IF ONLY I BECAME A SMART PHONE!

A teacher after the dinner started checking homework done by the students. Her husband was strolling around with a smart phone playing his favorite game ‘Candy Crush Saga’.

When reading the last note, the wife started crying silently with tears flowing from her eyes. Her husband saw this and asked, ‘Why are you crying dear? What happened?’

Wife: ‘Yesterday I gave homework to my 3^rd Standard students, to write something on topic ‘My Wish.’

Husband: ‘OK, but why are you crying?’

Wife: ‘Today while checking the last note, it makes me cry.’

Husband curiously: ‘What’s written in the note that makes you crying?’

Wife: ‘Listen.’  “My wish is to become a smart phone.
My parents love smart phone very much.
They care smart phone so much that sometimes they forget to care me.

When my father comes from office tired, he has time for smart phone but not for me.

When my parents are doing some important work and smart phone is ringing, within single ring they attend the phone, but not me even... even if I am crying.

They play games on their smart phones not with me.
When they are talking to someone on their smart phone, they never listen to me even if I am telling something important.

The way they caress it! If only they were willing to touch me, leave alone caressing me!

So, My wish is to become a smart phone.”

After listening to the note, the husband got emotional and asked the wife, ‘Poor child; how depressed he must be! Who wrote this?’

Wife: ‘Our son!’

Gadgets are beneficial, but they are for our ease not to cease the love amongst family and loved ones.

Children see and feel everything what happens around them. Things get imprinted on their mind with an everlasting effect. Let’s take due care, so that they do not grow with any false impressions!

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT AND LOOKING FOR?

One night a wife found her husband standing over their infant's crib. 

As she watched him looking down at their very first child, she saw on his face a mixture of emotions:  disbelief, delight, amazement, skepticism, enchantment etc..

Touched by this unusual display and the deep emotions it aroused, with eyes glistening she slipped her arm around her husband. 

"A penny for your thoughts," she said.

"It's amazing!" he replied, “How can this be! It is just amazing.”

The wife was so moved that tears started to flow. She replied, “Yes, indeed; it is amazing! How this child was formed in my womb…!   It is indeed God’s creative miracle! How else can we explain it?”

“What are you talking about? … I just don't see how anybody ...... could make a crib like that ...for only Rs. 3000."

 Instead of seeing the miracle of God, are we not engrossed in the petty things around us?

Look at the nature and you will see God’s creative craft, as the Psalmist have seen and contemplated in Psalms 19:

  1The heavens declare the glory of God; skied proclaim proclaim the work of his hands.  ² Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. ³ They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. ⁴ Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun. ⁵ It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course. ⁶ It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.   ⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, refreshing the soul; The statutes of the  Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. ⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy  to the heart. The commands of the  Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes. ,  ⁹ The fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the Lord are firm, and all of them are righteous.  ¹⁰ They are more precious than gold,  than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.  ¹¹ By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward. ¹² But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults. ¹³ Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me.  Then I will be blameless, innocent or great transgression. ¹⁴ May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.

KNOW THE PROBLEM OF YOUR LIFE

A missionary named Herbert Jackson, while in foreign mission was given a car that wouldn’t start without a push. After pondering his problem, he devised a plan. He went to a school near his home, got permission to take some children out of class, and had them give his car a push to get it started. As he traveled around the area, he would either park on a hill or leave the engine running. Sometimes he would get other children to help him push it to get it started. He used this ingenious procedure for 2 years. 

At the end of two years, however, he needed to return to his home country because of health problems and a new missionary came to replace him.

Of course, the car stayed with the new missionary, and so Jackson began to explain his arrangement for getting the car started. As he did so, the new man began looking under the hood. 

“Why, Dr. Jackson, I believe the only trouble is this loose cable.”
He gave the cable a twist, stepped into the car, pushed the switch and to Jackson’s astonishment, the engine roared to life.

For 2 years, the only trouble with that car was a loose connection. The power was there all the time.  

It’s just that Jackson didn’t realize how to access it.

How about us? Are we aware of the possibility and power within? Or do we unnecessarily look for ways to keep ourselves going?

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF GOING TO CHURCH?

A person who used to go to Church wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today.

[Sometimes we may have disliked it; some other times relished it; on some occasions taken out of helplessness (our father watching over and compelling us to take it!) or other times taken it with a sense of need (because we were hungry!). Still it is the food that has kept us going in our lives.]

Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would have been spiritually dead today!"

“Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible!”

WHAT DO WE DO WITH ‘THE EXTRA TIME’?

A government agent was sent to a remote and under-developed area of his country to tell the people about the plans to build a road through their territory.  They objected to it. Trying to convince them, the official asked, “How long does it now take you to deliver your goods in market by donkey using the existing trail?” “Three days,” they replied.

The agent thinking he had a convincing argument, said confidently “If we build that road through here; you will be able to go to market and come back home all in a single day.”

When the agent was thinking that he has won the argument, a man in the crowd who had been listening carefully responded, “But tell me, sir, what are we going to do with all the extra time?”

I wish we all have this kind of a question in our lives!

When we study the history of humankind we will see that never in its history have we had the facilities to make the life faster and easier. Machines have taken over the time and effort of human labor and intelligence.   But at the same time, never in history shall we find the humans so busy and do not have time enough to do the errands that are in front of them.   

For most of us, it seems there are not enough hours in a day to finish the daily chores. We run to reach nowhere. Have we asked, as Leo Tolstoy puts it in his story: How much land a man needs? We find ways of using ‘the extra time’ and end up depressed. Are we ready to ask (as I have said in a previous post) Quo vadis...?

TIME IS THE GIFT THAT IS GIVEN SAME TO ALL

What is the gift that is given same to all was the question I have put forth in the previous post. Thanks to those who responded.     

TIME is the gift that is given in the same measure to all.

As I have mentioned in the previous post, God the creator has endowed us with various talents, opportunities and experiences and they differ from person to person; but all of us are gifted in equal measure – whether rich or poor, educated or illiterate, high or low in position, healthy or unhealthy etc.

Making wise and prudent use of time is what is expected from us. As St. Paul advises in the epistle to Ephesians in chapter 5 vs. 15, 16: “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time …”

Someone has offered the following guidelines for us to check whether we are using our time wisely.

          Take time to pray – it’s the source of power

Take time to read – it’s a fountain of wisdom

Take time to play – it’s a secret of youth

Take time to be friendly – it’s a path of happiness

Take time to laugh – it’s the music of the soul

Take time to dream – it’s a road to greater vision

Take time to love – it’s Godlike

WHAT IS THE GIFT THAT IS GIVEN SAME TO ALL?

God the creator has endowed us with various talents, opportunities and experiences. None is same in the above – some are born rich, the others as poor; some are gifted with learning abilities and some others are not as intelligent as the others; some may acquire positions in life whereas the others, though may be more educated, shall not be able to go high in positions; some are born healthy and some are not lucky to have the kind of health others hold in spite of their attempts to attain it; some are straight forward whereas some others are crooked; some are kind but some others are very bad-mannered; some are humble whereas some others are arrogant! We can enumerate anything and everything to prove that all are not gifted the same.

But all of us are gifted in equal measure – whether rich or poor, educated or illiterate, high or low in position, healthy or unhealthy etc.

Can anyone name it? 

I shall appreciate if anyone responds to this post with the answer. I shall write about it in the next post. 

A FORK IN THE ROAD

Several artists were asked to illustrate their concepts of temptation. When their paintings were unveiled, some of them depicted man's attempt to achieve fame and fortune at any cost. Others pictured mankind's struggle against the alluring desires of the flesh.

The prize-winning canvas, however, was quite different. It portrayed a quiet country lane with a man walking among inviting shade trees and lovely wild flowers. In the distance the way divided into two roads, the one leading to the right, the other to the left. The road that veered to the left seemed almost as inviting as the one that kept to the right. But if the traveler chose to take it, he would soon become mired in the mud. The artist was conveying the thought that sin's allurements are extremely subtle. They present themselves as an innocent looking fork in the road.

The "path of the wicked" may seem harmless at first, and we tell ourselves that we would never fall into gross sin. But that's just the kind of thinking that can divert us from the path of righteousness. A good traffic rule on the road of life: When you meet temptation stay right.

Let our prayer always be: “Heavenly Father, Give us wisdom to reject all but the highway trod by Your pilgrims on the upward road that leads us straight to Yourself."

KEEP YOURSELF SHINING

There is a legend about a conversation with a light house keeper and a candle he was carrying through the winding stares of a light house. 

As the night was approaching, the light house keeper lit a candle and went up the stairs to light the big lamp on the top of the light house.  The candle asks him: “Where are you taking me?”  His reply was, “to the top of the light house.”  Then the candle asks, “Why.”  “The night is setting.  There shall be ships out in the sea waiting for the light signal of the harbor near them.  I shall light the big lamp up there and then the reflectors will beam its light to the distant see; thereby giving guidance to the ships” the light house keeper replied.

The candle sighs and says: “I cannot be of help to the ships.  I am so small and worthless.”  The reply of the light house keeper was: “You hold on to what you have.  I cannot do what I want to do without your light.”  The keeper went up the, lit the big lamp and says: “Now you know, it is when you did your share, could I do something good.” 

This is what God tells each one of us today.  Whether big or small, God needs us.  Whether blessed with five talents or one, God needs us. Whether rich or poor, educated or illiterate, healthy or unhealthy, mobile or immobile, God needs us to lighten the dark world!

SHE SLEPT WITH HER SNAKE AND …

This is a true story about a woman who had a pet snake, python, which she loved so much. The snake was 4 meters long and looked healthy. However, one day her unusual pet just stopped eating.

This lack of appetite in the snake continued over a few weeks. The desperate woman tried everything she could and offered anything that a snake would like to strangle and eat. Nothing worked, and finally the woman took her loving pet to the veterinarian as a last resort.

The vet listened to the woman carefully and asked, “Does your snake sleep with you at night, wrap around you closely and spread out throughout its length?”

The woman was surprised and with a lot of hope she said, “Yes! Yes! It does it every day and it makes me so sad because I see something asking of me, and I cannot help it feel better.”

Then, the vet said something shocking and most unexpected. “Madam, your pet is not sick; it is just preparing to eat you.” Yes, the python wasn’t sick but it has been preparing to eat her instead!

“Every time, it is creeping and “hugging” you, wrapping around your body, it is checking size to weigh how a great meal you are and how it must be prepared before the attack. And yes, it does not eat, in order to have enough space to digest you more easily,” the vet said.

This story comes with a moral – Even people close to you, whom you are very affectionate with, can, have mean intentions. You need to identify the snake around you and their true intent. Hugs and kisses are not always honest.

Don’t fear the enemy that attacks you, but the fake friend that hugs you.