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?”
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Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.
12/9–Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose”–Helen Keller.
There is a deep-seated need in all of us to sense purpose—even out of calamity. Jesus knew who He was. The Lord wants to help you realize who you are and what you are graced to do.
To ask someone to define you without first knowing the answer yourself is dangerous. When you understand that He is the only One who really knows you, then you pursue Him with fierceness and determination.
Pursue Him! God knows who we are and how we are to attain our calling. This knowledge, locked up in the counsel of God’s omniscience, is the basis of our pursuit, and it is the release of that knowledge that brings immediate transformation.
He knows the hope or the goal of our calling. He is not far removed from us; He reveals Himself to people who seek Him.
The finders are seekers. The door is opened only to the knockers and the gifts are given to the askers! (See Luke 11: 9.) Initiation is our responsibility. Whosoever hungers and thirsts shall be filled. The structure of an army was just waiting for God’s command. God will not put His seal of approval on something until He is sure that it is His.
God can fill your past, your childhood, your feelings of inferiority, your wounds, your loneliness. God sees incredible potential in you. The Word of God says you are capable. Within you is an army to reach for your full potential, focus on your areas of competence, have the courage to take action despite obstacles, and strive to improve continually by passionately pursuing a dream.
What one great thing with you dare to dream if you knew that you could not fail? If you could wave a magic wand or take a magic pill what one thing would you desire?
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Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
Humor:
Fred and Mabel were both patients in a mental hospital. One day as they both walked beside the swimming pool, Mabel jumped into the deep end and sank to the bottom. Without a thought for his own safety, Fred jumped in after her, brought her to the surface, hauled her out, gave her the kiss of life and saved her.
The next day happened to be Fred’s annual review. He was brought before the hospital board, where the director told him, “Fred, I have some good news and some bad news: the good news is that in light of your heroic act yesterday we consider that you are sane and can be released from this home back into society.
The bad news is, I’m afraid, that Mabel, the patient you saved, shortly afterwards hung herself in the bathroom with the belt from her bathrobe. I’m sorry but she’s dead.”
She didn’t hang herself,” Fred replied, “I put her there to dry.”
If you can’t find five minutes, can you spare just two or three?
12/9–Can You Spare A Minute?
Who would ever imagine when you see a caterpillar crawling on the ground that it would possible to turn into a magnificent butterfly.
Like Clark Kent would change from a weakling to Superman, we can transform ourselves just by changing our minds.
If you keep thinking what you have always been thinking, then you will keep doing what you have always been doingand therefore, you will keep getting what you have always been getting!
12/9–My friend Jerry was one of the most positive people I had ever known. He was always in a good mood and always had something encouraging to say.
He was a manager at a restaurant. If his employee had a bad day, Jerry always helped him to look on the positive side of the situation.
Jerry‘s attitude truly amazed me. So one day I asked him: „How can you be so positive all the time?“.
He replied: „You see, every morning I tell myself, that I have two choices for that day – to be in a good mood or in a bad. I choose the good one. And when something wrong happens, I can be sad and angry or I can learn from it instead. I choose to learn. Thus I choose the positive side of life“. I said: „It is not that easy“. He replied: „Yes it is. Life is all about choices. You can choose how people or situation will affect your mood, your life“.
One morning Jerry left the restaurant‘s back door open and was held up at gunpoint by three armed robbers. He tried to open the safe, but his hands shook due to nervousness and he slipped off the combination. So the robbers shot him. Fortunately, Jerry was quickly found and brought to the nearest hospital. After many hours of surgery and long intensive care, Jerry was released home.
When I met him, I asked what his thoughts were during the robbery. „I thought that I should have locked the back door“, he replied. „Then, when I was lying on the floor, I remembered about my choices in this case: a choice to live and a choice to die. I chose to live.“
I asked, if he was scared. Jerry continued: „When they wheeled me into emergency room and I looked at the faces of doctors, I got truly scared. I knew that I need to do something. So when the nurse asked me, if I was allergic to anything, I replied „Yes“. Doctors and nurses stopped working as waited for my answer. I took a deep breath and yelled „Bullets“. They started laughing and I said: „
My choice is to live, treat me as I am alive, not dead“.
Now Jerry is alive owing to skills of his doctors, however his amazing attitude played an important role too. I learned from him, that every day we should choose to live fully no matter what.
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And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.
12/8–Pebble Beach on the coast of California is a lovely area that typifies the advantages of friction. Ceaseless waves thunder ashore and dash the beach. The pitiless pounding of the waves tosses and grinds the stones together. They are dashed against the rugged, ageless cliffs … this goes on year after year.
The result is round, polished stones that are collected by tourists as ornaments. Near Pebble Beach is a quiet cove. A natural formation serves as a breakwater. Sheltered by the cliff are numerous stones. They are unsought and unwanted. They have been spared the wear caused by the pounding waves. They have remained rough and unpolished.
When testing times come, we may be buffeted about; but the rough edges are knocked off of our lives. The friction of trials can cause wonderful features to be brought to the surface. Believers who understand the friction of trials will be able to face life’s hard times.
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And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Humor:
Do our actions have consequences? Does cause and effect really exist?
George W. Bush, was in an airport lobby, and noticed a man in a long flowing white robe with a long flowing white beard and flowing white hair. The man had a staff in one hand and some stone tablets under the other arm.
George W. approached the man and inquired, “Aren’t you Moses?”
The man ignored George W. and stared at the ceiling.
George W. positioned himself more directly in the man’s view and asked again,
“Aren’t you Moses?”
The man continued to stare at the ceiling.
George W. tugged at the man’s sleeve and asked once again, “Aren’t you Moses?”
The man finally responded in an irritated voice, “Yes, I am.”
George W. asked him why he was so irritable and the man replied, “The last time I spoke to a bush I had to spend 40 years in the desert!”
Like the old black and white tv’s with the outside antenna we had to turn to get it to come in clear, we have to clear our minds of all negative thoughts and static
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Normal desires of life compared with greed remind one of the difference between a fire used for cooking and the out of control forest fire. The forest fire can even “crown”. This is a term fire fighters use to indicate a fire that has leaped to the very top of the trees and is blown along by the wind.
Greed can be like that “crowned” forest fire. Blown along by the wind, it can lead to complete destruction for the person.
Greed is nothing more than desire out of control.
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