Welcome to Taufan Lubis Blog

Many times the difference between failure and success is doing something nearly right..... or doing something exactly right.

Sunday, September 03, 2006

A Nice Story To Remember When Our Temper Is Short

The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old
daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was
tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to
put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy."

He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again
when he found the box was empty.
He yelled at her, "Don't you know when you give someone a present, there's supposed to be something inside it ?"

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty, I blew kisses into the box.
All for you, Daddy."

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

It is told that the man kept that gold box by his bed for years and whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as humans, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, friends, family or God. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have troubleremembering how to fly."

A must to read...

Keep this in mind.
This is for all: the recently married,
the ones who have been married,
the soon to get married, and
the ones who are still looking.

Years ago, I asked God to give me a spouse,
"You don't own because you didn't ask" God said.

Not only I asked for a spouse but also explained what kind of spouse I
wanted.
I want a nice, tender, forgiving, passionate, honest, peaceful,
generous, understanding, pleasant, warm, intelligent, humorous,
attentive, compassionate and truthful.

I even mentioned the physical characteristics I dreamt about.
As time went by I added the required list of my wanted spouse.

One night, in my prayer, God talked to my heart :
"My servant, I cannot give you what you want"

I asked, "Why God?"

God said "Because I am God and I am fair.
God is the truth and all I do are true and right"

I asked " God, I don't understand why I cannot have what I ask from
you?"

God answered, " I will explain.
It is not fair and right for Me to fulfill your demand
because I cannot give something that is not your ownself.
It is not fair to give someone who is full of love to you
if sometimes you are still hostile,
or to give you someone generous but sometimes you can be cruel,
or someone forgiving; however, you still hide revenge,
someone sensitive; however, you are very insensitive...."

He then said to me:
"It is better for Me to give you someone who I know could grow
to have all qualities you are searching rather than to make you
waste your time to find someone who already have the qualities you want.

Your spouse would be bone from your bone and flesh from your flesh and
you will see yourself in her and both of you will be one.

Marriage is like a school.
It is a life-long span education.
It is where you and your partner make adjustment
and aim not merely to please each other,
but to be better human beings and to make a solid teamwork.
I do not give you a perfect partner, because you are not perfect either.
I give you a partner with whom you would grow together"

Sharpen the axe

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, Go on that way!"

Very motivated by the boss' words, 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.

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'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 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.

Saturday, September 02, 2006

The Little Things in Life


Too often we don't realize What we have until it's gone
Too often we wait to late to say "I'm sorry, I was wrong"
Sometimes it seems we hurt the ones We hold dearest to our hearts
And we allow stupid things To tear our lives apart
Far too many times we let Unimportant things get in our mind
And by then it's usually too late To see what made us blind
So be sure that you let people know How much they mean to you
Take the time to say the words Before your time is through
Be sure that you appreciate Everything you've got
And be thankful for the little things In life that mean a lot
- Regina Riggs -