THE EMPERORâS SEED

An emperor in the Far East was growing old and knew it was time to choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his children, he decided something different.

He called young people in the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step down and choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."

The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going to give each one of you a seed today, one very special seed. I want you to plant the seed, water it and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"

One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story. She helped him get a pot and planting soil, and he planted the seed and watered it carefully.

Every day he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about 3 weeks, some of the other youths began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow. Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks, 5 weeks went by. Still nothing.
By now, others were talking about their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure. 6 months went by; still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had killed his seed. Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing.

Ling didn't say anything to his friends. He just kept waiting for his seed to grow. A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their plants to the emperor for inspection.
Ling told his mother that he wasn't going to take an empty pot but his Mother said he must be honest about what happened. Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his Mother was right.
He took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful, in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him and just said, "Hey nice try."

When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young people. Ling just tried to hide in the back. "My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will be appointed the next emperor!"

All of a sudden, the emperor spotted Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"

When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him. The emperor asked everyone to quiet down.

He looked at Ling, and then announced to the crowd, "Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!" Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could he be the new emperor?

Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds, which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you.
Ling was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it. Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"

If you plant honesty, you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance, you will reap victory.
If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant forgiveness, you will reap reconciliation.
If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.
If you plant patience, you will reap improvements.
If you plant faith, you will reap miracles.

But:
If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.
If you plant envy, you will reap trouble.
If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.
If you plant greed, you will reap loss.
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.
If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.
So be careful what you plant now, it will determine what you will reap tomorrow.
The seeds you now scatter will make life worse or better your life or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will enjoy the fruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today.
~ Author Unknown ~
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TODAYâS INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:

"We all live under the same sky, but we don't have the same horizon."

~ Konrad Adenauer

KNOW YOUR WORTH

A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this." He proceeded to crumple the dollar bill up. He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.

"Well," he continued, "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 crumpled and dirty. "Now who still wants this $20?" Still the hands went into the air.
"My friends, you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20."

"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: dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you." The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.

You are special - Don't ever forget it.
Count your blessings, not your problems.
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TODAYâS INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:

"Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes of which all men have some."

~ Charles Dickens

Someone Special

Make a point to do something today for someone
special, someone whom you often take for granted, someone who deserves your full and complete support -- yourself!

Being good to yourself is not being selfish. It doesn't mean you must ignore others. Rather, it makes you able to offer more value to the other people in your world when you take good care of yourself. Putting yourself down is of no benefit to anyone. Helping yourself to grow and build will provide you with more to give.

Be positive with yourself. Be kind and generous with yourself. When was the last time you did something nice for yourself? You deserve some special attention. Be good to yourself and that goodness will overflow into the world and the people around you.
--Ralph S. Marston, Jr.

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TODAYâS INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:

"Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are."

~ Marianne Williamson

Not only are you a great writer but also a good family friend and I am very happy to be the pround owner of all you books -(authographed at that).

Keep doing what you do best and give my regards to the family.

A-B-C Method of Managing Attitudes

Have you heard of the A-B-C method of managing your attitude? It's simple and effective.
"A" stands for the "Activating Event." Let's say you get stuck in traffic. The traffic jam is the activating event.

"B" stands for your "Belief System." You believe that traffic is only getting worse and you'll have more and more days like this ahead.

"C" stands for the "Consequence of the Event." You become angry. You want to honk your horn. Your stomach is tied in knots and you bang the dashboard with your fist.

The problem is...most people jump directly from "A" to "C." They get stuck in traffic and become angry. They think the traffic jam made them upset. They don't realize that they didn't HAVE to get angry. They skipped an important step!
Let's try it again:

"A" - you get stuck in traffic.
"B" - you believe that you were given some unexpected and extra time to spend in solitude, to listen to a great tape or to plan your day.
"C" - the consequence is that you feel gratitude for the gift of time.

I have a friend who is fond of saying, "A traffic jam has no power to make us angry. It just stops our car." He is aware that between the activating event and the consequence is something that we control: our beliefs about what is happening.

The next time you have a problem -- at home or at work, big or small -- decide to manage your attitude toward it. Practice the A-B-C method. You probably can't change "A," the activating event. But try changing "B," your beliefs about the problem. When you change your beliefs, you also change "C," the consequences of the situation.

It's as simple as A-B-C. Manage your beliefs, and you'll manage to be a lot happier!
By Steve Goodier
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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE

"Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise." proverbs 17:28

COURAGE

We are not born with character. It is developed by the experiences and decisions that guide our lives. Each individual creates, develops and nurtures his or her own character. Being a man or woman of character is no easy task. It requires tough decisions, many of which put you at odds with the more commonly accepted social morés of the times.

Making the right ethical choices must become a habit. Decisions cannot be situational, based on other's actions or dependent upon whom is watching.

Cowardliness in character, manifested by a lack of integrity, or honor, will sooner or later manifest itself as cowardliness in other forms. People who have the courage to face up to the ethical challenges in their daily lives, to remain faithful to sacred oaths, have a reservoir of strength from which to draw upon in times of great stress in the heat of battle.

--author unknown
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TODAYâS INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE:

"Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolutions."

~ Kahlil Gibran

The Sin of Omission

It isn't the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone
That gives you a bit of a heartache
At setting of the sun.

The tender word forgotten,
The letter you did not write,
The flowers you did not send, dear,
Are your haunting ghosts at night.

The stone you might have lifted
Out of a brother's way;
The bit of heartsome counsel
You were hurried too much to say;

The loving touch of the hand, dear,
The gentle, winning tone
Which you had no time nor thought for
With troubles enough of your own.

Those little acts of kindness
So easily out of mind,
Those chances to be angels
Which we poor mortals find --

They come in night and silence,
Each sad, reproachful wraith,
When hope is faint and flagging,
And a chill has fallen on faith.

For life is all too short, dear,
And sorrow is all too great,
To suffer our slow compassion
That tarries until too late;

And it isn't the thing you do, dear,
It's the thing you leave undone
Which gives you a bit of a heartache
At the setting of the sun.
~ M. E. Sangster ~
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QUOTE

"The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are."
---John Burroughs

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