NEVER JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER

One day a father planned to teach his son a good lesson for life that the little boy would keep up his whole life. He took his son to their garden. The little boy was full of joy, jumping in seeing all kinds of fruits hanging in trees. They went near the orange tree and the father plucked one for his son. The little boy received it gladly and bites it without peeling the skin. It tastes sour and he dropped it into the ground.

The father asked, “Son, this fruit is so delicious and healthy to our body, why did you dropped it? ” The little boy answered, “Dad, it tastes so bitter, it could not be a good fruit.”

The father then plucked another orange and asked his son to peel the skin and eat. The little boy found it so tasty and amazingly asked his father, “Dad, how could the bitterness of the fruit turns to sweetness? “

The father replied, “Dear son, you have first tasted its cover. The cover is not meant for eating. The fruit lies within. This tough cover is made for the fruit to safeguard it, as it holds taste and tenderness.
Dear son, every, God’s creation has its own goodness.”

So, never judge anyone/anything by what you see.

Realize what you have chosen to see, either its cover or the fruit itself.

See what they posses and never what they display.

Thanx all of you for getting me out of it……I don’t know how I became so upset after this episode….it’s all about the outlook….and my outlook was negative in this particular case….all of u help me to change my outlook towards this problem….thanx once again….sharing a short story with you…..

TWINS — DIFFERENT OUTLOOK

A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other claimed the volume needed to be turned up. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a gloom pessimist.

Just to see what would happen, on Christmas, their father loaded the pessimist’s room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist’s room he loaded with horse manure.

That night the father passed by the pessimist’s room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly.

“Why are you crying?” the father asked.

“Because my friends will be jealous, I’ll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I’ll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken,” answered the pessimist twin.

Passing the optimist twin’s room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. “What are you so happy about?” he asked.

To which his optimist twin replied, “There’s got to be a pony or horse for me as a surprise gift, in here somewhere!”

A young man, a student in one of the universities, was one day taking a walk with a professor, who was commonly called the students’ friend for his kindness to those who waited on his instructions.

As they went along, they saw lying in the path a pair of old shoes, which were supposed to belong to a poor man who was working in a field close by, and who had nearly finished his day’s work . . .

Student turned to the professor, saying: “Let us play the man a trick:
we will hide his shoes, and hide ourselves behind those bushes, and wait to see his perplexity when he cannot find them …”

“My young friend,” answered the professor, “We should never amuse ourselves at the expense of the poor . . . But you are rich, and may give yourself a much greater pleasure by means of this poor man.Put a coin in each shoe, and then we will hide ourselves and watch how this affects him.”

The student did so and they both placed themselves behind the bushes close by. The poor man soon finished his work, and came across the field to the path where he had left his coat and shoes . . .While putting on his coat he slipped his foot into one of his shoes, but feeling something hard, he stooped down to feel what it was, and found the coin. Astonishment and wonder were seen upon his countenance.

He gazed upon the coin, turned it around and looked at it again and again.
He then looked around him on all sides, but no person was to be seen. He now put the money into his pocket, and proceeded to put on the other shoe; but his surprise was doubled on finding the other coin . . .

His feelings overcame him . . . he fell upon his knees, looked up to heaven and uttered aloud a fervent thanksgiving in which he spoke of his wife, sick and helpless, and his children without bread, whom this timely bounty, from some unknown hand, would save from perishing . . .

The student stood there deeply affected, and his eyes filled with tears.
“Now,” said the professor, are you not much better pleased than if you had played your intended trick?”
The youth replied, “You have taught me a lesson which I will never forget. .. I feel now the truth of these words, which I never understood before:

“It’s more blessed to give than to receive.”

If you want happiness….

For a lifetime - HELP SOMEONE.

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, “Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.”

Then the second tree said, “Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.”

Finally the third tree said, “I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.”

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, “This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter” … and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, “This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.” The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, “I don’t need anything special from my tree so I’ll take this one”, and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn’t think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said “Peace” and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

Moral of the story:

The moral of this story is that when things don’t seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you.

If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.

We don’t always know what God’s plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

A beautiful illustration about how God takes care of us.

THE FAVOURITE CHILD

The woman had three sons and six daughters. Her day was full of chores to fulfill the numerous demands of her growing troop. She was always busy with cooking, washing, cleaning, dusting ironing and also counseling! One day her youngest son fell sick. She called up the doctor and requested him to drop by and examine him.

As he checked the boy’s throat, he asked the lady, “Madam, how many children do you have?” She hesitated for a moment, then said, “As many as I can take care of!” The man watched her as she sat beside her five year old son, who was burning with high fever. She dipped small hand towels into a basin of water, turn by turn and used them to wipe the boy’s burning brow.

From the doorway, her teenaged daughter, called out, “Mama, where are my hairpins?” “They’re in the brown box on the console, honey.” Just then her other son popped in, “I have to stay back after school for football today, I need an extra Tiffin, Mom.” She smiled and said, “Yes, darling I remember you have a football match today. I’ve packed an extra sandwich in the white box along with your Tiffin. It’s lying on the table, next to your breakfast. Now, run along and let me talk to the doctor.”

The doctor admired the ease with which she was in command of everything around her. He asked her, “Which one of them is your favourite?”

She said simply, “The one who needs me most.” “Which one?” he asked in surprise.

She said, “The one who is sick; the one who is sad; the one who is lonely…. the one who needs me most … That is my favourite child!”

Winner is NOT one who NEVER FAILS……But one who NEVER QUITS!!!”

Need a proof? Read on………………. 10 Real Life Incidents and Learn not to Quit in life and always have a hope in life that you will be successful.
Failures are stepping stones for success

1) Officials rejected a candidate for a news broadcasters post since his voice was not fit for a news broadcaster. He was also told that with his obnoxiously long name, he would never be famous. He is Amitabh Bachchan.
—————————————–
2) In 1962, four nervous young musicians played their first record audition
for the executives of the Decca Recording Company. The executives were not impressed. While turning down this group of musicians, one executive said, “We don’t like! their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.” The group was called The Beatles.
——————————————
3) In 1944, Emmeline Snively, director of the Blue Book Modeling Agency told modeling hopeful Norma Jean Baker, “You’d better learn secretarial work or else get married”. She went on and became Marilyn Monroe.
—————————————–
4) In 1954, Jimmy Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry, fired a singer after one performance. He told him, “You ain’t going’ nowhere son. You ought to go back to driving’ a truck”. He went on to become
Elvis Presley.
—————————————-
5) A small boy–the fifth amongst seven siblings of a poor father, was selling newspapers in a small village to earn his living. He was not exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by religion and rockets. The first rocket he built crashed. A missile that he built crashed multiple times and he was made a butt of ridicule. He is the person to have scripted the Space Odyssey of India single-handedly. He is Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India.
—————————————–
6) When Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, it did not ring off the hook with calls from potential backers.
After making a demonstration call, President Rutherford Hayes said,
“That’s an amazing invention, but who would ever want to see one of them?”
—————————————–
7) When Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, he tried over 2000 experiments before he got it to work. A young reporter asked him how it felt to fail so many times. He said, “I never failed once. I invented the light bulb. It just happened to be a 2000-step process”.
—————————————–
8. In the 1940s, another young inventor named Chester Carlson took his idea to 20 corporations, including some of the biggest in the country. They all turned him down. In 1947, after 7 long yearsof rejections, he finally got a tiny company in Rochester, NY, the Haloid Company, to purchase the rights to his invention–an electrostatic paper-copying process. Haloid became
Xerox Corporation.
—————————————-
9) A little girl–the 20th of 22 children,
was born prematurely and her survival was doubtful. When she was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia and scarlet fever, which left her with aparalyzed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependent on and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was a miracle. That same year shedecided to become a runner. She entered a race and came in last. For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last. Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running. One day she actually won a race. And then another. From then on she won every race she entered. Eventually this little girl– Wilma Rudolph, went on to win three Olympic gold medals.
—————————————-
10) A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention to his mathematics and for not being able to solve simple problems. She told him that you would not become anybody in life. The boy was Albert Einstein.

The Silversmith Story

One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study.
That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.

The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: “He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver.” She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, “How do you know when the silver is fully refined?”
He smiled at her and answered, “Oh, that’s easy — when I see my image in it”

If today you are feeling the heat of the fire, remember that God has his eye on you and will keep watching you until He sees His image in you.

That's why I am sharing this with all of You right now. This very moment, someone needs to know that God is watching over them. And, whatever they’re going through, they’ll be a better person in the end.

“Life is a coin. You can spend it anyway you wish, but you can only spend it once.”

No Blackmail !! God at the Window!

There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with, out in the woods. He practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma’s pet duck. Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck Square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see His sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said,” Sally, let’s wash the Dishes.” But Sally said,” Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.” Then she whispered to him,”Remember the duck ?” So Johnny did the dishes. Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said,” I’m sorry but I need Sally to help make supper.”

Sally just smiled and said,” Well that’s all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help.” She whispered again,” Remember the duck?” So Sally Went fishing and Johnny stayed to help. After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s, He finally couldn’t stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you.”

Thought for the day and every day thereafter? Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done… And the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.) ….whatever it is….You need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing…..

He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He’s just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, He not only forgives you, but He forgets. It is by God’s grace and mercy that we are saved.

Paid in full with one glass of milk

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. 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 brought him a large glass of milk. 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, and 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 began to read the following words:

"Paid in full with one glass of milk"

Five short Stories……………with moral

A child told the mother: "Mum look very beautiful today."
Replied the mother: "Why?"
The child said: "Because you did not get angry today."
Moral of the story:
1. It is easy to possess beauty- do not get angry.
2. Anger is temporary madness.

A man attended an interview for a job.
Along the corridor, he picked up a piece and threw it into a dustbin.
The interviewer passed by and saw it.
This man got the job.
Moral of the story:
Live with good habits, and you will be recognised.

A small boy worked as an apprentice in a bicycle shop.
A man sent a bicycle for repair.
After repairing the bicycle, this boy cleaned up the bicycle and it looked like a new one.
Other workers laughed at him for doing extra work.
The second day after the owner claimed the bicycle back; this boy was pinched and offered a job.
Moral of the story:
1.Go the extra mile to be successful.
2. Doing more, gains more & Doing less, loses more.

The owner of a farm asked his child to work everyday at the farm.
His friend said to him: "You do not have to make your son work so hard. The crops would grow just as good."
Owner of the farm replied: "I am not cultivating my crops, but my child."
Moral of the story:
1. A simple way to groom a child is to let him experience some hardships.
2. If not cut, jade would not turn into useful ware.

A shop is always brightly lit up.
Someone asked: "What brand of bulb are you using? It is so lasting."
The shop owner replied: "Our bulbs blew out frequently. We replaced them once a bulb blew out."
Moral of the story:
1. It is simple to maintain brightness, change the bulbs regularly.
2. To brightening up everyday life: Endeavor to abandon unwholesome states of mind and make an effort to encourage wholesome states to grow.