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 hadalmost 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."
End
A Box
Full of Kisses
The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his
3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money
was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a
box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl
brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for
you, Daddy."
The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction,
but his anger flared again when he found out the box was empty. He
yelled at her, stating, "Don't you know, when you give someone a
present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl
looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, "Oh, Daddy, it's
not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They're all for you,
Daddy."
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his
little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.
Only a short time later, an accident took the life of
the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his
bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out
an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it
there.
In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings,
have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and
kisses... from our children, family members, friends, and God. There
is simply no other possession, anyone could hold, more precious than
this.
End
Two frogs
A
group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and
two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep
the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead.
The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit
with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that
they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what
the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died. The
other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the
crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped
even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs
said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was
deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.
This story teaches two lessons:
1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An
encouraging
word to someone who is down can lift them up and help
them make it
through the day.
2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be
what it takes
to kill them.
Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who
cross your path. The power of words... it is sometimes hard to
understandthat an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can
speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in
difficult times. Special is the individual who will take the time to
encourage another.
End
The Praying Hands
Back in the fifteenth century, in a tiny village near
Nuremberg, lived a family with eighteen children. Eighteen! In order
merely to keep food on the table for this mob, the father and head of
the household, a goldsmith by profession, worked almost eighteen hours
a day at his trade and any other paying chore he could find in the
neighborhood. Despite their seemingly hopeless condition, two of
Albrecht Durer the Elder's children had a dream. They both wanted to
pursue their talent for art, but they knew full well that their father
would never be financially able to send either of them to Nuremberg to
study at the Academy.
After many long discussions at night in their
crowded bed, the two boys finally worked out a pact. They would toss a
coin. The loser would go down into the nearby mines and, with his
earnings, support his brother while he attended the academy. Then,
when that brother who won the toss completed his studies, in four
years, he would support the other brother at the academy, either with
sales of his artwork or, if necessary, also by laboring in the mines.
They tossed a coin on a Sunday morning after church.
Albrecht Durer won the toss and went off to Nuremberg. Albert went
down into the dangerous mines and, for the next four years, financed
his brother, whose work at the academy was almost an immediate
sensation. Albrecht's etchings, his woodcuts, and his oils were far
better than those of most of his professors, and by the time he
graduated, he was beginning to earn considerable fees for his
commissioned works.
When the young artist returned to his village, the
Durer family held a festive dinner on their lawn to celebrate
Albrecht's triumphant homecoming. After a long and memorable meal,
punctuated with music and laughter, Albrecht rose from his honored
position at the head of the table to drink a toast to his beloved
brother for the years of sacrifice that had enabled Albrecht to
fulfill his ambition. His closing words were, "And now, Albert,
blessed brother of mine, now it is your turn. Now you can go to
Nuremberg to pursue your dream, and I will take care of you."
All heads turned in eager expectation to the far end
of the table where Albert sat, tears streaming down his pale face,
shaking his lowered head from side to side while he sobbed and
repeated, over and over, "No ...no ...no ...no."
Finally, Albert rose and wiped the tears from his
cheeks. He glanced down the long table at the faces he loved, and
then, holding his hands close to his right cheek, he said softly, "No,
brother. I cannot go to Nuremberg. It is too late for me. Look ...
look what four years in the mines have done to my hands! The bones in
every finger have been smashed at least once, and lately I have been
suffering from arthritis so badly in my right hand that I cannot even
hold a glass to return your toast, much less make delicate lines on
parchment or canvas with a pen or a brush. No, brother ...
for me it is too late."
More than 450 years have passed. By now, Albrecht
Durer's hundreds of masterful portraits, pen and silver-point
sketches, watercolors, charcoals, woodcuts, and copper engravings hang
in every great museum in the world, but the odds are great that you,
like most people, are familiar with only one of Albrecht Durer's
works. More than merely being familiar with it, you very well may have
a reproduction hanging in your home or office.
One day, to pay homage to Albert for all that he had
sacrificed, Albrecht Durer painstakingly drew his brother's abused
hands with palms together and thin fingers stretched skyward. He
called his powerful drawing simply "Hands," but the entire world
almost immediately opened their hearts to his great masterpiece and
renamed his tribute of love "The Praying Hands."
The next time you see a copy of that touching
creation, take a second look. Let it be your reminder, if you still
need one, that no one - no one - - ever makes it alone!
End
