THE SPECIAL YOU

Enjoy it!

One day a teacher asked her students to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then she told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed in the papers.


That Saturday, the teacher wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and listed what everyone else had said about that individual.


On Monday she gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. "Really?" she heard whispered. "I never knew that I meant anything to anyone!" and, "I didn't know others liked me so much," were most of the comments.


No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. She never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it didn't matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another.


That group of students moved on. Several years later, one of the students was killed in Vietnam and his teacher attended the funeral of that special student. She had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. He looked so handsome, so mature.


The church was packed with his friends. One by one those who loved him took a last walk by the coffin. The teacher was the last one to bless the coffin. As she stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to her.


"Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. She nodded: "yes."


Then he said: "Mark talked about you a lot."


After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmate's went together to a luncheon. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting to speak with his teacher.


"We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it."


Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper that had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. The teacher knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which she had listed all the good things each of Mark's classmates had said about him.


"Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it."


All of Mark's former class mates started to gather around.


Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at
home."


Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album."


"I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary."


Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times, " Vicki said and without batting an eyelash, she continued: "I think we all saved our lists."


That's when the teacher finally sat down and cried. She cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again.

The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. This story realli inspire me alot.......cos i realized we have the power to impact people's lives in little ways...4 eternity which many times we neglect...watmore, WE have Holy Spirit living inside us "the ever-living teacher" 2 guide & discipline us...we can live our lives to the fullest each day...if we learn 2 abide in Him, life is not "xian" as we all would think even if we still doing the same things.........cos we have a end-purpose in mind.......it al begins now in our lives 2 make a differnce in this world........we al r called the salt & the light, i wanna 2 impact people around me...with the power of HIs Love... Life will never b the same again.......i always hav tis tot @ the backof my mind, our life on earth can b an extraordinary adventure cos we hav Christ living in us... hehe :)

Woodcutter

Once upon a time, there was a very strong woodcutter.He asked for a job from a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work conditions.For that reason the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought down 18 trees. The Boss was very much impressed and said, "Congratulations keep it up!" Very motivated by the words of the boss, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he only could bring down 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he only could bring down 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing down less and less trees. "I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought to himself. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you sharpened your Axe?" the boss asked. "Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my Axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees.

 
The moral of the story: Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don't take time to sharpen the axe. In today's world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp? There is nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like our personal life, taking time to care for others, taking time to read, etc. We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don't take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness. So start from today, think about the ways by which you could do your job more effectively and add a lot of value to it. Hope this story has given you some insight to life. May you be happy always. "To handle yourself, use your head. To handle others, use your heart."

WHAT'S IN YOUR SPONGE?

There are 5 sponges laying on your kitchen counter top. Each member of your family has been cleaning up different areas of your home, but all the sponges look the same. You are curious as to what was cleaned in your home, but you can't tell by looking...they all look the same....so what do you do?

You squeeze each sponge to see what comes out. As you squeeze the first sponge, you see that cola comes out, and so you decide that someone cleaned the kitchen with that one. Upon squeezing the second sponge, you find tub and tile cleaner - that one was used to clean the bathroom.

Next, in the third sponge, you find motor oil -- hubby was cleaning the garage!

In the fourth sponge, baby powder puffs out when it is squeezed -- yep, the baby's nursery was done with that one!

And finally, in the last one, is floor wax -- that was the one you used on the hall floor!

As you lay the last one down, you look again at their similarity - and they all look the same until they're squeezed.

Christians are the same way. As life squeezes us, different things come out - anger from one, a need for revenge from another, tears from one, remorse from yet another - also greed, untruth, lust - and finally, from one saint, pours forth the love of Christ.

Just like the sponge, we can only squeeze out what is put in - stay in the Word daily, and be in continuous prayer, so that when life puts the squeeze on you (and it WILL), Jesus, and Jesus ALONE will shine forth from you!

Have a blessed, squeaky clean day!

THE ONE FLAW IN WOMEN

By the time the Lord made woman, he was into his
sixth day of working overtime. An angel appeared
and said, "Why are you spending so much time on
this one?" 

And the Lord answered, "Have you seen my spec
sheet on her? She has to be completely washable,
but not plastic, have over 200 movable parts, all
replaceable and able to run on diet coke and
leftovers, have a lap that can hold four
children at one time, have a kiss that can cure anything
from a scraped knee to a broken heart-and she
will do everything with only two hands." 

The angel was astounded at the requirements.
"Only two hands!? No way! And that's just on the
standard model? That's too much work for one day.
Wait until tomorrow to finish." 

But I won't," the Lord protested. "I am so close
to finishing this creation that is so close to
my own heart. She already heals herself when she is
sick AND can work 18 hour days." 

The angel moved closer and touched the
woman. "But you have made he r so soft, Lord."
"She is soft," the Lord agreed, "but I have also
made her tough. You have no idea what she can
endure or accomplish." 

"Will she be able to think?", asked the angel. 

The Lord replied, "Not only will she be able to think, she will be able to reason and negotiate." 

The angel then noticed something, and reaching
out, touched the woman's cheek. "Oops, it looks like you have a leak in this model. I told you
that you were trying to put too much into this one." 

"That's not a leak," the Lord corrected, "that's a tear!" 

"What's the tear for?" the angel asked. 

The Lord said, "The tear is her way of
expressing her joy, her sorrow, her pain,her disappointment, her love, her loneliness,her grief and her pride." 

The angel was impressed. "You are a genius, Lord. You thought of everything! 

Woman is truly amazing." 

And she is! Women have strengths that amaze men.
They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but
they hold happiness, love and joy.
They smile when they want to scream.
They sing when they want to cry.
They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous.
They fight for what they believe in.
They stand up to injustice.
They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution.
They go without so their family can have.
They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.
They love unconditionally.
They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards.
They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding.
Their hearts break when a friend dies.
They grieve at the loss of a family member, yet
they are strong when they think there is no strength left.
They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart.
Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.
They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show how muc h they care about you.
The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning.
They bring joy, hope and love.
They have compassion and ideals.
They give moral support to their family and friends.
Women have vital things to say and everything to give. 

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN, IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.