Vision

“I want to be big,” says Little Monkey. “I want to be strong.” A wise woman hears him. “Take this magic wand,” she says, “and all your wishes can come true.” A giraffe comes by. He stretches his long neck. He eats the sweet leaves at the top of the trees. “I want a long neck,” says Little Monkey. “POP!” His neck grows long, just like the Giraffe’s. Little Monkey is happy. An elephant comes down to the river. He fills his trunk with water. He blows it all over himself. “I want to do that, too!” says Little Monkey. BANG!” Just like that, he grows a trunk. He is pleased. “This is fun!” he says.  Next, Little Monkey sees a zebra. “I want stripes like those,” he says. “WHIZZ!” Little Monkey has stripes all over his body, just like the zebra. He is very, very happy. He goes to the river to try out his new trunk. He looks down. He sees himself in the water. “Mother!” he cries. “Help! A monster!” “That’s not a monster,” says his mother. “That’s you.” “You want a giraffe’s neck, an elephant...

  There was a man who was fond of reading the philosophy of life. He was curious about knowing the perspective of others’ life. Once he came across three stone cutters. By the sense of inquiry, he asked them what they were doing.  The first replied, “I am making a living.” The second kept hammering while he said, “I am doing the best job of stonecutting in the entire county.” The third looked up with a visionary gleam in his eye and said, “I am building a cathedral.” The man was very amazed to know the answers. All three were doing the same work but the attitudes were different. The first one was just making his livelihood, nothing else. It’s barely impossible to come up with such a perspective.  The second one was higher than the first one. He was making the best possible. Such an outlook guides us ahead in life. It leads us to perfection. And when we do any work with perfection it is noticed and appreciated by all.  While the third one had the spiritual viewpoint. ...

  Once, there was an oxen pair who toiled day and night. They were tied to a wagon that they had to pull. One day, the oxen were pulling the wagon along a bumpy road. They had to use all their strength to pull the wagon, but they did not complain.  The wheels of the wagon were of a different sort. Though the task they had to do was very light compared with the oxen, they creaked and groaned at every turn. The driver of the wagon became furious. He said to the wagon, “Why do you make so much noise? Can’t you see the oxen are quietly doing their job?” This story depicts the nature of the mind. When we get difficulties in life, we creak and groan. We moan about the circumstances and end up in pain. Here the alteration is required with attitude. We need to understand who is sending adversities and why.  Once we cultivate a positive attitude, we can welcome the challenges of life. God has gifted us with life with love and care. And I am not alone but he resides within and take...

  Once upon a time, there lived a hare in a forest. He was very speedy in movement and was always proud of his speed. A tortoise also lived nearby. The hare always teased the tortoise for his slow speed. It has a heavy shell on its back. Its legs are short. So, it cannot move as fast as other animals. The hare always teased the tortoise for his slow speed. One day while the hare cut a joke at the tortoise for its slow speed, the latter challenged the hare and agreed to run a race. At this, the hare was much amused. So he said, “Good”, let’s fix a date for the race. They fixed a date. A fox came to see the race. The tortoise and the hare came to the starting point. The race began. The hare began to run very fast. He jumped and jumped. He ran a kilometer in a few minutes. Soon he found the tortoise far behind him. He became sure of success. Then he stopped. He said to himself. What’s the use of going so fast? Perhaps, the tortoise has covered only a few yards by this time. So, I can ...

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well.  At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off! Life is g...

At the end of a day of duties and hard work, it can be really hard to disconnect from the office and the stress so that we don’t take it into our homes with us at night. The last thing our families want to deal with is our stress from the day – they are excited to spend time with us having fun and enjoying one another. So how do we suddenly switch modes and leave it all behind when work is over? Our families deserve a happy “us” and that means we have to train ourselves to leave a hard day behind us and allow ourselves to focus on our families when we get home. I recently heard a story called “The Trouble Tree” that shared a great example of how we can make that happen. Here it is: The carpenter who was hired to help a man restore an old farmhouse had just finished his first day on the job. First of all, on his way to work he had a flat tire that cost him an hour’s worth of pay, then his electric saw broke, and after work, his old pickup truck refused to star...

Years ago, I was enthralled as I listened to a pastor who for several years had faithfully served the church. His executive responsibilities had taken him all over this country. As he concluded his message, he told of one of the most frightening yet thought-provoking experiences of his life. He had been on a long flight from one place to another. The first warning of the approaching problems came when the sign on the airplane flashed on: Fasten your seat belts. Then, after a while, a calm voice said, “We shall not be serving the beverages at this time as we are expecting a little turbulence. Please be sure your seat belt is fastened.” As he looked around the aircraft, it became obvious that many of the passengers were becoming apprehensive. Later, the voice of the announcer said, “We are so sorry that we are unable to serve the meal at this time. The turbulence is still ahead of us.” And then the storm broke. The ominous cracks of thunder could be heard even above...

Brenda was a young woman who was invited to go rock climbing. Although she was scared to death, she went with her group to a tremendous granite cliff. In spite of her fear, she put on the gear, took a hold on the rope, and started up the face of that rock. Well, she got to a ledge where she could take a breather. As she was hanging on there, the safety rope snapped against Brenda’s eye and knocked out her Contact lens. Well, here she is on a rock ledge, with hundreds of feet below Her and hundreds of feet above her. Of course, she looked and looked and looked, hoping it had landed on the ledge, but it just wasn’t there. Here she was, far from home, her sight now blurry. She was desperate and began to get upset, so she prayed to the Lord to help her to find it. When she got to the top, a friend examined her eye and her clothing for the lens, but there was no contact lens to be found. She sat down, despondent, with the rest of the party, waiting for the rest of them to make...

Once upon a time, there was a Kingdom. The king there only had one leg and one eye, but he was very intelligent and kind. Everyone in his kingdom lived a happy and a healthy life because of their king. One day the king was walking through the palace hallway and saw the portraits of his ancestors. He thought that one day his children will walk in the same hallway and remember all the ancestors through these portraits. But, the king did not have his portrait painted. Due to his physical disabilities, he wasn’t sure how his painting would turn out. So he invited many famous painters from his and other kingdoms to the court. The king then announced that he wants a beautiful portrait made of himself to be placed in the palace. Any painter who can carry out this should come forward. He will be rewarded based on how the painting turns up. All of the painters began to think that the king only has one leg and one eye. How can his picture be made very beautiful? It is not possi...

Once upon a time, a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?” “Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she hastily replied. “Look closer”, he...

Once upon a time, there was a king who had gone to visit neighbouring kingdoms. He was gifted a pair of baby Macaw Parrots by the king of the last kingdom where he was visiting. They were the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. So, upon returning to his kingdom, he called for a bird trainer and asked him to train macaw parrots. The king also arranged a place in the palace garden for the parrots. He often looked at them from his palace window. As time passed, one day the trainer came to the palace and informed the king that though one of the parrots was flying majestically high in the sky, the other one was not moving from its branch since the day it had arrived. Upon hearing this, the king summoned trainer and healers from the nearby kingdoms. They all tried their best, but couldn’t make the parrot fly! He even asked his courtiers to try to find a way to make the parrot fly but they all failed. The parrot was not moving from his branch at all. Finally, after trying eve...

Many years ago two salesmen were sent by a shoe company to Africa to find out if there was a market for shoes. The first salesman reported back, "There is no market where - nobody wears shoes." The second salesman reported back, "There is a huge market where - nobody wears shoes." You can look at the same situation in two different ways - negatively or positively. The first salesman looked at it as a problem; the second one looked at it as an opportunity. Next time we face a problem, let us ask ourselves "how can I do it?", rather than simply saying "it can't be done." ***** There were two brothers. One was a drunk who beat his family. The other one was a respected and successful businessman and was loving and caring towards his family. How could two brothers from the same parents, brought up in the same environment be so different? When asked they gave the following answers. The first one replied "I became li...

Once upon a time, There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her & gave her nothing but the best. He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He’s very proud of her and always wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant is always in fear that she might run away with some other men. He too loved his 2nd wife. She is a very considerate person, always patient & in fact is the merchant’s confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always turned to his 2nd wife. She would always help him out and tide him through difficult times. Now, the merchant’s 1st wife is a very loyal partner and has made great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However, the merchant did not love the 1st wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of her. One day, the mercha...