Inspirational Stories

[Guest guest]

Please take some time to read these inspirational stories.

 

THE FROGS

 

A farmer came into town and asked the owner of a restaurant if he

could use a million frog legs. The restaurant owner was shocked and

asked the man where he could get so many frog legs!

 

The farmer replied, " There is a pond near my house that is full of

frogs---millions of them. They all croak all night long and they are

about to make me crazy! "

 

So the restaurant owner and the farmer made an agreement that the

farmer would deliver frogs to the restaurant, five hundred at a time

for the next several weeks.

 

The first week, the farmer returned to the restaurant looking rather

sheepish,with two scrawny little frogs. The restaurant owner

said, " Well... where are all the frogs? " The farmer said, " I was

mistaken. There were only these two frogs in the pond. But they sure

were making a lot of noise! "

 

[Next time you hear somebody criticizing or making fun of you,

remember,it's probably just a couple of noisy frogs. Also remember

that problems always seem bigger in the dark. Have you ever laid in

your bed at night worrying about things which seem almost

overwhelming like a million frogs croaking? Chances are pretty good

that when the morning comes, and you take a closer

look, you'll wonder what all the fuss was about.]

 

THE TURTLES

 

A turtle family decided to go on a picnic. Turtles, being naturally

slow about things, took seven years to prepare for their outing.

Finally the turtle family left home looking for a suitable place for

their outing.

 

During the second year of their journey they found a place ideal for

them at last! For about six months they cleaned up the area, unpacked

the picnic basket, and completed the arrangements. Then they

discovered they had forgotten the salt. A picnic without salt would

be a disaster, they

all agreed. After a lengthy discussion, the youngest turtle was

chosen to retrieve the salt from home. Although he was the fastest of

the slow moving turtles, the little turtle whined, cried, and

wobbled in his shell.

 

He agreed to go on one condition: that no one would eat until he

returned. The family consented and the little turtle left. Three

years passed and the little turtle had not returned. Five years...

six

years... then on the seventh year of his absence, the oldest turtle

could no longer contain his hunger. He announced that he was going to

eat and begun to unwrap a sandwich. At that point the little turtle

suddenly popped out from behind a tree shouting, " SEE! I knew you

wouldn't wait. Now I am not going to go get the salt. "

 

[some of us waste our time waiting for people to live up to our

expectations. We are so concerned about what others are doing that we

don't do anything ourselves.]

 

THE PRETTY LADY

 

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were travelling

together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was

damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady

who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river. The

big monk offered to carry the pretty lady across the river on his

back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of

the big monk. " How can big disciple brother carry a lady when we are

supposed to avoid all intimacy with females? " thought the little

monk. But he kept quiet. The big monk carried the lady across the

river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the

river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy

with the act of the big monk. He was

making up all kinds of accusations about the big monk in his head.

 

This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big

monk had no inclination to explain his situation. Finally, at a rest

point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any

further, he burst out angrily at the big monk.

 

" How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first

opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty?

All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite. " The big monk

looked surprised and said, " I had put down the pretty lady at the

river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along? "

 

[This very old Chinese zen story reflects the thinking of many people

today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate

us and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a

lot of hurt, sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous. But

like the little monk, we are not

willing to let them go away. We keep on carrying the baggage of

the " unpleasant memory " with us. We let them keep on coming back to

hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony.

Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the

baggage of

the " unpleasant memory/feelings " . We should let go immediately after

the unpleasant event is over. This will immediately remove all our

agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event

after it is over. It is just that simple.]

 

A BIGGER FRYING PAN

 

Two men went fishing. One man was an experienced fisherman, the other

wasn't. Every time the experienced fisherman caught a big fish, he

put it in his ice chest to keep it fresh. Whenever the inexperienced

fisherman caught a big fish, he threw it back. The experienced

fisherman watched

this go on all day and finally got tired of seeing this man waste

good fish. " Why do you keep throwing back all the big fish you

catch? " he asked. The inexperienced fisherman replied, " I only have a

small frying pan. "

 

Sometimes, like that fisherman, we throw back the big plans, big

dreams, big jobs, big opportunities that God gives us. Our faith is

too small. We laugh at that fisherman who didn't figure out that all

he needed was a bigger frying pan; yet how ready are we to increase

the size of our faith?

 

Whether it's a problem or a possibility, God will never give you

anything bigger than you can handle. That means we can confidently

walk into anything God brings our way.