Reflection of Life

Life is short. Yet too much a time, we do not have the moment to sit, think, ponder, wonder or reflect. Many time, the evolution of our past to our present and our future is dependent on the period of precious moments we take to carefully reflect and think about what we want and need in life. Certain moments are meant to be celebrated and preserved. Some memories are indeed essential to be cherished, others are vital for us to learn and grow from.

Take a minute to stop and reflect, my friend. Often moments like these will bring you through a precious journey, helps you appreciate, teaches you to smile, acknowledges your accomplishments, bring you motivation, highlights your success, bring you much amazement... and cost you nothing but a mere seconds of time. Thoughts gives birth to vision and dreams, thoughts is capable of changing your lives, who you are and brings out the best from within. Thoughts help you change your world and make a difference in life. So have you been reflecting on your life lately? Life is short. Seize every moment you can gain out of it. Lest you live in regrets of not having any time to slow down, stop and just reflect.

Growing Good Corn

A farmer from Nebraska who grew award-winning corn, and yearly won a blue ribbon in the state fair once told a reporter at an interview that he shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

"How can you afford to do that when they are in competition with yours?" the reporter asked.

"Well," said the farmer, "Didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbor's corn to improve.

As, it is in other perspective. Those who choose to be at peace must help their neighbors to be at peace. Those who choose to live well must help others live likewise, for the value of life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others find happiness.

When we are fortunate to find happiness, we should radiate it around us. You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man. ~ Seth Parker.

The Butterfly

One day a man found a cocoon. He noticed a small opening and decided to watch the butterfly emerge. He sat and watched for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little opening.

It seemed to stop making any progress and appeared as if it got to the point, it could not progress further. Then the man decided to help.

He took a pair of scissors and enlarged the opening. The butterfly emerged easily.

But something strange was happening. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to observe and expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge expand and support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed legs. It was never going to fly.

The man in his kindness did not realize that the restricting cocoon and the struggle the butterfly had to go through the small opening are God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it got free from the cocoon.

If God allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, we would not be as strong as He intended us to be. Not only that, we could never fly. No one goes through life without struggles or obstacles.

Bad Temper

Once there was a little boy who had a bad temper. His father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day, the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually grew less. He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. On hearing this, the father suggested that the boy now pulled out one nail each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the boy was finally able to tell his gather that all the nails were gone. The father took his son to the fence and said, "You have done well, son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar like this. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out.

It won't matter how many times you say you're sorry, but the wound is there.

If you're angry at a loved one, hug that person. And mean it. You may not want to hug - which is all the more reason to do so. It's hard to stay angry when someone shows they love you, and that's precisely what happens when we hug each other. ~ Walter Anderson.

Going Round In Circles

An American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several yellow fin tuna.

The bank complimented the fisherman and asked how long it took to catch them. The fisherman replied, "Only a little while."

The banker asked, "why don't you fish longer and catch more fish?" The fisherman replied, "With this I have enough to support my family."

The banker asked, "What do you do with the rest of your time?" The fisherman replied, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village every evening, sip wine and play guitar with my amigos."

The banker suggested the fisherman to spend more time fishing, earn more and buy a bigger boat. With the proceeds from the bigger boat, buy several boats. "Eventually you'll have a fleet of boats. Instead of selling your catch to the middle man, you could sell directly to the processor, eventually open your own cannery. You would control the processing and distribution. You would then have to leave this small coastal village and move to the city where you will run your expanding business."

"Then after that?" Asked the fisherman. The banker laughed, "When the time comes, you could sell your company stock and become very rich." "After that?" The banker replied, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal village, sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll the village in the evening, sip wine and play the guitar with your amigos."

Sometimes it's best to be contented. There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want; and after that, to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second. ~ Logan Pearsall Smith

The Obstacle in Our Path

In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve one's condition.

Opportunities do not com with their values stamped upon them. ~ Maltbie Babcock


Value Has Its Value Only If You Value It

Before an audience of over 200, a well known speaker started a seminar by holding up a $100 note and asked, "Who would like to have this $100 note?" Hands went up.

He carried on, "I'm going to give this note to one of you, but first let me do this." He crumpled the note, and asked, "Do you still want it?" The hands went up. "Well," he carried on, "What if I do this?" He dropped it to the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, all crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants it?" Still the hands went up.

"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the note, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $100. In life, we are dropped, crumpled and grounded into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We may fell worthless. But remember, no matter what has happened or what will happen, we must always adhere to our convictions.

Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams. You are your own judge. The verdict is up to you. ~ Astrid Alauda

The Mouse and The Trap

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. To its horror, it discovered that it was a mousetrap. Sadly the mouse went and told the chicken in the yard about it. But the chicken paid no heed to it saying, "I'm not bothered by it." The mouse then went and told the pig about it. But even the pig was not bothered saying, "There's nothing I can do about it." When told about it, the cow said, "I'm sorry! It has nothing to do with me."

Sadly, the mouse went away, That very night there was a big noise - like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see a venomous snake whose tail was caught in the trap and was bitten. After treatment and to regain her strength, to make a chicken soup the farmer killed the chicken. As the wife continued to be sick, neighbors came to be with her round the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. And when she died, the farmer slaughtered the cow to provide a meal for the mourners. The mouse looked on with sadness.

When you hear someone facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember - when one is threatened - all are at risk. Always keep an eye out for one another. Our lives are woven together for a reason.

It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do little - do what you can. ~ Sydney Smith

Where Are We Heading?

These days we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers, wider freeways, narrower viewpoints, spend more, but have lass, buy more, but enjoy it less.

We have bigger houses, smaller families, more conveniences, less time, more degrees, less sense, more knowledge, less judgment, more experts, but more problems, more medicines, less wellness.

We drink too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry quickly, stay up late, get up tired, read too little, watch TV too much and pray too seldom.

We talk too much, love too seldom, hate too often. We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life, not life to years.

We've been to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We've conquered outer space, but not inner space. We've done large things, but not better things. We've cleaned the air, but polluted the soul. We've split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, not wait. We have higher incomes. lesser morals.

With computers, we have more information, but less communication. We long for quantity, but short on quality. We have double incomes. but more divorces, fancier houses, but broken homes. So where are we heading? Perhaps, it's time to stop and reflect.

Sometimes our hearts get tangle And our souls a little off - kilter Friends and family can set us right and help guide us back to the light. ~ Sera Christann

Time Bank

Each of us has a bank. It is called TIME. Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds. Every night it writes off, as lost, whatever you have failed to invest to good purpose.

It carries over no balance, it allows no overdraft. Each day it opens a new account for you. Each night, it burns the remains of the day.

If you fail to use the day's deposits, the loss is yours. There is no going back. There is no drawing against "tomorrow". You must live on today's deposits. Invest it to get the utmost in health, happiness and success!

To realize the value of ONE YEAR, ask the student who failed. To realize the value of ONE MONTH, ask a mother who gave birth prematurely. To realize the value of ONE WEEK, ask the editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of ONE HOUR, ask the lovers waiting to meet. To realize the value of ONE MINUTE, ask the person who missed the bus. To realize the value of ONE SECOND, ask the person who just avoided an accident.

Remember that time waits for no one. Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is mystery. Today is a gift. That's why it's called the present!

There are many To-morrows, my Love, my Love, - There is only one To-day. ~Joaquin Miller

I'm Still Growing

Sir Edmund Hillary was the first man to climb Mount Everest. On May 29, 1953 he scaled the highest mountain then known to man - 29,000 feet high. He was knighted for his efforts. He even made American Express card commercials because of it! However, until we read his book, High Adventure, we don't understand that Hillary had to grow into this success. You see, in 1952 he attempted to climb Mount Everest, but failed. A few weeks later a group in England asked him to address its members.

Hillary walked on stage to a thunderous applause. The audience was recognizing an attempt at greatness, but Edmund Hillary saw himself as a failure. He moved away from the microphone and walked to the edge of the platform. He made a fist and pointed at a picture of the mountain. He said in a loud voice, "Mount Everest, you beat me the first time, but I'll beat you the next time because you've grown all you are going to grow... but I'm still growing!"

Failure is only the opportunity to begin again more intelligently. ~ Henry Ford.

Always Remember

When you are down and out and things don't go your way, always remember somebody cares for you, somebody is always thinking of you, somebody hopes everything turns out right for you, somebody believes in you, somebody is glad to have you as a friend, somebody loves you for what you are, somebody wants to share your dreams and hopes, somebody needs your love, somebody is happy for you, and above all, remember that somebody up there loves you.

You Make A Difference

You cannot change the world, but you can improve it, starting with yourself. Start with yourself into making you the person you admire and respect. Be a role model for others to follow. Take control and discipline yourself, resist the negative against any person or thing. Think and act more lovingly, never be hurtful. Take one day at a time. Think positive. Be positive. Take everything that comes your way in your stride. Start today towards becoming that one person you admire.

We do not remember days; we remember moments. ~ Cesare Pavese

Life Is A Gift

Today before you say an unkind word - think of someone who can't speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food - think of someone who has nothing to eat. Before you complain of your husband or wife - think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

Today before you complain about life - think of someone who died too early on this earth. Before you complain about your children - think of those who desire children but are barren. Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep - think of those who are living in the streets and alleys. Before whining about the distance you drive - think of someone who walks the same distance.

And when you are tired and complain about your job - think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job. But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - remember that not one of use is without faults. And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - put a smile on your face and be thankful: You're alive and still around.

If you woke up breathing, congratulations! You have another chance. ~ Andrea Boydston