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Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived; Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge,
and all the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all repaired their
boats and left.
Love wanted to persevere until the last possible moment. When the island was almost sinking, Love
decided to ask for help. Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said "Richness, can you take me with you?" Richness
answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."
Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help
me!" "I can't help you Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.
Sadness was close by so Love asked for help, "Sadness, let me go with you." "Oh....Love, I am so
sad that I need to be by myself."
Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called
her!
Suddenly there was a voice, "Come Love, I will take you." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed
and overjoyed that he even forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went his own way.
Love realizing how much he owed the elder, asked Knowledge, another elder. "Who helped me?" "It
was Time," Knowledge answered. "Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?" Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered,
"Because, only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."
~Author Unknown~
DADDY'S EMPTY CHAIR
A man's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her father. When the minister arrived, he found the
man lying in bed with his head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside his bed.
The minister assumed that the old fellow had been informed of his visit. "I guess you were expecting me, he said.
'No, who are you?" said the father.
The minister told him his name and then remarked, "I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up,"
"Oh yeah, the chair," said the bedridden man.
"Would you mind closing the door?"
Puzzled, the minister shut the door.
"I have never told anyone this, not even my daughter," said the man. "But all of my life I have never known how to pray.
At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head." I abandoned any attempt at prayer,"
the old man continued, "until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, "Johnny, prayer is just a simple matter of
having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest." "Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and
in faith see Jesus on the chair. It's not spooky because he promised, 'I will be with you always'.
"Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now."
"So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful though. If my daughter
saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm."
The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old man to continue on the journey.
Then he prayed with him, anointed him with oil, and returned to the church.
Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her daddy had died that afternoon.
Did he die in peace?" he asked.
Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, he called me over to his bedside, told me he loved me and kissed me on the
cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found him dead. But there was something strange about his death. Apparently,
just before Daddy died, he leaned over and rested his head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?"
The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, "I wish we could all go like that."
I asked God for water, He gave me an ocean.
I asked God for a flower, He gave me a garden.
I asked God for a friend, He gave me all of YOU
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A Perfect Heart
One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful
heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark
or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud
and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said "Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful
as mine." The crowd and the young man looked at the old man's heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places
where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn't fit quite right and there were several jagged edges.
In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing. The people stared -- how can he say his heart
is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man's heart, saw its state and laughed. "You must be joking,"
he said. "Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears."
"Yes," said the old man, "yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar
represents a person to whom I have given my love - I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give
me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren't exact, I have some rough
edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and
the other person hasn't returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges --giving love is taking a chance.
Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday
they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?"
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached
into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The
old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound
in the young man's heart. It fit, but not at the edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful
than ever, since love from the old man's heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.
How sad it must be to go through life with a whole heart.
Remember...
Work like you don't need the money.
Love like you've never been hurt.
Dance
like nobody is watching.
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Sighs of the Heart
by Bob Perks
"She keeps repeating it over and over again. We've been back to this shelter at least five times. It has been
weeks now since we started all of this," the woman told the volunteer.
"What is it she keeps asking for?" she asked.
"Puppy size!"
"Well, we have plenty of puppies, if that's what she's looking for."
"I know...we have seen most of them," the mom said in frustration.
Just then the young child came walking into the office. "Well, did you find one?"
"No, not this time," she said with sadness in her voice. "Can we come back on the weekend?" The two women
looked at each other, shook their heads and laughed.
"You never know when we will get more dogs. Unfortunately, there's always a supply," the volunteer said.
The young child took her mother by the hand and headed to the door. "Don't worry, I bet we'll find one this
weekend," the child said.
Over the next few days both mom and dad had long conversations with her. They both felt she was being too
particular. "It's this weekend or we're not looking any more," Dad finally said in frustration. "We don't want to hear anything
more about puppy size either," Mom added.
Sure enough, they were the first ones in the shelter on Saturday morning. By now the young child knew her
way around, so she ran right for the section that housed the smaller dogs. Tired of the routine, mom sat in the small waiting
room at the end of the first row of cages.
There was an observation window so you could see the animals during times when visitors weren't permitted.
The young girl walked slowly from cage to cage, kneeling periodically to take a closer look. One by one the dogs were brought
out and she held each one. One by one she said, "Sorry, you're not the one."
It was the last cage on this last day in search of the perfect pup. The volunteer opened the cage door and
the child carefully picked up the dog and held it closely. This time she took a little longer.
"Mom, that's it! I found the right puppy! He's the one! I know it!" she screamed with joy.
"It's the puppy size!"
"But it's the same size as all the other puppies you held the last few weeks," Mom said.
"No not size----sighs. When I held him in my arms, he sighed," she said. "Don't you remember? When I asked
you one day what love is, you told me love depends on the sighs of your heart. The more you love the bigger the sighs!"
The two women looked at each other for a moment. Mom didn't know whether to laugh or cry. As she stooped down
to hug the child, she did a little of both.
"Mom, every time you hold me, I sigh. When you and Daddy come home from work and hug each other, you both
sigh. I knew I would find the right puppy if it sighed when I held it in my arms," she said. Then holding the puppy up close
to her face she said, "Mom, he loves me. I heard the sighs of his heart!"
Close your eyes for a moment and think about the love that makes you sigh. I not only find it in the arms
of my loved ones, but in the caress of a sunset, the kiss of the moonlight and the gentle brush of cool air on a hot day.
They are the sighs of God.
Take the time to stop and listen; you will be surprised at what you hear.
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