The four wives

There was a rich merchant who had 4 wives. He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned
her with rich robes and treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her
nothing but the best.

He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He's very proud of her and always wanted to show
off her to his friends. However, the merchant is always in great fear that she might run
away with some other men.

He too, loved his 2nd wife. She is a very considerate person, always patient and in fact is
the merchant's confidante. Whenever the merchant faced some problems, he always
turned to his 2nd wife and she would always help him out and tide him through difficult
times.

Now, the merchant's 1st wife is a very loyal partner and has made great contributions in
maintaining his wealth and business as well as taking care of the household. However,
the merchant did not love the first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly
took notice of her.

One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going to die soon. He
thought of his luxurious life and told himself, "Now I have 4 wives with me. But when I
die, I'll be alone. How lonely I'll be!"

Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I loved you most, endowed you with the finest clothing and
showered great care over you. Now that I'm dying, will you follow me and keep me
company?" "No way!" replied the 4th wife and she walked away without another word.

The answer cut like a sharp knife right into the merchant's heart. The sad merchant then
asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you so much for all my life. Now that I'm dying, will
you follow me and keep me company?" "No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is so good over
here! I'm going to remarry when you die!" The merchant's heart sank and turned cold.

He then asked the 2nd wife, "I always turned to you for help and you've always helped
me out. Now I need your help again. When I die, will you follow me and keep me
company?" "I'm sorry, I can't help you out this time!" replied the 2nd wife. "At the very
most, I can only send you to your grave." The answer came like a bolt of thunder and the
merchant was devastated.

Then a voice called out : "I'll leave with you. I'll follow you no matter where you go." The
merchant looked up and there was his first wife. She was so skinny, almost like she
suffered from malnutrition. Greatly grieved, the merchant said, "I should have taken
much better care of you while I could have !"

Actually, we all have 4 wives in our lives

a. The 4th wife is our body. No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it
look good, it'll leave us when we die.

b. Our 3rd wife ? Our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, they all go to others.

c. The 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how close they had been there for us
when we're alive, the furthest they can stay by us is up to the grave.

d. The 1st wife is in fact our soul, often neglected in our pursuit of material, wealth and
sensual pleasure.
 A box full of kiss
The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll
of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to
decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to
".her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy

The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he
found out the box was empty. He yelled at her, stating, "Don't you know, when you give
someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him
with tears in her eyes and cried, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box.
".They're all for you, Daddy

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her
.forgiveness

Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept
that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out
.an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there

In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings, have been given a gold
container filled with unconditional love and kisses... from our children, family
members, friends, and God. There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold,
.more precious than this
 

The puppies for seal

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the
pups and set about Nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving
the last nail into the post, he Felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the
Eyes of a little boy.
Mister," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."
"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "these
puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."
The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he
pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer. "I've got thirty-nine
cents. Is that enough to take a look?"
"Sure," said the farmer.
And with that he let out a whistle,"Here,Dolly!" he called.
Out from the doghouse and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of
fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced
with delight.

As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else
stirring inside the doghouse. Slowly another little ball appeared; this One
noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner
the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up....
"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy.
 He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."
With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began
rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running
down both sides of his leg attaching itself To a specially made shoe. Looking back
up at the farmer, he said, "You see sir, I don't run too well myself, and he will need
Someone who understands."

The world is full of people who need someone who understands.

Tress are wood

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and
dreams when the first tree said, "Someday I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled
with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with intricate carving and
everyone would see the beauty."

Then the second tree said, "Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens
across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. Everyone will feel safe in me
because of the strength of my hull."

Finally the third tree said, "I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the
forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the
heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all
time and people will always remember me."

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen
came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, "This looks like a strong
tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter" ... and he began cutting it
down. The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a
treasure chest.

At the second tree a woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to
sell it to the shipyard." The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way
to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew
that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, "I
don't need anything special from my tree so I'll take this one", and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals.
He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed
for. The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a
mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end. The third tree was cut into large
pieces and left alone in the dark. The years went by, and the trees forgot about their
dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the
baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that
he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree
could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of
all time. Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree.
One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great
storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The
men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said "Peace" and the storm stopped. At
this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.
 Finally, someone came and got the third tree. It was carried through the streets as the
people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was
nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the
tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as
close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always
know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, He will give you great
gifts. Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined. We
don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His ways are not our
ways, but His ways are always best.

Sand and the stone

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the
journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who
got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST
FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."

They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one,
who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him.
After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST
FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."

The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote
in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"

The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where
winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we
must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS
IN STONE
 Dads blessing

A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a
beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he
told him that was all he wanted.

As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased
the car.  Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called  him into his private study.
His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he
loved him. He handed his son a beautifully wrapped gift box.  Curious, but somewhat
disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with
the young man's name embossed in gold. Angry, he raised his voice to his father and said
"With all your money, you give me a Bible?" and stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.

Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful
home and  wonderful family, but realized his father was very old, and thought perhaps he
should go  to  him.  He had not seen him since that graduation day.  Before he could make
arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of
his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.

When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart.  He began to
search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it 
years ago.  With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages.  And as he did, a car
key dropped from the back of the Bible.  It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer
who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the
words PAID IN FULL.

How many times do we miss Spirit's blessings and answers to our prayers  because they do
not arrive exactly as we have expected?

TODAY'S's affirmation:  "Today I look beyond the obvious and allow miracles to be
created in my life."