Busy

Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asks for a job in a timber merchant and he got it. The paid was really good and so was 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 18 trees "Congratulations," the boss said "Go on that way!"


Very motivated for the boss words, the woodcutter try harder the next day, but he only could bring 15 trees. The third day he try even harder, but he only could bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.

"I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. 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..."
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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 that ever. Why is that?

Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay "sharp”? There's 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 get close to our Creator, giving more time for our family, 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 values to it.

Author:         Stephen Covey
From:           7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Clay Balls

A man was exploring caves by the Seashore.  In one of the caves he found a canvas bag with a bunch of hardened clay balls.  It was like someone had rolled clay balls and left them out in the sun to bake. They didn't look like much, but they intrigued the man, so he took the bag out of the cave with him.  As he strolled along the beach, he would throw the clay balls one at a time out into the ocean as far as he could.

He thought little about it, until he dropped one of the clay balls and it cracked open on a rock. Inside was a beautiful precious stone!

Excited, the man started breaking open the remaining clay balls.  Each contained a similar treasure.  He found thousands of dollars worth of jewels in the 20 or so clay balls he had left.

Then it struck him. He had been on the beach a long time. He had thrown may be 50 or 60 of the clay balls with their hidden treasure into the ocean waves.  Instead of thousands of dollars in treasure, he could have taken home tens of thousands, but he had just thrown it away!

It's like that with people. We look at someone, may be even ourselves and we see the external clay vessel.  It doesn't look like much from the outside...  It isn't always beautiful or sparkling, so we discount it.

We see that person as less important than someone more beautiful or stylish or well known or wealthy. But we have not taken the time to find the treasure hidden inside that person.

There is a treasure in each and every one of us. If we take the time to get to know that person and if we ask God to show us that person the way He sees them, then the clay begins to peel away and the brilliant gem begins to shine forth.

May we not come to the end of our lives and find out that we have thrown away a fortune in friendships because the gems were hidden in bits of clay. May we see the people in our world as God sees them.  
 
I am so blessed by the gems of friendship I have with you. Thank you for looking beyond my
clay vessel.

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Appreciate every single thing you have, especially your friends! Life is too short and friends are too few!

Do not ask GOD to Guide your Footsteps if you are not willing to MOVE your Feet

“IN GOD WE TRUST"