Kind Master and His Disobedient Slave

By Sheikh Saadi

An eminent man, famous for his many virtues, possessed a slave of evil disposition, who in ugliness of feature surpassed everyone in the city. He closely attended his master at meal times, but he would not have given a drop of water to a dying man. Neither criticism nor the rod influenced him; the house was in a constant state of disorder through him. Sometimes, in his bad temper, he would litter the paths with thorns and rubbish; at other times, he would throw the chickens down the well. His unhappy temperament was written on his face, and never did he perform a task successfully.

Someone asked his master, “What is there that you like in this slave—his agreeable manners, or his skill, or beauty? Surely, it is not worth while to keep such an unruly knave and burden yourself with such an affliction. I will procure for you a slave of handsome appearance and good character. Take this one to the slave-market and sell him. Accept whatever is offered for him by the buyers and do not refuse, for he would be dear at that.”

The good-natured man smiled and said, “O, friend! Although the character of my slave is certainly bad, my character is improved by him, for when I have learned to tolerate his manner I shall be able to put up with anything at the hands of others. It was not humane to sell him and thus make known his faults. And it is better to endure his affliction myself than to pass him on to others.”

Accept for yourself what you would accept for others. If you are distressed yourself, do not involve your fellow being in it. Forbearance is at first like poison, but when ingrained in the nature it becomes like honey.

Carrot, Egg, and Coffee...

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.
 
Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see. "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.
 
Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.
 
The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"  Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity -- boiling water. Each reacted differently.
 
The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.
  
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became
 hardened.
  
The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
  
"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"
  
Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
  
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?  Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
  
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water,  the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it  releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things  are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.
 
When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
  
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.
 
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. 

The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

 

Carrot, Egg, and Coffee...You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again...

The Bus Driver

There was a bus driver assigned to take a bunch of unruly children on a trip. The bus driver waited as all the children boarded this bus and announced that they were all going on a trip to the park.

The unruly children all laughed and screamed at the driver, “Oh brother, we don’t want to go to no park”, “We don’t have to do anything you say”.

The bus driver waited until everyone took their seats including one parent that looked on feeling sorry for the bus driver. The bus driver sat in his seat, adjusted his cap and placed the bus into gear. During this trip, the children all laughed and screamed in defiance, they were not listening nor doing anything they didn’t want to do.

The bus driver was saddened by the children’s behavior, but carried on. The parent on the bus looked on in dismay at the lack of discipline of these children, but kept silent during the trip. The trip was long and finally, the bus came to a stop. Through the view of the bus windows, there was a beautiful meadow filled with trees, roving hills and mountains.

Amazingly, through a pasture of grass and under a beautiful blue sky, there appeared children at a distance and the sound of laughter of joy and delight, these children were playing on swings, a merry-go-round and a roller-coaster, playing games and having so much fun. The bus driver opened the bus doors and all the unruly children on the bus ran off to join in the fun.

Finally, the bus driver walked off the bus and along with the parent in close pursuit, they stopped in the middle of the park and the parent , whom was quiet during the trip, spoke and asked the bus driver,” Why would you bring such unruly children to such a beautiful place”?

The bus driver pointed out the very children that were unruly and had such distain and contempt for this event, were all smiling and were having the time of their lives and the bus driver replied, “I’m the bus driver”.

 

 

The moral of the story is no matter the adversity, ridicule and taunting, the bus driver knew that the children were all going in the same direction as he, they were all going to stop where he decided to stop and all would arrive at the same destination, you see, he was driving the bus!

A Lesson from Pastry

Once upon a three friends were on their way to take the civil service examination. On the way they saw a cake pastry kiosk by the wayside and stopped to buy some light refreshments. One of the friends was calm and quiet, while the other two were busy in arguing over literature.

The kiosk owner asked where they were going. The latter two told him that they were going to take the civil service examination. He said, "You two friends won't pass the exam but your other friend will." The two friends gazed at him and left.

When the results of the examination turned out as the kiosk man had predicted, the two friends who had failed went back to find out how he had known they would not pass, while the third friend would. They asked him if he knew physiognomy (face reading).

"No," he said, "all I know is that when a pastry is thoroughly cooked, it sits there quietly, but before it's finished it keeps on making noise."

God's Rosebud

A new minister was walking with an older, more seasoned minister in the garden one day. Feeling a bit insecure about what God had for him to do,
he was asking the older preacher for some advice. The older preacher walked up to a rosebush and handed the young preacher a rosebud and told him to open it without tearing off any petals.

The young preacher looked in disbelief at the older preacher and was trying to figure out what a rosebud could possibly have to do with his wanting
to know the will of God for his life and ministry.

But because of his great respect for the older preacher, he proceeded to try to unfold the rose, while keeping every petal intact.

It wasn't long before he realized how impossible this was to do.

Noticing the younger preacher's inability to unfold the rosebud without tearing it, the older preacher began to recite the following poem...

"It is only a tiny rosebud,
A flower of God's design;
But I cannot unfold the petals
With these clumsy hands of mine."

"The secret of unfolding flowers
Is not known to such as I.
GOD opens this flower so easily,
But in my hands they die."

"If I cannot unfold a rosebud,
This flower of God's design,
Then how can I have the wisdom
To unfold this life of mine?"

"So I'll trust in God for leading
Each moment of my day.
I will look to God for guidance
In each step along the way."

"The path that lies before me,
Only my Lord and Savior knows.
I'll trust God to unfold the moments,
Just as He unfolds the rose."

Don't Draw Conclusions

One old man was sitting with his 25 years old son in the train. Train is about to leave the station. All passengers are settling down their seat. As train started young man was filled with lot of joy and curiosity.

He was sitting on the window side. He went out one hand and feeling the passing air. He shouted, "Papa see all trees are going behind".

Old man smile and admired son feelings.

Beside the young man one couple was sitting and listing all the conversion between father and son. They were little awkward with the attitude of 25 years old man behaving like a small child.

Suddenly young man again shouted, "Papa see the pond and animals. Clouds are moving with train".

Couple was watching the young man in embarrassingly. Now its start raining and some of water drops touches the young man's hand.

He filled with joy and he closed the eyes. He shouted again," Papa it's raining, water is touching me, see papa".

Couple couldn't help themselves and ask the old man. "Why don't you visit the Doctor and get treatment for your son."

Old man said, "Yes, We are coming from the hospital as my son got his eye sight today for the first time in his life."

Moral

"Don't draw conclusions until you know all the facts"

Invest in Yourslef

Imagine that a Genie appears and offers you any car of your choice in the world and tells you that it is the only car you will ever own. Now anticipate your behavior ie. what would you do?

You would take extra care of your belonging, read the manual ten times, change the oil twice as often as required, and you would do that because you would like to keep it fit so that your car remains the car of your dreams forever.

Now relate it to your body, you get only one life, one mind and one body. The same ones you will have at the age of 20, 40, 60, etc till you say good bye to this world.

Follow the rule you adopted for your dream car, take care of your mind and body and maximize their potential. It will be too late to take care of your body and mind (and car) later on. You can maintain them, but remember it is hard rather impossible to undo big mistakes or negligence later on. I am sure you wouldn’t like to end up with a wreck on your hands.

 Your main asset in life is yourself.

Treat yourself as a valuable asset like your dream car. If you value yourself, and invest in yourself, you will be worth a great deal throughout your lifetime, both to yourself and to your community.