PRESENCE OF MIND

Leaders must be resourceful, cool when the unexpected occurs, able to think on their feet, and get things back on track when plans go awry. This Christmas story illustrates the point.

A little boy had aspirations to be cast as Joseph in the school Nativity play, but he lost out to a classmate. The teacher in charge gave him the minor role of the innkeeper instead, and he was bitterly disappointed. During the rehearsals, he brooded and thought only of revenge.

OH! TO HEAR A HUMAN VOICE By Max Lucado, Outlive Your Life

If a voice could be a season, hers was springtime.

"Hello," she sang. "Thank you for calling."

I needed a kind welcome. The sky was pouring buckets of rain. Lightning had caused blackouts, and storms were jamming the traffic. News reports were telling drivers to stay off the roads. But I had a flight to catch.

So I called the airlines. They would know if the flight was late or canceled. "They would be the calm within the storm. And for a butterfly's blink of a moment, she was. "Hello, thank you for calling ..."

But then it came. Before I could thank her in return, the voice continued, "For quality assurance this call may he monitored ..." Not again.

Ancient sailors feared falling off the edge of the earth. Our pioneering forefathers dreaded blinding blizzards. The first missionaries to Africa sliced trails into dense forests. But none of our ancestors faced what you and I face: the Bermuda Triangle called computerized telephone service.

"Press one," she said, "for domestic flights."

"Press two for international."

"Press three if you know your flight number and the name of your congressman.

"Press four if you are a frequent flier in the central time zone with no children."

"Press five if the nine digits of your Social Security number total more than sixty ..."

It was all I could do to keep up! I finally pressed a number, and wouldn't you know it. I committed the equivalent of telephone harakiri. I was put on hold. For the foreseeable future I would be trapped in the underground cable cavern, doomed to spend hours listening to Kenny G and Barry Manilow.

Oh to have heard a human voice. To have spoken to a real person. To have received a human greeting. Is it just me, or is human contact going the way of the snow leopard?

There was a time when every activity spurred a conversation. Service your car; greet the attendant. Deposit a check at the bank; chat with the teller about the weather. Buy a gift, and speak with the salesclerk. Not now. You can gas up with a credit card, make deposits online, and order a gift over the Internet. You can cycle through a day of business and never say hello.

Call us a fast society, an efficient society, but don't call us a personal society. Our society is set up for isolation. We wear earbuds when we exercise. We communicate via e-mail and text messages. We enter and exit our houses with gates and garage-door openers. Our mantra: "I leave you alone. You leave me alone."

LOOKING GOOD FOR GOD by Flavio Mazarello

On a thundering rainy day, a Mom went to pick her six year son from school thinking that he will fear lightning.

But she found him smiling at the sky for every lightning..

She asks, "Why are you smiling..?"

Son : "God is taking my Pictures & I need to look good.."

Life is simple. 

we complicate it.

FINDING FATHER BENJAMIN

Unfavorable winds blow a ship off course, and when they do, the sailors spot uncharted islands. They see half a dozen mounds rising out of the blue South Seas waters. The captain orders the men to drop anchor and goes ashore. He is a robust man with a barrel chest, full beard, and curious soul. 

On the first island he sees nothing but sadness. Underfed children. Tribes inconflict. No fanning or food development, no treatment for the sick, and no schools. Just simple, needy people.

The second and following islands reveal more of the same. The captain sighs at what he sees. "This is no life for these people." But what can he do?

Then he steps onto the last and largest island. The people are healthy and well fed. Irrigation systems nourish their fields, and roads connect the villages. The children have bright eyes and strong bodies. The captain asks the chief for an explanation. How has this island moved so far ahead of the others?

The chief, who is smaller than the captain but every bit his equal in confidence, gives a quick response: "Father Benjamin. He educated us in everything from agriculture to health. He built schools and clinics and dug wells."

The captain asks, "Can you take me to see him?”

The chief nods and signals for two tribesmen to join him. They guide the captain over a jungle ridge to a simple, expansive medical clinic. It is equipped with clean beds and staffed with trained caretakers. They show the captain the shelves of medicine and introduce him to the staff. The captain, though impressed, sees nothing of Father Benjamin. He repeats his request. "I would like to see Father Benjamin. Can you take me to where he lives?"

The three natives look puzzled. They confer among themselves. After several minutes the chief invites, "Follow us to the other side of the island." They walk along the shoreline until they reach a series of fishponds. Canals connect the ponds to the ocean. As the tide rises, fish pass from the ocean into the ponds. The islanders then lower canal gates and trap the fish for harvest. Again the captain is amazed. He meets fishermen and workers, gatekeepers and net casters. But he sees nothing of Father Benjamin. He wonders if he is making himself clear.

"I don't see Father Benjamin. Please take me to where he lives."

The trio talks alone again. After some discussion the chief offers, "Let's go up the mountain." They lead the captain up a steep, narrow path. After many twists and turns the path deposits them in front of a grass-roofed chapel. The voice of the chief is soft and earnest. "He has taught us about God."

He escorts the captain inside and shows him the altar, a large wooden cross, several rows of benches, and a Bible.

"Is this where Father Benjamin lives?" the captain asks.

The men nod and smile.

"May I talk to him?"

Their faces grow suddenly serious. "Oh, that would be impossible."

“Why?”

"He died many years ago."

The bewildered captain stares at the men. "I asked to see him, and you showed me a clinic, some fish farms, and this chapel. You said nothing of his death."

"You didn't ask about his death," the chief explains. "You asked to see where he lives. We showed you."

THE LAW OF THE HARVEST

It was reputed that a very wise old man who lived on a hilltop overlooking the beautiful city of Venice, Italy, could answer any question anyone might ask him. Two local boys figured they could trick him, so they caught a bird and took it to the wise sage.

"Tell us," they asked, "is the bird in our hand dead or alive?"

The wise man replied, "Son, if I say the bird is alive, you will close your hands and crush it to death. Or, if I say the bird is dead, you will open your hands and it will fly away. You see, son, in your hands you hold the power of life and death."

---------------------------

And so it is with life. Whether we succeed or fail, live a meaningful or empty life, it's all in our hands! For whatever we sow we reap.

OBEDIENCE

A youngster, badly spoiled, was in tears.


“Give that child whatever he wants!” called out the lady of the house.


The little fellow soon raised the decibels of his yelling.


“Didn’t I tell you to give him what he wants?” shouted the mother.


“I did,” replied the maid. “He wanted a bee.”

LIFE’S LESSONS

Before the young man began his studies, he wanted assurance from the Master.


“Can you teach me the goal of human life?”


“I cannot,” replied the Master.


“Or at least its meaning?”


“I cannot.”


“Can you indicate to me the nature of death and of life beyond the grave?”


“I cannot.”


The young man walked away in scorn. The disciples were dismayed that their Master had been shown up in a poor light.


Said the Master soothingly, “Of what is it to comprehend life’s nature and life’s meaning if you have never tasted it? I’d rather you ate your pudding than speculated on it.”

HOLY MAN

Word spread across the countryside about the wise Holy Man who lived in a small house atop the mountain. A man from the village decided to make the long and difficult journey to visit him. When he arrived at the house, he saw an old servant inside who greeted him at the door. "I would like to see the wise Holy Man," he said to the servant. The servant smiled and led him inside. As they walked through the house, the man from the village looked eagerly around the house, anticipating his encounter with the Holy Man. Before he knew it, he had been led to the back door and escorted outside. He stopped and turned to the servant, "But I want to see the Holy Man!"

"You already have," said the old man. "Everyone you may meet in life, even if they appear plain and insignificant... see each of them as a wise Holy Man. If you do this, then whatever problem you brought here today will be solved."

----------------------------

Many people also go searching for things (love, happiness) and don't recognize them when they see them.

WOODEN BEAMS IN OUR EYES

A man once stole a piece of food and was ordered by the king to be hanged. When asked if he had any last words, the thief replied, “Know, O King that I can plant an apple seed in the ground and it will grow and bear fruit overnight. It is a secret that my father taught me and I thought it would be a pity if it died with me.”

A time was appointed the following day for planting the seed. The thief dug a hole and said, “This seed can only be planted by someone who has never stolen or taken anything which did not belong to him. Being a thief, I cannot, of course, do it.”

The king asked his prime minister to plant the seed, but he hesitated and said, “Your majesty, when I was young, I recall keeping an article that did not belong to me. I cannot plant the seed.”

The treasurer, when told to plant the seed, begged the king’s pardon, saying that he may have cheated someone out of some money. The king, in his turn, recalled that once he took and kept a precious object belonging to his father.

The thief turned to them and said, “You are almighty and powerful persons. You are not in want of anything, yet you cannot plant the seed. Yet I, who stole a little food to stay alive, am to be hanged.”

The king, pleased with the man’s wisdom, pardoned him.