FREE

On his way to church, a scholar was surprised to see a man in tattered clothes and barefoot. Nevertheless, as a good Christian, he greeted the poor man: "May God give you a good morning!"

The poor man replied cheerfully, "I have never yet had a bad morning."

"Then may God give you good luck!"
"I have never yet had bad luck."
"Well, may God give you happiness!"
"I have never yet been unhappy.."
The scholar then asked the man, "Could you you please explain yourself to me? I do not understand."
And the poor man replied, "With pleasure! You wish me a good morning, yet I have never had a bad morning. For when I am hungry, I praise God; when I feel cold, or when it is raining or snowing, I praise God; and that is why I have never had a bad morning.
"You wish that God may give me luck. However, I have never had bad luck. This is because I live with God and always feel what he does for me is the best. Whatever God sends me, be it pleasant or unpleasant, I accept with a grateful heart. That is why I have never had bad luck.
"Finally, you wish that God should make me happy. But I have never been unhappy. For all I desire is to follow God's will; I have surrendered my will so totally to God's will that, whatever God wants, that is what I also want.
"That is why I have never been unhappy."

-by Meister Eckhart

"NO! Thank You"

After having studied the life of Jacob in Genesis..how he worked hard for Rachel and even being cheated by his uncle, Laban...i was asked by someone, whom i met only for few times at a cg and yet in my shallow opinion who has the ability to think deep and uniquely different from others (from a biblical perspective and real life experiences...i was truly impressed when i first heard him shared), whether i would be willing and ready to endure another similar/identical painful "love story of my own", if given a chance...my spontaneous simple and direct answer was "NO!!!!" Then he replied saying that's because I have not enjoyed or rather learned to enjoy the whole process of being in a hurtful/heartbreaking condition. How could I have enjoyed it???? "Learning?"...mayb yes...BUT "Enjoying???"....N.O.! Seriously, I hate it so much and I would be lying if i were to respond by saying that I'm enjoying it...Sorry-la, not even a bit!

Things being said, of course I know what he meant by that....Once we have learned to enjoy "it" - by enduring the pain and suffering thru' total reliance on His grace and mercy, only then will we know HIS flawless yet hard to comprehend Will....coz sometimes, "KEK" things happened for a reason and it's all within HIS permissive will. At times it might seem harsh or mean...BUT HE knows what HE's doing with our lives coz HE's our CREATOR...I just think that we need to have more faith....especially when "the storm is raging".

Have you enjoyed/Are you enjoying the whole process of being in your own version of a hurtful state in various aspects of your life???

PRAYER shall b our first response and NOT our last resort!