POTATO, EGG and COFFEE BEANS

POTATO, EGG and COFFEE BEANS

Everyday that we live on this earth we make choices. Things happen, we make decisions, and that shapes our life. It’s that simple, but do we put enough thought into how we react to things that happen to us?

Sometimes we’re so busy that we just react rather that think. As with many things, a slight pause will create a moment of increased awareness of the words we choose to speak or the actions we choose to take. This affects every single aspect of our lives, and it’s especially true in relationships.

Let's Read This Inspirational story below:

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 said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face. “Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity– the boiling water.

However, each one reacted differently.

The potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.
The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which one are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “

 

Moral:

In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us.

Which one are you?...

A Glass of Milk, Paid in Full

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, 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

Signed, Dr. Howard Kelly.”

Author Unknown

The Brave Girl

The little girl  who had to use a basketball as her prosthetic body :

In 2000, Qian Hongyan, was injured tragically in a car accident when she was only 3 years old. To insure her survival, the doctors were forced to amputate her legs.

Qian’s family, living in Zhuangxia, China, was unable to afford modern prosthetic and instead used half a basketball to get around on. Once on the ball she uses two wooden props to help her move around. She struggled to live her life with a basketball as an under-prop, ‘walking’ between school and home by herself.

Qian Hongyan, who was forced to use half a basketball as her prosthetic body, inspired millions with her ambition to compete as a swimmer in the 2012 Paralympics in London. The girl’s story got widely reported in the country, and drew the attention of the Ministry of Public Security and China Rehabilitation Research Center.

Qian now has a pair of proper prosthetic legs, but still says she likes to use the basketball from time to time as it is easier for her to get in and out of the pool.

May God bless the brave little girl who has inspired millions the world over with her resolute will power.

Moral Lesson of the Story: 

"Count your blessings and your problems… If your problems outnumber your blessings, Count Again…. Chances are the things that you take for granted were not added up…"

The Professional Service

Professional Service

A woman was at work when she received a phone call that her daughter was very sick with a fever. She left her work and stopped by the pharmacy to get some medication for her daughter. When returning to her car she found that she had locked her keys in the car. She was in a hurry to get home to her sick daughter. 

She didn't know what to do, so she called her home and told the baby sitter what had happened, and that she did not know what to do. The baby sitter told her that her daughter was getting worse. She said, “You might find a coat hanger and use that to open the door.”

The woman looked around and luckily found an old rusty coat hanger that had been thrown down on the ground, possibly by someone else who at so me time or other had locked their keys in their car. Then she looked at the hanger and said, “I don’t know how to use this.” She bowed her head and asked God to send her some help.

Within five minutes an old rusty car pulled up, with a dirty, greasy, bearded man who was wearing an old biker skull rag on his head. The woman thought, “Great, God. This is what you sent to help me?” But, she was desperate, so she was also very thankful. The man got out of his car and asked her if he could help.

She said, “Yes, my daughter is very sick. I stopped to get her some medication, and I locked my keys in my car. I must get home to her. Please, can you use this hanger to unlock my car?”

He said, “Sure.” He walked over to the car, and in less than one minute the car was opened. She hugged the man and through her tears she said, “Thank You So Much! You are a very nice man.”

The man replied, “Lady, I am not a nice man. I just got out of prison today. I was in prison for car theft and have only been out for about an hour.” The woman hugged the man again, and with sobbing tears cried out loud, “Oh, Thank You God! You even sent me a Professional!”

Author: Unknown

Burned Biscuits

When I was a kid, my mom liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day at work. On that evening so long ago, my mom placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my dad. 

I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my dad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my mom and ask me how my day was at school... I don't remember what I told him that night, but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that biscuit and eat every bite! When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my mom apologize to my dad for burning the biscuits.

 And I'll never forget what he said: "Honey, I love burned biscuits." Later that night, I went to kiss Daddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, "Your Mamma put in a hard day at work today and she's real tired. And besides - a burned biscuit never hurt anyone!" 

Life is full of imperfect things ... and imperfect people. I'm not the best at hardly anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I've learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults - and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences - is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship. 

And that's my prayer for you today. That you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He's the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burned biscuit isn't a deal-breaker! We could extend this to any relationship.

     In fact, understanding is the base of any relationship, 
         be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship! 

"Don't put the key to your happiness in someone else's pocket - keep it in your own." 

                                         God Bless You.

John 15:12

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Ice Cream For The Soul

Ice Cream For The Soul

Last week a woman took her children to a restaurant. Her six-year-old son asked if he could say grace.

As they bowed their heads he said, "God is good. God is great. Thank you for the food, and I would even thank you more if Mom gets us ice cream for dessert. And Liberty and justice for all! Amen!"

Along with the laughter from the other customers nearby she heard a woman remark, "That's what's wrong with this country. Kids today don't even know how to pray. Asking God for ice cream! Why, I never!"

Hearing this, her son burst into tears and asked her, "Did I do it wrong? Is God mad at me?"

As she held him and assured him that he had done a terrific job and God was certainly not mad at him, an elderly gentleman approached the table. He winked at her son and said, "I happen to know that God thought that was a great prayer."

"Really?" her son asked.

"Cross my heart." Then in theatrical whisper he added (indicating the woman whose remark had started this whole thing), "Too bad she never asks God for ice cream. A little ice cream is good for the soul sometimes."

Naturally, she bought her kid's ice cream at the end of the meal. Her son stared at his for a moment and then did something she would remember the rest of her life.

He picked up his sundae and without a word walked over and placed it in front of the woman. With a big smile he told her, "Here, this is for you. Ice cream is good for the soul sometimes and my soul is good already."

A lesson to learn in life.

"Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often."
Mark Twain.

 

 

~ Sometime we over underestimate anyone or somebody because we over have confident on our selves that we  know better for than others, at the end the joke or jokes we started will end up on us. Life is like a wheel sometimes we are up sometimes we're down. ~

THE CRACKED POT

The Cracked Pot

''The passion of learning good things can come from life challenges.  Sometimes we don’t think the exchange is worth it, but we can create positives out of difficulties.''

A water bearer elderly woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. 
This pots was used to carry water from the stream river and into the house.

One of the pots had a cracked in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what
it had been made to do. After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream.

The broken pot said, "I am ashamed of myself, because
of this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled and said, "Don't be ashamed of yourself, did you ever notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side?, That's because I have always known about your flaw or imperfection, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back into the house, you water them." "For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Lesson to learn:

Each of us has our own unique flaws or imperfection. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interestingly and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and not look only for the good in them. 
Remember the story of David and Goliath. Don't judge by the size or appearance of a person, the outer personality is nothing compared to the inner ability and personality that counts.

Remember to see and observe the part of a person where they are capable of and the part where you think they are not capable of and then start to help them build up some unique things that can be useful and not to start criticizing them. So you can smell the fragrance of flowers of good deeds that comes out of the imperfection side of the individual!

The passion of learning good things can come from life challenges.  Sometimes we don’t think the exchange is worth it, but we can create positives out of difficulties.

Have a great day everyone !

The Butterfly Story

The Butterfly Story

  " As you go through school or everyday life, 
keep in mind that struggling is an important part of any growth experience. 
In fact, it is the struggle that causes you to develop your ability to fly."
 
Struggle is Good! 

 

Once, There was a little boy who was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it.

The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought in a new plants to eat.

One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis (a complete change) and become a butterfly.

The little boy was thrilled to hear about the changes and what about his caterpillar would go through. He watched every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out.

At first the boy was excited, but soon he became concerned. The butterfly was struggling so hard to get out! It looked like it couldn’t break free! It looked desperate! and It looked like it was making no progress!

The boy was so concerned he decided to help. He ran to get a pair of scissors, and then walked back (because he had learned not to run with scissors…). He then instead snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and the butterfly quickly emerged!

As the butterfly came out the boy was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand.

        But neither happened!

The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.

It never was able to fly…Poor little butterfly.

As the boy tried to figure out what had gone wrong his mother took him to talk to a scientist from a local college School. The boy then learned that the butterfly was SUPPOSED to struggle to come out of its cocoon to complete his life cycle, coming out to be a beautiful butterfly, But because the boy minded some business and tried to help the poor little young butterfly come out of its own cocoon, the butterfly then has an abnormal growth or cripple all its life.

In fact, the butterfly’s supposedly struggle to push its way through the tiny opening of the cocoon helps pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. So that the wings develops the power process to have a beautiful wings. But without the struggle, the butterfly would never, ever fly. The boy’s good intentions hurt the butterfly.

In life, like a child we had to be independently learned to grow up and overcome our hardships in order to be mold bold strong and courageous to survive independently. But if you allow you parents or somebody to pumper you then you will never grow up stand alone and move on. Learn from the story of this butterfly and move on. Soar high. 

"As you go through school or everyday life, keep in mind that struggling is an important part of any growth experience. In fact, it is the struggle that causes you to develop your ability to fly."

 

           

                                                                                                                                               

 

           

                                                                                                                                               

A Bowl of Noodle

A bowl of noodles from stranger

   ~ In life, we sometimes easy to appreciate 

the small actions of some people around us, but for the relatives, 

especially parents, we see their sacrifices as a matter of natural …

That night, Sue quarreled with her mother, then stormed out of the house. While en-route, she remembered that she did not have any money in her pocket, she did not even have enough coins to make a phone call home.

At the same time, she went through a noodle shop, picking up sweet fragrance, she suddenly felt very hungry. She wished for a bowl of noodles, but she had no money!

The seller saw her standing wheat faltered before the counter and asked:

- Hey little girl, you want to eat a bowl?

- But … but I do not carry money … she shyly replied.

- Okay, I’ll treat you – the seller said – come in, I will cook you a bowl.

A few minutes later the owner brought her a steaming bowl of noodles. Ate some pieces, Sue cried.

- What is it? – He asked.

- Nothing. I am just touched by your kindness! – Sue said as she wiped her tears.

- Even a stranger on the street gives me a bowl of noodles, and my mother, after a quarrel, chased me out of the house. She is cruel!!

The seller sighed:

- Girl, why did you think so? Think again. I only gave you a bowl of noodles and you felt that way. Your mother had raised you since you were little, why were you not grateful and disobeyed your mom?

Sue was really surprised after hearing that.

“Why did I not think of that? A bowl of noodles from a stranger made me feel indebted, and my mother has raised me since I was little and I have never felt so, even a little.”

On the way home, Sue thought in her head what she would say to her mother when she arrives home: “Mom, I’m sorry. I know it is my fault, please forgive me … ”

Once up the steps, Sue saw her mother worried and tired of looking for her everywhere. Upon seeing Sue, her mother gently said: “Sue, come inside honey. You are probably very hungry? I cooked rice and prepared the meal already, come eat while it is still hot …”

Can not control any longer, Sue cried in her mom’s hands.

In life, we sometimes easy to appreciate the small actions of some people around us, but for the relatives, especially parents, we see their sacrifices as a matter of natural …
Parental love and concern are the most precious gifts we have been given since birth.
Parents do not expect us to pay back for nurturing us …… but have we ever appreciated or treasure the unconditional sacrifice of our parents?

Translated from a Vietnamese story