Be generous

I went to a seminar not too long ago and this is what the speaker said and did.

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a P100 bill. In the room of 200, he asked,
Who would like this P100 bill?
Hands started going up. He said,
I am going to give this P100 to one of you but first let me do this.
He proceeded to crumple the peso bill up.
He then asked, Who still wants it?
Still the hands were up in the air.
Well, he replied, What if I do this?
And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe.

He picked it up, now all crumpled and dirty. Now who still wants it?
Still the hands went into the air.

My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth P100.

Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

You are special Don't ever forget it!
Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams

One day a young man was standing in the middle of 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 and 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 perfectly, as there were some jagged 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.

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet God.He knew it was a long trip to where God lived, so he packed his suitcase with Twinkies and asix-pack of root beer, and he started his journey.

When he had gone about three blocks,he met an old man. He was sitting in the park just staring at some pigeons. The boy sat down next to him and opened his suitcase. He was about to take a drink from his root beer when he noticed that the old man looked hungry so he offered him a Twinkie. He gratefully accepted it and smiled at him. His smile was
So incredible that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered him a root beer. Once again, he smiled at him. The boy was delighted! They sat there all afternoon eating and smiling, but they never said a word. As it grew ark, the boy realized how tired he was and he got up to leave. Before he had gone more than a few steps; he turned around, ran back to the old man, and gave him a hug. The old man gave him his biggest smile ever.
When the boy opened the door to his own house a short time later, his mother was surprised by the look of joy on his face. She asked him, "What did you do today that made you so happy?" He replied, I had lunch with God." But before his mother could respond, he added, You know what? He's got the most beautiful smile I have ever seen!"

Meanwhile, the old man, also radiant with joy, returned to his home. His son asked, "Father, what did you do today that made you so happy?" he replied, "I ate Twinkies in the park with God." But before his son responded, he added, "You know, he's much younger than I expected."

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all which have the potential to turn a life around. People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime. Let God use you as an instrument of His love.

"We are pencils in the hands of a loving God, who is writing love letters to the world." --Mother Teresa