Food for thought................

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me."

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter" ... and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from my tree so I'll take this one", and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time. Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said "Peace" and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.


Adopted from a website that contains motivational and inspirational stories

White little flowers from Heaven...................

 It all started like this.....

We all were inside the lecture hall. Students sitting scattered, here and there. The clock struck 12 and there he came, our professor. He was about to start the lecture and he heard someone calling him. He turned to the entrance door and saw few girls entering the class. It took another 5 minutes for us to settle. Then our professor continued by giving hand-outs to all of us. A big sigh of yell for it was our tutorial class. When I mean tutorial, it is to solve problems, not our personal problems but pharmaceutical problems. He started with a smile on his face. He was sure that we have to do the problems of our own. Here and there I could see some mystic faces struggling to solve and some relaxing as if they meant that they have many more breath-taking problems to solve in their own life and have not considered this as a big deal. Few faces, sitting at the front row, were busy pressing their calculators, comparing results and immersed in discussions. At last, I was also trying to get the formulae to solve. But within me, I felt that every problem should have a problem, and so trying to sort it out.

Suddenly a guy put his hands up. He had a very serious doubt on the problem we working on.... Professor went near to him and clarified his doubts. Later one by one called the professor and were trying to get the answer from him in the name of doubts.

All of a sudden we heard a voice from the other end of the class, a sweet voice of a girl. The whole class turned to see the girl. This kind of things happen in a class and it is usual. Some dropped their pens down instead of keeping it on the table, as their eyes were stuck to the girl. At that time I remembered a famous saying “Women can do miracles”. Again the serious discussions started.

In no time, “come on guys...... Look outside...........!!! yelled a shrill voice.”

We all turned towards the window. Lucky was that I sat very next to the window and so I am blessed to have that wonderful view. Small white coloured cotton-like things started falling from sky. What was that????

The same voice I heard before, that made many guys go mad, and I heard it again. The same old voice of the girl, shouting, SNOWWWWWWWW......!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Believe me or not...!!!!!! my first sight on the real falling of snow. My senses started to feel the chill weather. Now everyone was watching the snow fall. But for me, it was not the mere snow fall. It was those little white flowers from Heaven, sprinkled by angels to mark the start of Christmas.

Our professor was also seeing the snowfall. Then he said in his loud voice, “I end this class for now, enjoy your Christmas vacations.” The moment he said, many flew out of the class to open space, and I was one among them. We went out to enjoy to the fullest. My first time in London and my first touch of the snow, I mean, white flowers. I leaped out of joy. The smile of our professor at the start of our class came as a flash in my thoughts. Now the smile has all the meaning. Within some minutes time, the roads, cars, wooden blocks, dust bins, roof tops, etc., were coated with white glazing snow. The view was really a treat to my eyes, not only to me, but also for everyone.

The pulchritude of love is shown at its best.

No more words to describe.......................................

A WORLD BY ITSELF

If you see the title of this post,,, you all may wonder about what I gonna say.......

A world by itself....

Yes London is a world by itself....

A city that has people from almost every continent, every country, every region, every state....

Like every human being, I too had a great expectation of what London gonna be, how it going treat me and many many more dreams (unanswered questions) in me. Many sleepless nights dreaming of London, its huge buildings, British people, a different standard of education, teaching, etc, etc.

Once I steeped into London, I still remember, it was raining. Me and my friend travelled in two trains and at last reached his place. It was a thrilling experience to me as I need to follow the lane rules and public behavioural manners which I, in Chennai, never done it even once.

I could see white people everywhere and I thought all are Britishers. But to my surprise, my friend told that not all are pure Britishers. A spark in me fired at that time. The next day I went out with him to see some places and as usual we both went by train. I was happy to see an Indian sitting next to me. After few hours of our journey, We reached Central London, the most busiest place in United Kingdom. Wowwwwwwwwwwwwww.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The place which I dreamt of, now in reality. Tall buildings piercing the clouds, chill weather, people with professional attire, and so on.... But all of a sudden I was astonished when I saw an African next to me, a Chinese in front of me, an European behind me, an Indian beside me, a Pakistani few steps away from me, a Polish on the other side and many many people belonging to many different places in the world. A city that has a little world in it. This is what we call a hub of all races. I heared many new and different languages which I never ever heard of before. It is a new experience to me. A new life to live. Now I could justify my title, A WORLD BY ITSELF.......................

to be continued............................................