An old man lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern
Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning Grandpa was up early sitting at
the kitchen table reading his Quran.
His grandson wanted to be just like him and tried to imitate him in every way
he could. One day the grandson asked, "Baba, I try to read the Quran just
like you but I don't understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon
as I close the book. What good does reading the Quran do?"
The Grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and replied,
"Take this coal basket down to the river and bring me back a basket of
water." The boy did as he was told, but all the water leaked out before he
got back to the house. The grandfather laughed and said, "You'll have to
move a little faster next time," and sent him back to the river with the basket
to try again.
This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he returned
home. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry
water in a basket, and he went to get a bucket instead.
The old man said, "I don't want a bucket of water; I want a basket of
water. You're just not trying hard enough," and he went out of the door to
watch the boy try again.
At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his
grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out
before he got back o the house.
The boy again dipped the basket into river and ran hard, but when he reached
his grandfather the basket was again empty.
Out of breath, he said, "See Baba, it's useless!"
"So you think it is useless?" The old man said, "Look at the
basket."
The boy looked at the basket and for the first time realized that the basket
was different. It had been transformed from a dirty old coal basket and was now
clean, inside and out.
"Son, that's what happens when you read the Quran. You might not
understand or remember everything, but when you read it, you will be changed,
inside and out. That is the work of God in our lives."
One day, a poor boy who was selling goods from door to
door to pay his way through school, found he had only one thin dime left, and
he was hungry.
He decided he would ask for a meal at the next house. However, he lost his
nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door.
Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water! She thought he looked hungry
so brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it so slowly, and then asked,
How much do I owe you?"
You don't owe me anything," she replied. "Mother has taught us never
to accept pay for a kindness."
He said ... "Then I thank you from my heart."
As Howard Kelly left that house, he not only felt stronger physically, but his
faith in God and man was strong also. He had been ready to give up and quit.
Many year's later that same young woman became critically ill. The local
doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city, where they called
in specialists to study her rare disease.
Dr. Howard Kelly was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of
the town she came from, a strange light filled his eyes.
Immediately he rose and went down the hall of the hospital to her room.
Dressed in his doctor's gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once.
He went back to the consultation room determined to do his best to save her
life. From that day he gave special attention to her case.
After a long struggle, the battle was won.
Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for
approval. He looked at it, then wrote something on the edge, and the bill was
sent to her room. She feared to open it, for she was sure it would take the
rest of her life to pay for it all. Finally she looked, and something caught her
attention on the side of the bill. She read these words ...
"Paid in full with one glass of milk"
(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly.
Many years ago, a ten-year-old boy approached the soda
counter and climbed onto a stool to ask the busy waitress, "What does an
ice cream sundae cost?"
"Fifty cents," she answered.
The boy pulled out an assortment of change and counted it carefully as the busy
waitress looked right and left at other customers she had to wait upon.
"Well how much would just plain ice cream be?" he asked.
"Thirty-five cents" she replied curtly.
Again the boy counted his money. "May I have a plain ice cream in a dish,
please?" He gave the waitress the thirty-five cents and she brought him
the ice cream.
Later, the waitress returned to clear the boy's dish and when she picked it up,
she discovered two nickels and five pennies. The waitress smiled tenderly as
she realized that the boy had enough money for the sundae, but settled for
plain vanilla so he could leave her a gratuity for her service
A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to
visit their old university professor. Conversation soon turned into complaints
about stress in work and life.
Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with
a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups - porcelain, plastic, glass,
crystal, some plain looking, some expensive, some exquisite - telling them to
help themselves to the coffee.
When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said: "If
you noticed, all the nice looking expensive cups have been taken up, leaving
behind the plain and cheap ones. While it is normal for you to want only the
best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.
Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In most cases it
is just more expensive and in some cases even hides what we drink. What all of
you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the
best cups... And then you began eyeing each other's cups.
Now consider this: Life is the coffee; the jobs, money and position in society
are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain Life, and the type of cup
we have does not define, nor change the quality of life we live.
Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee. Savor
the coffee, not the cups! The happiest people don't have the best of
everything. They just make the best of everything. Live simply. Love
generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.
There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he
entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.
One year a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting
about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed
corn with his neighbors.
"How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when
they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?" the reporter
asked.
"Why sir," said the farmer, "didn't you know? The wind picks up
pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my
neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the
quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow
good corn."
He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve
unless his neighbor's corn also improves.
So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their
neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to
live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And
those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the
welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.
The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help
our neighbors grow good corn.
In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, "Do you know what I just heard about your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test. The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?"
"Well, no," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and…"
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don’t really know if it’s true or not. Now, let’s try the second filter, the filter of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something good?"
"Umm, no, on the contrary…"
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about my friend, but you’re not certain it’s true. You may still pass the test though, because there’s one filter left—the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful to me?"
"No, not really."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor good, nor even useful, why tell it to me at all?
