A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples, took a nap under the shadow…he loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him. Time went by…the little boy had grown up and he no longer played around the tree every day.

One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad . “Come and play with me” the tree asked the boy. “I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more” the boy replied. “I want toys. I need money to buy them.” “Sorry, but I do not have money… but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.” The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was deeply saddened.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited “Come and play with me” the tree said. “I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me ? ” ” Sorry, but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.” So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and upset.

One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted. “Come and play with me!” the tree said. “I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat ?” said the man . “Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.” So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after many years. ” Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you …” the tree said. “No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite” the man replied. “No more trunk for you to climb on” “I am too old for that now” the man said. “I really cannot give you anything… the only thing left is my dying roots” the tree said with tears. “I do not need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years” the man replied. “Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, Come, come sit down with me and rest.” The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears…

————————— ———————————– —————————-

This is a story for everyone. The tree is like our parents.

When we were young, we loved to play with our Mum and Dad…

When we grow up, we leave them…only come to them when we need something or when we are in trouble. No matter what, parents will always be there and give everything they could just to make you happy.

You may think the boy is cruel to the tree, but that is how all of us treat our parents.

We take them for granted we don’t appreciate all they do for us, UNTIL it’s too late. May GOD forgive us of our shortcomings and may He Guide us. Amen.

Love your Parents…………..

And your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him. And that you be dutiful to your parents. If one of them or both of them attain old age in your life, say not to them a word of disrespect, nor shout at them but address them in terms of honour. And lower unto them the wing of submission and humility through mercy, and say:

“My Lord! Bestow on them Your Mercy as they did bring me up when I was small.”

Download : Unconditional Love

Click the above link to download “Unconditional Love” slideshow (760 KB)

Preview:-

A story is told about a soldier who was finally coming home after having fought in Vietnam. He called his parents from San Francisco.

“Mom and Dad, I’m coming home, but I’ve a favor to ask. I have a friend I’d like to bring home with me”.

“Sure,” they replied, “we’d love to meet him.”

“There’s something you should know”, the son continued, “he was hurt pretty badly in the fighting. He stepped on a land mind and lost an arm and a leg. He has nowhere else to go, and I want him to come live with us.”

“I’m sorry to hear that, son. Maybe we can help him find somewhere to live.”

“No, Mom and Dad, I want him to live with us.”

“Son,” said the father, “you don’t know what you’re asking. Someone with such a handicap would be a terrible burden on us.  We have our own lives to live, and we can’t let something like this interfere with our lives. I think you should just come home and forget about this guy. He’ll find a way to live  on his own.”

At that point, the son hung up the phone. The parents heard nothing more from him. A few days later, however, they  received a call from the San Francisco police.

Their son had died after falling from a building, they were told. The police believed it was suicide.

The grief-stricken parents flew to San Francisco and were taken to the city morgue to identify the body of their son. They recognized him, but to their horror they also discovered something they didn’t know, their son had only one arm and one leg.

———————————   ————————————-  ——————————————-

The parents in this story are like many of us. We find it easy to love those who are good-looking or fun to have around, but we don’t like people who inconvenience us or make us feel uncomfortable.

We would rather stay away from people who aren’t as healthy, beautiful, or smart as we are.

Thankfully, there’s someone who won’t treat us that way. Someone who loves us with an unconditional love that welcomes us into the forever family, regardless of how messed up we are.

May Lord give you the strength you need to accept people as they are, and to help us all be more understanding of those who are different from us!!!

Friends are a very rare jewel, indeed. They make you smile and encourage you to succeed. They lend an ear, they share a word of praise, and they always want to open their hearts to us. You now have 2 choices.

1.) Show your friends how much you care…. Send this to everyone you consider a FRIEND.

2.) Don’t send this to anyone and act like it didn’t touch your heart.

Make your choice now……

Play the above video clip. It tells about a girl and her lovely father (Duration: 3 minutes)

This video shows that fathers are willing to do anything for their children, including Our Father in heaven. He gives us more than we need simply because he loves us. This video is an illustration of the love that God shows to us. It is also telling us that no matter how we treat our Father, He will never turn away from us and He will try to make things better for us even when we pout and don’t deserve it.

This is one of the best video I’ve seen on Tangle. It reminded me of my parents as I was growing up, and how much they worked to meet the family’s needs. How as a child I didn’t understand not having everything I wanted and being told NO. But just as the narrator states at the end, the greatest thing my parents ever gave me was love… not only theirs, but to raise me in church so that I could come to know the love of Christ my Savior.

This superb video was by Yasmin Ahmad, a Muslim transvestite filmmaker from Malaysia, and commissioned by the Singaporean government to promote good family values. It gives a wonderful message to all and a perfect example of God’s love for us. Yasmin passed away on 23 July 2009 from a stroke and hemorrhaging in the brain. You can see many of her other wonderful videos on YouTube — aside from this video, my favourites are “Funeral” and “Chinese New Year Ad 02″ – they really contain great Christian family values and tell great touching stories with humour.