The Emperor and the Seed

Here is one of the inspirational stories about integrity

Once there was an emperor in the Far East who was growing old and knew it was coming time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or one of his own children, he decided to do something different.

He called all the young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It has come time for me to step down and to choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you." The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today. One seed. It is a very special seed. I want you to go home, plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring to me, and the one I choose will be the next emperor of the kingdom!"

There was one boy named Ling who was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the whole story. She helped him get a pot and some planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown.

After about three weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept going home and checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by. Still nothing.

By now others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow.

A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection. Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot. But she encouraged him to go, and to take his pot, and to be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He took his empty pot to the palace.

When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by all the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grown, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

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Three Stories of Forgiveness; by gurmeet Net

Three Stories of Forgiveness

December 2nd, 2008 

 

In the stories below, parents lost their children. The intensity of pain at losing one’s own child is colossal — it exceeds other bereavements. It is challenging to even imagine what it means to forgive a person who took one’s child away. readmore....

Difference Between Eah and Oh!

 

--by Jerry Winstorm (Sep 06, 2011)

After walking some distance, stopping for a cup of tea, and winding my way back to the apartment, I happened upon an older, homeless man in an alley. He was surrounded by several overstuffed plastic bags, and had apparently spent the night in the alley.

When our eyes met, we held the moment for an unusually long time. I held the gaze longer than usual, hoping he might ask for money — but he did not. His sad, sweet eyes unexpectedly brought tears to my own. I continued walking as I spontaneously said a little prayer for him. As I continued on my way, feeling his sadness, I looked up and was startled to see a well-dressed woman staring at me in a most intense and compassionate way. She smiled enthusiastically when our eyes met, perhaps thinking it was my own sadness I held. I walked on.

Several blocks down the street, as I neared a storefront, I spotted a young man in his late teens just getting up from his pile of dirty blankets. He, too, had spent the night on the street. He looked so young and vulnerable as he tried to pull his shirtsleeves down over his cold hands. As I passed, he looked at me and smiled. I slowed, but he didn't ask for anything either. I came home unable to shake the feeling of sadness for these men and for the imbalance in our world. Yet, all I felt I could do was hold the sadness I was feeling in a reverent, prayerful way. From past experience I know, and have come to trust, this way of holding others. When no other action is called for, this emotional embrace, in itself, can be a gift.

To many, non-action in a situation like this may not make sense. However, sometimes literal "giving" can be a way to avoid the weight of another's burden. The spirit of the moment can ask something different of us, something different from our ideas of what it means to give. Reverently holding the suffering of others can be a moment's greatest offering, and it is a moment many of us often avoid by trying to buy our way out with literal acts of goodness. When one sees the activity of this holding as a formless act of compassion, one goes about it with reverence. Where literal action fails, reverent generosity succeeds by becoming a container able to hold the tears of the world.

The delicate refinement of reverent generosity is one of the loftiest disciplines of embodied life. Reverence is the only appropriate response to the mystery by which we are are surrounded. It requires unrelenting attention. Lao Tsu said, " How great the difference between 'eah' and 'oh!'" The "eah" response to life represents an attitude of indifference, while the "oh!" response represents openness and surprise in the face of an awesome and mysterious universe. One's natural impulse to inspire others with that emotion which reverence has awakened in one's own heart creates sublime beauty in the world. With reverence, the difficulties in life become grist for the mill. Chaos, hopelessness, suffering, even death—everything may be placed on the altar for transformation in the eternal. What comes through may be a sweet word, a gift, a joke, wisdom, or even the use of the sword; inspiration finds a way to undo the illusion of limitation. Inspiration enters the heart through the portal of reverence. With inspiration rippling through the collective, the heart of the world grows unalterably stronger.

--Jerry Winstorm, in Reverant Generosity 



                                                               

WHAT ABOUT FORGIVENESS???

                                                    Sue Norton and Aba Gayle                              
                                                               
                                                                    

                                                                         Sue Norton



Sue Norton lives in Arkansas City, Kansas. She received terrible news during a phone call from her brother in January 1990. Her much beloved, Daddy, Richard Denny and his wife Virginia were found murdered in their home. Sue’s Daddy was shot to death in his isolated Oklahoma farmhouse. The crime netted the killer $17.00 and an old truck.

Sue says she felt "numb". She couldn’t understand why someone would want to hurt people who were old and poor.

The loss of her Daddy just broke her heart.

Sue sat through the trial of Robert Knighton (B.K.). She was confused about how she should feel. She tells me that everyone in the courtroom was consumed with hate. They all expected her to feel the same way. But she couldn’t hate the way they did because she says, "it didn’t feel good."

The last night of the trial she knew there must be another way. She couldn’t eat or sleep that night and prayed to God to help her. When morning came, she had this thought. "Sue, you don’t have to hate B.K., you could forgive him".

The next day, while the jury was out for deliberation, Sue got permission to visit B.K. through the bars of his holding cell. Sue relates, "I was really frightened. This was my first experience in a jail. B.K. was big and tall, he was shackled and had cold steely eyes." At first B.K. refused to look at Sue. She asked him to turn around and he answered, "why would any one want to talk to me after what I have done?" Sue replied, "I don’t know what to say to you. But I want you to know that I don’t hate you. My grandmother always taught me not to use the word hate. She taught me that we are here to love one another. If you are guilty, I forgive you.

B.K. thought Sue was just playing games. He couldn’t understand how she could forgive him for such a terrible crime. Sue says, "I didn’t think of him as killer, I thought of him as a human being.

People thought that Sue had lost her mind. Friends would step to the other side of the road to avoid her. But Sue says, "There is no way to heal and get over the trauma without forgiveness. You must forgive and forget and get on with your life. That is what Jesus would do.

B.K. resides on death row in Oklahoma. Sue often writes to him and visits occasionally. She feels that B.K. should never leave prison, but she does not want him executed. She has become friends with B.K. and because of her love and friendship he has become a devout Christian.

Sue states that some good has come out of her Daddy’s death.

"I have been able to witness to many people about Jesus and forgiveness and helped others to heal. I have brought B.K. and many other men on death row to our Lord Jesus Christ. I live in peace with my Lord!"

Sue Norton is a member of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation and the Kansas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. Sue has traveled extensively to speak to schools, churches and community groups about forgiveness and Christianity.

Sue gave an eloquent speech to the parole board pleading to save B.K.'s life.  Many of the parole board members were in tears but voted for death.  B.K. was executed by the state of Oklahoma on May 27, 2003.   Bud Welch from Oklahoma City and Aba Gayle from Oregon were both there to support BK and Sue with their loving energy.

Inspirational Motivational Stories "The Tip"

                                                               The Tip

                                           By unknown Author

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
sat at a table.

A waitress put a glass of water in front of him. "How much is an ice cream sundae?"

"Fifty cents," replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it.

"How much is a dish of plain ice cream?" he inquired.

Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient. "Thirty-five cents,"
she said brusquely.

The little boy again counted the coins. "I'll have the plain ice cream," he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice
cream, paid the cashier and departed.

When the waitress came back, she began wiping down  the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw.
There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were two nickels and five pennies - her tip.

                                     - Author Unknown

I ran into a stranger as he passed by.
"Oh, excuse me please" was my reply.
He said, "Please excuse me too;
I wasn't even watching for you."


We were very polite,
this stranger and I.
We went on our way
and we said good-bye.
But at home
a different story is told,
How we treat our loved ones,
young and old.

Later that day,
cooking the evening meal,
My Son stood beside me
very still.

When I turned,
I nearly knocked him down.
"Move out of the way,"
I said with a frown.

He walked away,
his little heart broken.
I didn't realize how harshly
I'd spoken.
While I lay awake in bed,
God's still small voice came to me and said,
"While dealing with a stranger,
common courtesy you use.
The children you love, you seem to abuse.

Look on the kitchen floor,
You'll find some flowers there by the door.
Those are the flowers he brought for you.
He picked them himself, pink, yellow and blue.

He stood quietly
not to spoil the surprise,
And you never saw the tears
in his eyes."
By this time,
I felt very small
And now my tears
began to fall.
I quietly went
and knelt by his bed;
"Wake up, little one,
wake up," I said.
"Are these the flowers
you picked for me?"
He smiled, "I found 'em,
out by the tree.
I picked 'em because
they're pretty like you.
I knew you'd like 'em,
especially the blue."
I said, "Son, I'm sorry
for the way I acted today;
I shouldn't have yelled
at you that way."
He said,
"Oh, Mom,
that's okay.
I love you anyway."
I said, "Son,
I love you too,
and I do like the flowers,
especially the blue."

If you are like me

If you are like me, I am sure you enjoy reading humorous and inspirational stories, short funny quotes and poems.

Everyone at certain times needs to read touching words such as a motivational story, quote, or a poem.

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Chees I love You all...

Nothing to Fear

Nothing to Fear






There's nothing to fear --- you're as good as the best,
As strong as the mightiest, too.
You can win in every battle or test;
For there's no one just like you.
There's only one you in the world today;
So nobody else, you see,
Can do your work in as fine a way:
You're the only you there'll be !

So face the world, and all life is yours
To conquer and love and live:
And you'll find the happiness that endures
In just the measure you give;
There's nothing too good for you to possess,
Nor heights where you cannot go:
Your power is more than belief or guess ---
It is something you have to know.

There is nothing to fear --- you can and you will.
For you are the invincible you.
Set your foot on the highest hill ---
There's nothing you cannot do.

The Carpenter's House

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family.

He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house, " he said, "my gift to you."

What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized that we would have done it differently.

Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.


from: http://www.inspirationpeak.com/shortstories.html

The boy and the Fence

There once 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 dwindled down. 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. He told his father about it and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper. The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my 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 just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there. A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.

The House of 1000 Mirrors.

Long ago in a small, far away village, there was place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit.

When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the House, he thought to himself, "This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often."

In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, "That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again."

All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?

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It's a wonderful world
by: Helen Steiner Rice

In spite of the fact We complain and lament, And view this old world With much discontent Deploring conditions And grumbling because There's so much injustice And so many flaws It's a wonderful world And it's people like you Who make it that way By the things that they do.

For a warm, ready smile, Or a kind, thoughtful deed, Or a hand outstretched In an hour of need Can change our whole outlook And make the world bright,Where a minute before, Just nothing seemed right It's a wonderful world And it always will be, If we keep our eyes open And focused to see The wonderful things Man is capable of When he opens his heart To God and His love

Everything Happens For The Good

There was once a King who had a wise advisor. The advisor followed the King everywhere, and his favorite advice was, “Everything happens for the good”. One day the King went hunting and had a little accident. He shot an arrow at his own foot and was injured. He asked the advisor what he thought about the accident, to which the advisor replied, “Everything happens for the good”. This time the King was really upset and ordered for his advisor to be put in prison. The King asked his advisor, “Now, what do you think?” The advisor again replied, “Everything happens for the good”. So the advisor remained in prison.

The King later went on a hunting trip, this time without the advisor. The King was then captured by some cannibals. He was taken to the cannibals' camp where he was to be the evening meal for the cannibals. Before putting him into the cooking pot he was thoroughly inspected. The cannibals saw the wound on the King’s foot and decided to throw him back into the jungle. According to the cannibals' tradition, they would not eat anything that was imperfect. As a result the King was spared. The King suddenly realized what his advisor said was true. The advisor also escaped death because had he not been in prison, he would have followed the King on the hunting trip, and would have ended up in the cooking pot.



Success Principles

It is true that everything in life happens for a purpose, and always for our own good. If you think about it, all our past experiences actually happened to bring us to where we are today, and it is always for the good. All the past experiences makes us a better person. So, whatever challenges that we may face today, consider it happening to bring us to the next level.

please reader we need your comments from the above story, Lets know what you feel.

THE POWER OF IMAGINATION

Two Men, both seriously ill, Occupied the same hospital room, One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end.They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvment in the millitary Service, where they had been on vacation. And every afernoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see out side the window.

The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside. the window over looked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and Swans played on the water while boats. Young lovers walked arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscrape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, The man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene. One warm afthernoon the man by the window described a parade passing by, Athough the other man couldnit hear the band he could see it in his mind's eyes as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed.

One morning the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to discover to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, Who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, She left him alone Slowly, Painfully, He dropped himself up on one elbow to take his First look at the world outside.

Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. the nurse responed that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.
She said, '"perhapes he just wanted to encourage you"


From Vincent O.O (vobasanmi@yahoo.com)

Foster & Mathew

Foster and Matt where leaping trough a swampy marshland when suddenly they tumbled into a deep dry ravine just at the end of the mush.

Afther recovering from he shock of the falling, they tried to leap out of the hole.But try as hard as they could not propel themselfs out of the hole.

Soon , Other frogs heard of the two frogs that were trapped in the ravine.The other frogs gathered arround the gulley in great numbers, urging the young frogs to jump out to safty.With every great attempt the crowed yelled in approval and urging them to try harder. afther a while, with foster and matt were cleally exhausted, the gathering of forgs brought in experts who analysed the situation, plotting graphs on the strenght of the their limbs, the depth and size of the hole and the age of the Foster and Matt, they concluded that ut was imposible for them to get out of the Ditch..... Ever! the poor victims of circumstance sould conserve their strenght and wait it out until they Die.

The heard of the team of expert stood on the edge of the gulley and gave a passionate speech about how this was the end of the them. Foster looked on confused, as Matthew lay down looking exhausted.THe crowed turned teir backs and shook their head in sorrow as they began to disperse slowly.then suddenly seeing that the other frogs were leaving, Foster strted jumping again.the frogs tured around, surprised, as Foster continued to jump, they became agitated,shouting him down, telling him to conserve his strenght that it was no use trying, he can't get out; it was never been done;it will never be done, But Foster kept on jumping, The louder they screamed at him, the more he jumped.

As his jumbs became more frantic, loose earth beagn to drift down until it covered matthew, then foster had to jump on top of matthew to stay up and keep on the exercise, suddenly he jumps high and out of the pit.

The other frogs became amazed of foster result.then they wanted to know what gave him the strenght, so he was handed the Mic to speak, but all they heard from him was blee!!! bleee!!! bleee!!!,

That was how deff and doom speaks..... they were now more amazed that foster was deff and doom, which means he did not hear all that the experts was saying about the end of their Life in the Pit.....

Lesson of the Story "HE GAVE NOT ALL EARS TO EXPERTS ADVISE ABOUT HIS CONDITION"