bamboo, I would cut thy leaves and branches from thee also."

"Master, master, spare me.  Cut me down and lay beauty in the dust, but would thou take from me my leaves and branches also?"

"Bamboo, alas, if I cut them not away, I cannot use thee."  The sun hid his face.  A listening butterfly glided fearfully away.  And the Bamboo shivered in terrible expectancy, whispering low, "Master, cut away".

"Bamboo, bamboo, I would yet… cleave thee in twain and cut out thine heart for it I cut not so, I cannot use thee."

Then the bamboo bowed to the ground.  "Master, master, then cut and cleave.'

So the Master of the garden took bamboo and cut him down and hacked off his branches and stripped off his leaves and cleaved him in twain and cut out his heart.  And lifting him gently carried him to where was a spring of fresh sparkling water in the midst of his dry fields.  Then putting one end of the broken bamboo in the spring and the other end into the water channel in his field, the master laid down gently his beloved bamboo.  And the spring sang welcome and the clear sparkling waters raced joyously down the channel of bamboo's torn body into the waiting fields.  Then the rice was planted and the days went by and the shoots grew and harvest came.

In that day was bamboo, once so glorious in his stately beauty yet more glorious in his brokenness and humility.  For in his beauty he was life abundant, but in his brokenness he became a channel of abundant life to his master's world.

Rich and Poor

One day, the father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the express purpose of showing him how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family.

On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, how was the trip? It was great dad. Did you see how poor people live? The father asked. O yeah, “said the son”. So tell me what did you learn from the trip? Asked the father. The son answered: “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have poo; that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servant who serves us, but they serve others. We buy food and they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them. They boy’s father was speechless. Then his son added, thanks dad for showing me how poor we are.

Isn’t perspective a wonderful thing? Makes you wonder what would happen, if we all give thanks for everything we have, instead of worrying about what we don’t have.

 

God Tells Where is He When You needed Him Most

We often question God in silence when we are emotionally bankrupt especially when we lost someone who are near and dear to us, yet found no one who can understand our problem fully and can fill the emptiness of our heart. We begin to feel complete lost in the crowd; in silence we impose certain questions to ourselves that take us to deeper pain and finally we try to ignore God in every possible way. Here is the story which I have recently discovered that address the value of being in God’s family. As you read on, I hope it will address the query of your emotion even perhaps fill the empty space of your life. The most interesting thing about the story is that it can be imply anywhere as far as on the subject on suffering is concern.   

Mrs. 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 anymore? 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 lay down across his bed and, hugging his pillow, cried herself to sleep.

It was around midnight when Sally awoke. Lying 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: Jesus &Me

A Lesson from Butterfly’s

One day a small opening appeared on a cocoon; a man sat and watched a butterfly for several hours as it struggle to force its body through that little hole. Then, it seems to stop making any progress. It happened as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could not go any further. So the man decided to help the butterfly; he took a pair of scissors and opened the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it has a withered body, it was tiny and had shriveled wings. The man continued to watch because he expected that, at any moment the wing would open, enlarge and expand to be able to support the butterfly’s body, and become firm. Neither happened! In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with withered body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and his goodwill did not understand was the restricting cocoon and the struggle of the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of butterfly into its wings, so that it would be ready for a flight once it achieved its freedom from cocoon.  

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allow us to go through our life without any obstacles we may get cripple on the way. We would not be strong as much as we could have been, never been able to fly.

I asked for strength… God gave me difficulties to make me strong

I asked for wisdom… and God gave me a problem to solve

I asked for prosperity… and God gave me a Brain and a Brawn to work

I asked for courage… and God gave me obstacles to over come

I asked for love… and God gave me troubled people to help.

I asked for favors… and God gave me opportunities

 I received nothing I wanted… but I received everything I needed 

Reaching Out to Our Teams

One day a little mouse living in a farm, spied the farmer and his wife opening a package. He was aghast to discover that he package contained not food, but a mouse trap. The mouse runs to the farmyard warning everyone. “There is a mouse trap in the house, “the Chicken raised his head and exclaimed, Mr. Mouse, I can tell you this trap in a grave concern to you, but it has no consequence to me, I cannot be bother with it. The mouse turn to the Pig, “I am so sorry Mr. Mouse the trap is no concern of mine either.” The mouse turn to the Bull, “sounds like you have a problem Mr. Mouse, but not one that concern me”.

The Mouse return to the house dejected that no one would help him or concerned about his dilemma. He knew he had to face the trap on his own. That night the sound of a trap catching its prey was heard throughout the house. The farmer rushed to see what was sought. In the darkness she could not see that it was venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife, the wife caught a bad fever and the farmer knew the best way to treat fever was with chicken soup; he took his hatched to the farmyard to the soup’s main ingredient. The wife got sicker, and friends visited her round the clock, the farmer had to feed them, so he butchers the pig. The farmer’s wife got worse and died. So many friends and family came to her funeral that the farmer had to slaughter the bull to feed them all.

When you think that the problem of your teammate is not affecting your life remember this, “when anyone of your teammate or neighbor is in trouble we are all at risk.”