One day a fisherman was lying on a beautiful beach, with his fishing pole propped up in the sand and his solitary line cast out into the sparkling blue surf. He was enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sun and the prospect of catching a fish.

About that time, a businessman came walking down the beach, trying to relieve some of the stress of his workday. He noticed the fisherman sitting on the beach and decided to find out why this fisherman was fishing instead of working harder to make a living for himself and his family.

“You aren’t going to catch many fish that way,” said the businessman to the fisherman, “you should be working rather than lying on the beach!” The fisherman looked up at the businessman, smiled and replied, “And what will my reward be?” “Well, you can get bigger nets and catch more fish!” was the businessman’s answer. “And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman, still smiling.

The businessman replied, “You will make money and you’ll be able to buy a boat, which will then result in larger catches of fish!” “And then what will my reward be?” asked the fisherman again. The businessman was beginning to get a little irritated with the fisherman’s questions. “You can buy a bigger boat, and hire some people to work for you!” he said. “And then what will my reward be?” repeated the fisherman.

The businessman was getting angry. “Don’t you understand? You can build up a fleet of fishing boats, sail all over the world, and let all your employees catch fish for you!” Once again the fisherman asked, “And then what will my reward be?” The businessman was red with rage and shouted at the fisherman, “Don’t you understand that you can become so rich that you will never have to work for your living again! You can spend all the rest of your days sitting on this beach, looking at the sunset. You won’t have a care in the world!”

The fisherman, still smiling, looked up and said, “And what do you think I’m doing right now?”

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Contentment is a difficult attitude to learn, but so important.

It’s easy to get caught in the world’s trap of working harder and harder to earn more and more, when we may well already have what can provide us with the greatest possible happiness. May you know true contentment today?

“Now Godliness with contentment is great gain, For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” (1Timothy 6:6-8).

Once there was a child and mother living in a small house. Mother always wanted her son to live as a god fearing child. As he started growing up, mother noticed that her child is living in a wrong way by cheating his friends while playing, and  abusing them with bad words.

There was a beautiful door which was nicely painted. The child loved that door so much. So one day the mother said to the child that whenever you do a wrong thing then I will hit a nail on the door and the child agreed.

As he was growing, he started doing sins more and more and so more nails got hit on the door. Now the door was full of nails and lost its beauty.

Each nail represented his sin. One fine day, as he saw the door he realised that he must not sin anymore in his life and went to his  mom and said “Mom, from today I want to live righteous life. Promise me that You will remove all the nails which was hit on the door.” Mother told him “If you are not going to sin any more,  then no more nails on a door.”

His mom started removing all the nails on the door at once but still the door looked ugly because of nail holes. The child got so upset at this as because of his own sins, the door  had lost its beauty and so he left the home.

At night when he came back to home and saw the Door, it was nicely polished with beautiful colours and it got back its beauty. Now the child was so happy as the door became perfect without nails or holes and the mother was so happy for her son .

Jesus Christ was nailed and crucified for our sins on a cross 2000 years back but we people nail him everyday by our sins. Please, at least from today let us realize our own sins and avoid them to make Christ free from this pain.

- – - written by angel

A little girl was enjoying the beauty of the garden in her home. Her father had a good collection of rare and exotic plants. He grew them with tender care.

The girl was fascinated by a plant full of fine and fragrant flowers. She went near the plant and enjoyed its beauty and the fragrance of its fine flowers. Suddenly she noted that the plant was growing in a heap of filth. She could not tolerate the presence of dirt at the bottom of the plant with such fantastic flowers.

She conceived a plan to clean the plant. She pulled the plant with all her might and uprooted it. She then carried it to the tap and washed the shoot and roots in running tap-water till all traces of dirt were washed away. She then placed the plant on a clean stone and went away, thinking that she had done a great deed indeed.

Later her father came to the garden and saw the uprooted plant. Its flowers and leaves had wilted and the plant had almost died in the scorching sun. His little daughter ran to him to exhibit her achievement. “I have cleaned it, Daddy”, she reported innocently. “It was placed in dirty soil. Now it is clean.”

The father showed her how her treatment had almost killed the plant. He told her that he had collected the filthy soil and placed it to cover the plant’s roots as it was the best medium to grow that plant. It could grow up healthily and produce fine flowers only if grown in filthy soil. She was sad that the plant had suffered and withered by her cleaning.

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Pain, poverty and illness may cause agony in our life. Sight of successful persons may make us depressed and envious. A great gardener mixes the right soil for each plant. In the same way God provides each of us with the best environment required for optimum spiritual growth. But it may appear to be unpleasant to us and we may even complain to God about our plight.

- – - written by Angel