LOVE and TIME

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?"
Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!"

"I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you." "Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.

Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder,

Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who Helped me?"
"It was Time," Knowledge answered.
"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"
Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."

CHINESE STORY

A long time ago in China, a girl named Li-Li got married & Went to live with her husband and mother-in-law. In a very short time,

Li-Li found that she couldn't get along with her mother-in-law at all.

Their personalities were very different, and Li-Li was angered by many of her mother-in-law' s habits. In addition, she criticized Li-Li Constantly .

Days passed and weeks passed. Li-Li and her mother-in-law never stopped arguing and fighting. But what made the situation even Worse was that,according to ancient Chinese tradition, Li-Li had to bow to her mother-in-law and obey her every wish. All the anger and Unhappiness in the house was causing Li-Li's poor husband great distress.

Finally, Li-Li could not stand her mother-in-law' s bad temper and dictatorship any longer, and she decided to do something about it.

Li-Li went to see her father's good friend, Mr. Huang, who sold herbs.

She told him the situation and asked if he would give her some poison so that she could solve the problem once and for all.

Mr. Huang thought for a while,and finally said, " Li-Li, I will help you solve your problem, but you must listen to me and obey what I tell you ."

Li-Li said, " Yes, Mr. Huang, I will do whatever you tell me to do."

Mr. Huang went into the back room, and returned in a few minutes with a package of herbs. He told Li-Li,"You can't use a quick-acting Poison to get rid of your mother-in-law, because that would cause people To become suspicious . Therefore, I have given you a number of herbs that will slowly build up poison in her body. Every other day prepare some delicious meal and Put a little of these herbs in her serving. Now, in order to make sure That nobody suspect you when she dies."

You must be very careful to act very friendly towards her.

Don't argue with her, obey her every wish, and treat her like a queen ."

Li-Li was so happy. She thanked Mr. Huang and hurried home to start her plot of murdering her mother-in-law.
Weeks went by and months Went by, and every other day, Li-Li served the specially treated food to her Mother-in-law.

She remembered what Mr. Huang had said about avoiding suspicion, so she controlled her temper, obeyed her Mother-in-law, and treated her like her own mother.

After six months had passed, the whole household had changed. Li-Li had practiced controlling her temper so much that she found that she almost never got mad or upset.

She hadn't had an argument with her mother-in-law in six months because she now seemed much kinder and easier to get along with.

The Mother-in-law' s attitude toward Li-Li changed, and she began to love Li-Li Like her own daughter. She kept telling friends and relatives that Li-Li was the Best daughter-in- law one could ever find. Li-Li and her mother-in-law were now treating each other like a real mother and daughter.

Li-Li's husband was very happy to see what was happening.

One day, Li-Li came to see Mr. Huang and asked for his help again.

She said, " Dear Mr. Huang, please help me to keep the poison from killing my mother-in-law! She's changed into such a nice woman, and I love her like my own mother. I do not want her to die because of the poison I gave her."

Mr. Huang smiled and nodded his head. "Li-Li, there's nothing to worry about. I never gave you any poison. The herbs I gave you were vitamins to improve her health. The only poison was in your mind and your attitude toward her, but that has been all washed away by the Love which you gave to her."

Have you realized that how you treat others is exactly how they will treat you?

There is a wise Chinese saying: "The person who loves Others will also be loved in return."

God might be trying to work in another person's life through you.

LOVE and MADNESS

A long time ago, before the world was created and humans set foot on it, God had put all the human "qualities" in a separate room. Since all the qualities were bored they decided to play hide & seek.


"Madness" was one of the qualities and he shouted: "I want to count, I want to count!" And since nobody was crazy enough to want to seek "Madness", all the other qualities agreed. So "Madness" leaned against a tree and started to count:


One, two, three..." As "Madness" counted, the qualities went hiding. "Treason" hid in a pile of garbage.. "Lie " said that it would hide under a stone, but hid at the bottom of the lake. And Madness continued to count "... Seventy nine, eighty, eighty one..." By this time, all the qualities were already hidden-except "Love ".


For stupid as "Love " is, he could not decide where to hide.


And this should not surprise us, because we all know how difficult it is to hide "Love".


"Madness": "...ninety five, ninety six, ninety seven..." Just when "Madness" got to one hundred..... ...."Love" jumped into a rose bush where he hid.


And Madness turned around and shouted: "I'm coming, I'm coming!" As Madness turned around, "Laziness" was the first to be found, because "Laziness" was too lazy to hide. "Madness" searched madly and found "Lie" at the bottom of the lake. One by one, Madness found them all - except Love. Madness was getting desperate, unable to find Love.


Envious of Love, "Envy" whispered to "Madness ": "You only need to find Love, and Love is hiding in the rose bush."

"Madness" Jumped on the rose bush and he heard loud cry. The thorns in the bush had pierced "Loves" eyes.


Hearing the commotion God came into the room and saw what had happened. He got very angry and cursed "Madness" and said since "Love" has become blind because of u... ..u shall always be with him"


And so it came about that from that day on, Love is blind and is always accompanied by Madness!

DID GOD CREATE EVERYTHING THAT EXISTS?

The professor of a university once challenged his students with this question.

'Did God create everything that exists?'

A student answered bravely, 'Yes, He did'.

The professor then asked, 'If God created everything, then He created evil. Since evil exists (as noticed by our own actions), so God is evil. The student could not respond to that statement causing the professor to conclude that he had 'proved' that the belief in God was a fairy tale, and therefore worthless.

Another student raised his hand and asked the professor, 'May I pose a question?'

'Of course', answered the professor.

The young student stood up and asked, 'Professor does cold exist?'

The professor answered, 'What kind of question is that? Of course cold exists... haven't you ever been cold?'

The young student answered, 'In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold, is in fact the absence of heat. Anything is able to be studied as long as it transmits energy (heat). Absolute Zero is the total absence of heat, but cold does not exist. What we have done is to create a term to describe how we feel if we don't have body heat or we are not hot.'


'And, does darkness exist?', he continued. The professor answered, 'Of course'.

This time the student responded, 'Again you're wrong, sir. Darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in fact simply the absence of light. Light can be studied, darkness can not. Darkness cannot be broken down. A simple ray of light tears the darkness and illuminates the surface where the light beam finishes. Dark is a term that we humans have created to describe what happens when there's lack of light.'

Finally, the student asked the professor, 'Sir, does evil exist?'

The professor replied, 'Of course it exists, as I mentioned at the beginning, we see violations, crimes and violence anywhere in the world, and those things are evil.'

The student responded, 'Sir, evil does not exist. Just as in the previous cases, evil is a term which man has created to describe the result of the absence of God's presence in the hearts of man.'

After this, the professor bowed down his head, and did not answer back.

The young man's name was ALBERT EINSTEIN.

WHEN OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

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 any one 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 biggest, 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 weakest 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.

Moral: Life is full of opportunities. Always grab the first one.

THE RED ROSE AND THE CACTUS

One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. Many kinds of trees and plants grew there. As the rose looked around, a pine tree nearby said, What a beautiful flower. I wish I was that lovely. Another tree said, Dear pine, do not be sad, we can not have everything.

The rose turned its head and remarked, It seems that I am the most beautiful plant in this forest. A sunflower raised its yellow head and asked, Why do you say that In this forest there are many beautiful plants. You are just one of them. The red rose replied, I see everyone looking at me and admiring me. Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, Look at that ugly plant full of thorns! The pine tree said, Red rose, what kind of talk is this Who can say what beauty is You have thorns too.

The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You can not compare my thorns to that of the cactus.

What a proud flower, thought the trees. The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like This plant is useless How sorry I am to be his neighbor.

The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose, saying, We weren't created without a purpose. Spring passed, and the weather became very warm. Life became difficult in the forest, as the plants and animals needed water and no rain fall. The red rose began to wilt. One day the rose saw sparrows stick their beaks into the cactus and then fly away, refreshed. This was puzzling, and the red rose asked the pine tree what the birds were doing. The pine tree explained that the birds got water from the cactus. Does it not hurt when they make holes asked the rose.

Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds suffer, replied the pine. The rose opened its eyes in wonder and said, The cactus has water Yes you can also drink from it. The sparrow can bring water to you if you ask the cactus for help.

The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words and behavior to ask for water from the cactus, but then it finally did ask the cactus for help. The cactus kindly agreed and the birds filled their beaks with water and watered the rose's roots. Thus the rose learned a lesson and never judged anyone by their appearance again.

Moral: We should always be willing to learn rather than carry our egos.

A GLASS OF MILK & SOME COOKIES

One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and he was hungry and exhausted. His mother was very ill and his father had left them when he was very young. So it was up to him to support the family and earn enough money for tuition.

He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water.

She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large glass of milk and some cookies. He drank it slowly, and then asked, "How much do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never to accept pay for a kindness."

He said..... "Then I thank you from my heart." As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.

Year's later that young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called in specialists to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.

Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her life. From that day he gave special attention to the case.

After a long struggle, the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval.

He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge and the bill was sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her attention on the side of the bill.

She read these words.....

"Paid in full with one glass of milk and some cookies"

(Signed)

Dr. Howard Kelly.


Tears of joy flooded her eyes as her happy heart prayed:

"Thank You, God, that Your love has spread abroad through human hearts and hands."