A smile for alms

A smile costs you nothing, but is worth a great deal to those who are lifted up by it. The truthfulness of this expression was taught to me by a beggar in Hyderabad. After having tea with some friends, we stepped out onto the busy road only to be confronted by a young girl in rags who was asking for alms. I was still a student then. All I had that day was Rs.50, no change and no coins to giveaway. There was no way I could have shared. As I stared at her dirty but expectant face, my frown turned into a smile and sympathetically told her I was also short of money and couldn’t spare anything for her.

The next moment she exploded into a big smile. I will never forget her face, ever. The happiness and joy that shines on her face turned her into a beautiful girl though she was covered in rags.

A young girl who was used to rebukes, scorns and anger tasted love and sympathy that day. Perhaps, the first time in her life. That day I could not give her what she asked for but unknowingly I gave her the best gift ever – a smile, sympathy and love.

Remember, what sunshine is to flowers, your smile is to others.

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Helping to cry

Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once told of a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child.

The winner was a four-year-old child whose next-door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man crying, the little boy went into the old gentleman’s yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there.

When his mother asked him what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, “Nothing, I just helped him cry.”

The source of wisdom

A simple man met a very wise man.
“Can you tell me the source of your wisdom?” he asked.
“In two words,” the wise man replied, “good choices.”
“And what is the source of the good choices?”
“In one word, experience.”
“And to what do you attribute your experience?”
“In two words,” the wise man said, “bad choices.”

The stinging scorpion

There was a man who saw a scorpion floundering around in the water. He decided to save it by stretching out his finger, but the scorpion stung him. The man still tried to get the scorpion out of the water, but the scorpion stung him again.

Someone nearby told him to stop saving the scorpion that kept stinging him. But the man said, “It is the nature of the scorpion to sting. It is my nature to love. Why should I give up my nature to love just because it is the nature of the scorpion to sting?”

Don’t give up loving.
Don’t give up your goodness,
Even if people around you sting.

Let’s not give up on love. If you have love in your heart, you always have something to give. Love is the one treasure that multiplies by division. It is the one gift that grows bigger the more you take from it. It is the one business in which it pays to be an absolute spendthrift. You can give it away, throw it away, empty your pockets, shake the basket, turn the glass upside down, and tomorrow you will have more than ever.

When the clock stops

A clock in a jewelry store window in a small town stopped one day for half an hour, at fifteen minutes of nine. School children, noticing the time, stopped to play; people hurrying to the train, looking at the clock, began to walk
leisurely; professional men, after a look at the clock, stopped to chat a minute longer in the sunshine; and all were half an hour late because one small clock stopped. Never had these people known how much they depended upon that clock till it led them astray.

Many are thus depending upon the influence of Christians; you may think you have no influence, but you cannot go
wrong in one little act without leading others astray.

A pane of glass

One day an angel gave four men a pane of glass.

The philosopher took his and made a telescope, so he could see far into the future.

The Pharisee made a magnifying glass of his, so he could magnify the faults of those around him.

The introvert fashioned a microscope, so he could find the hidden things that lie deep within his heart.

The wise man made a mirror.

Under His wings

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided an interesting picture of God’s wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno’s damage.

One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked the bird over with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother’s wings.

The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but had refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze arrived and the heat scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.

“He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge …” – Psalm 91:4