One grandfather quipped about his
grandchildren: "My grandkids are four and six. The Pulitzer Prize winner
is four and the brain surgeon is six."
Parents and grandparents are understandably
proud of the quick minds and impressive talents of their little ones. But let
me tell you about another quality, perhaps even more important. A grandmother
wrote to me and told me this story about her four-year-old granddaughter
Skylar.
It was Christmastime. Skylar had saved coins in
a piggy bank all year and decided to buy presents for her family with her
savings. But she also learned from announcements on television about a local
homeless shelter called "The Road House." She repeatedly asked her
mother what "homeless" meant and why those children needed coats and
warm clothes. The concept of people in such physical need deeply affected her.
Skylar’s mother took her to the store to buy
Christmas presents. But instead of buying for herself or her family, she
decided to use her savings for somebody at the shelter. They learned that there
was a little girl staying there about Skylar’s age, and she purchased a warm
coat, socks, gloves and crayons for the child. She also wanted to buy her a
doll (a "baby," as she called it), but when she discovered she didn't
have enough money, she left the doll behind. When Skylar got home, she selected
one of her own much-loved dolls to give away. The baby went into a box with the
other items.
She could hardly wait for Christmas. Skylar was
not thinking about Santa Claus or any presents she might be getting. She was
thinking only about going to the shelter and giving her carefully selected
gifts to a little girl she had never met.
On Christmas Eve she and her family finally
made the trip Skylar had been anticipating for so long. They drove to the
shelter. There she presented her Christmas box to a grateful child. She was so
filled with joy at truly touching someone else’s life that her family decided
to make the journey to the shelter an annual tradition.
"Perhaps it's good to have a beautiful
mind, but an even greater gift is to have a beautiful heart," says Nobel
Laureate John Nash ("A Beautiful Mind"). He would have appreciated
young Skylar’s heart.
Beautiful hearts don’t just happen. Nash calls
it a gift, but it’s a gift in the way that faith or hope or love are gifts. And
I’m convinced we have each been endowed with a beautiful heart. We may not
always see it. We may not even believe it. But it’s a gift that came with birth
and, every time we act selflessly, it grows a little.
– Steve Goodier (Life Support System)
Showing posts with label Heart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Heart. Show all posts
Thursday, December 18, 2014
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Cashing in Your $500,000 Check
A business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.
Suddenly an old man appeared before him. "I can see that something is troubling you," he said.
After listening to the executive's woes, the old man said, "I believe I can help you."
He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time."
Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000. It was signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!
"I can erase my money worries in an instant!" he realized.
But instead, the executive decided to put the un-cashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought. With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man. "I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller." then she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he'd been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his new found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he ever imagined.
-- Author Unknown
Suddenly an old man appeared before him. "I can see that something is troubling you," he said.
After listening to the executive's woes, the old man said, "I believe I can help you."
He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time."
Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000. It was signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!
"I can erase my money worries in an instant!" he realized.
But instead, the executive decided to put the un-cashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought. With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.
Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the un-cashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man. "I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you. He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller." then she led the old man away by the arm.
The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he'd been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him. Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his new found self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he ever imagined.
-- Author Unknown
Monday, November 7, 2011
The Two Flower Merchants
One day, two flower merchants set up shop next to one another. They opened for business on the same day, carried the same lovely selection of aromatic flowers, and maintained similar prices for their marvelous plants. Both merchants took great care with raising their plants and both were kind and courteous to their customers. In fact, their stores appeared to be equal in every way.
At first, the merchants even received equal traffic through their shops, but–as time went on–the first merchant’s shop became more popular among the people. The second merchant noticed this and became concerned. One particularly slow day, he decided to look into the matter. As he stepped out his door to visit his neighbor, he passed one of his regular customers leaving the first merchant’s shop carrying their weekly purchase of flowers. In disbelief, the second merchant hurried into the next store.
Indeed, the store was teeming with customers. The second merchant noticed his competitor wasn’t taking the money himself, as he always did. The first merchant was out among the aisles, talking with his customers. To his amazement, the second merchant watched as the first would chat at great length with the customers and even would occasionally talk to the flowers themselves! The second merchant prided himself on being a serious store owner and could not understand this leisurely approach to running a shop. Yet this behavior seemed to be working for the first merchant, as his thriving store would attest.
When the second merchant could stand it no longer, he approached the first and politely asked to interrupt the conversation. The first merchant smiled, handed his customers to one of his clerks, and turned his attention to his exasperated neighbor.
The second merchant asked, “Brother, I am your humble student. Our stores are nearly the same in all ways, yet your results are doubling while mine are halving. I do not understand.”
“Brother,” the first merchant said, “We are the same in most ways, this is true. The difference lies in what we see with our hearts. You see your store as a store, your plants as plants, and your customers as customers. I see my store as a beloved home and my cherished friends are my customers, clerks and plants, all present to be adored. In that way, we are very, very different.”
-- Author Unknown
At first, the merchants even received equal traffic through their shops, but–as time went on–the first merchant’s shop became more popular among the people. The second merchant noticed this and became concerned. One particularly slow day, he decided to look into the matter. As he stepped out his door to visit his neighbor, he passed one of his regular customers leaving the first merchant’s shop carrying their weekly purchase of flowers. In disbelief, the second merchant hurried into the next store.
Indeed, the store was teeming with customers. The second merchant noticed his competitor wasn’t taking the money himself, as he always did. The first merchant was out among the aisles, talking with his customers. To his amazement, the second merchant watched as the first would chat at great length with the customers and even would occasionally talk to the flowers themselves! The second merchant prided himself on being a serious store owner and could not understand this leisurely approach to running a shop. Yet this behavior seemed to be working for the first merchant, as his thriving store would attest.
When the second merchant could stand it no longer, he approached the first and politely asked to interrupt the conversation. The first merchant smiled, handed his customers to one of his clerks, and turned his attention to his exasperated neighbor.
The second merchant asked, “Brother, I am your humble student. Our stores are nearly the same in all ways, yet your results are doubling while mine are halving. I do not understand.”
“Brother,” the first merchant said, “We are the same in most ways, this is true. The difference lies in what we see with our hearts. You see your store as a store, your plants as plants, and your customers as customers. I see my store as a beloved home and my cherished friends are my customers, clerks and plants, all present to be adored. In that way, we are very, very different.”
-- Author Unknown
Monday, September 20, 2010
What I Have ... To Give You
To be honest with you,
I do not have the words to make you feel better
But I do have arms to give you a hug
I have ears to listen to anything you want to talk about
I have eyes to see the pain you are going through
I have feet, to walk to you the minute you need me -
And I have a heart
a heart that is aching to see you smile again.
-- Author Unknown
I do not have the words to make you feel better
But I do have arms to give you a hug
I have ears to listen to anything you want to talk about
I have eyes to see the pain you are going through
I have feet, to walk to you the minute you need me -
And I have a heart
a heart that is aching to see you smile again.
-- Author Unknown
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