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A well-known speaker started off his seminar by holding up a $20 bill.In the room of 200, he asked."Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you, but first, let me do this." He proceed to crumple up the note with his hands. He then asked,"Who still wants it?" Still, the hands were up in the air. "Well," he continued, "what if I do this?" He then dropped it on the floor and started to grind it with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" still the hands went into the air. "My friends" he then explained, "you have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless.But no matter what has happened or will happen, you will never lose your value: dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who love you. The worth of our lives come not in what we do or who we know, but in WHO WE ARE." You are special! Don't ever forget it. |
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"Why are you crying?" he asked his mom. "Because I'm a woman" she told him. "I don't understand," he said.His mom just hugged him and said, "And you never will".......... Later the little boy asked his father, "Why does mother seem to cry for no reason?" "All women cry for no reason" was all his dad could ay........The little boy grew up and became a man, still wondering why women cry. Finally he put in a call to GOD; when GOD got on the phone, the man said, "GOD, why do women cry so easily? GOD said....... "When I made women she had to be special. I made her shoulders strong enough to carry the weight of the world; yet, gentle enough to give comfort...." I gave her an inner strength to endure childbirth and the rejection that many times comes from her children...... I gave her a hardness that allows her to keep going when everyone else gives up and take care of her family through sickness and fatigue without complaining...... I gave her the sensitivity to love her children under any and all circumstances, even when her child has hurt them very badly.......This same sensitivity helps her make a child's boo-boo feel better and shares in their teenagers anxieties and fears....... I gave her strength to carry her husband through his faults and fashioned her from his rib to protect his heart.I gave her wisdom to know that a good husband never hurts his wife, but sometimes tests her strengths and her resolve to stand beside him unfalteringly. I gave her a tear to shed, It's hers exclusively to needed. It's her only weakness....It's a tear for mankind........." The beauty of a woman is not in the clothes she wears, the figure that she carries, or the way she combs her hair. The beauty of a woman must be seen in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides. The beauty of a woman is not in a facial mole,but true beauty in a woman is reflected in her soul. It is the caring that she lovingly gives, the passion hat she shows and the beauty of a woman with passing years-only grows! Every Woman is Beautiful.. |
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There is a story many years ago of an elementary teacher. Her name was Mrs.Thompson. And as she stood in front of her fifth grade class on the veryfirst day of school, she told the children a lie.Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved the mall the same. But that was impossible, because there in the front row,slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he didn'tplay well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and heconstantly needed a bath. And Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to thepoint where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his paperswith a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the topof his papers.At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review Eachchild's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when shereviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a readylaugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners...he is a joy to bearound".His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well likedby his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminalillness and life at home must be a struggle."His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. Hetries to do his best but his father doesn't show much interest and his homelife will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken."Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't showmuch interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and sometimes sleepsin class."By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and was ashamed of herself. Shefelt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrappedin beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag.Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents.Some of the children started to laugh when she found rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing and a bottle that was one quarter full of perfume.But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed, how pretty thebracelet was. She put it on and dabbed some of the perfume on her wrist.Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs.Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to."After the children left she cried for at least an hour. On that very day,she quit teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. Instead, she began toteach children.Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him,his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartestchildren in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her pets.A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things hadbeen tough at times, he stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soongraduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs.Thompsonthat she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had in his wholelife.Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go alittle further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer. Theletter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.The story doesn't end there. You see, there was yet another letter thatspring. Teddy said he'd met a girl and was going to be married. Heexplained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he waswondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit in the place at the weddingthat was usually reserved for the mother of the groom.Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, theone with several rhinestones missing. And she made sure she was wearing theperfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmastogether. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered inMrs.Thompson's ear, "Thank you, Mrs. Thompson, for believing in me. Thankyou so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make adifference."Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy,you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you." |
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