Parable Of The Pencil

The Pencil Maker took the pencil aside, just before putting him into the box.

“There are 5 things you need to know,” he told the pencil, “Before I send you out into the world. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best pencil you can be.”
“One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in Someone’s hand.”
“Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, but you’ll need it to become a better pencil.”
“Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.”
“Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s inside.”
“And Five: On every surface you are used on, you must leave your mark. No matter what the condition, you must continue to write.”
The pencil understood and promised to remember, and went into the box with purpose in its heart.
Now replacing the place of the pencil with you. Always remember them and never forget, and you will become the best person you can be.
One: You will be able to do many great things, but only if you allow yourself to be held in God’s hand. And allow other human beings to access you for the many gifts you possess.
Two: You will experience a painful sharpening from time to time, by going through various problems in life, but you’ll need it to become a stronger person.
Three: You will be able to correct any mistakes you might make.
Four: The most important part of you will always be what’s on the inside.
And Five: On every surface you walk through, you must leave your mark. No matter what the situation, you must continue to do your duties.
Allow this parable on the pencil to encourage you to know that you are a special person and only you can fulfill the purpose to which you were born to accomplish.
Never allow yourself to get discouraged and think that your life is insignificant and cannot make a change.

Chico and the Crane

There was a cook named Chico. His master had visitors for dinner and Chico was told to fry a crane. Chico felt hungry and so he ate one leg of the crane.
At dinnertime, when the master saw a missing leg, he shouted, “Chico! Why does this crane have only one leg?” Chico replied, “Sir, haven’t you seen cranes before? They only have one leg!” To teach Chico a lesson, next morning, his master took him to the pond nearby. Chico exclaimed, “Look, Master! Cranes have only one leg!” The master clapped his hands and all the cranes uncurled their other legs and flew away. “You fool! Did you see they have two legs!” cried the master. Clever Chico replied, “Sir, why didn’t you clap your hands at the table? You would have got two legs!”

Christmas

“Christmas is approaching. You must clean the house well,” said Jack to his wife. The silly wife thought that Christmas must be a man. “Are you Christmas?” she asked all the people passing by. One wily person, who was going down the street, said that his name was Christmas. The silly wife gave him everything inside the house. When her husband came to know of this, he was very angry.
“Be careful this time. Keep the pig for Christmas,” warned Jack. The stupid woman called the man who called himself Christmas and gave him the pig. When her husband came home and asked her about the pig, she said, “But you told me to give it to Christmas!” He held his head in despair and vowed never to say anything to her.

The Cabbage

One day, two boys, Tom and Harry, were passing by a garden. They saw a big cabbage and Tom boasted, “I once saw a cabbage bigger than this.” Harry promptly replied, “That must have been huge. Once I made a pot bigger than the church.” Tom was puzzled. “Why?” he asked. “To boil your cabbage,” replied Harry. Tom was ashamed and realised that he must not tell lies.

Fishermen story

Two men went fishing. One was an experienced fisherman, the other wasn’t. Every time the experienced fisherman caught a big fish, he put it in his ice chest to keep it fresh. Whenever the inexperienced fisherman caught a big fish, he threw it back.
The experienced fisherman watched this go on all day and finally got tired of seeing the man waste good fish. “Why do you keep throwing back all the big fish you catch?” he asked.
The inexperienced fisherman replied, “I only have a small frying pan.”
Sometimes, like that fisherman,
we throw back the big plans, big dreams, big jobs, big opportunities that God gives us.
Our faith is too small.
We laugh at that fisherman who didn’t figure out that all he needed was a bigger frying pan,
yet how ready are we to increase the size of our faith?
Whether it’s a problem or a possibility,
God will never give you anything bigger than you can handle.
That means we can confidently walk into anything God brings our way.
 
REMEMBER:
Stop telling God you’ve got big problems.
Tell your problems you’ve got a BIG GOD!

The Man with the Coconuts

One day a man who had been to gather his coconuts loaded his horse heavily with the fruit. On the way home he met a boy whom he asked how long it would take to reach the house.
“If you go slowly,” said the boy, looking at the load on the horse, “you will arrive very soon; but if you go fast, it will take you all day.”
The man could not believe this strange speech, so he hurried his horse. But the coconuts fell off and he had to stop to pick them up. Then he hurried his horse all the more to make up for lost time, but the coconuts fell off again. Many time he did this, and it was night when he reached home.


Source: Mabel Cook Cole, Philippine Folk Tales (Chicago: A. C. McClurg, 1916), p. 88.

The Naughty Clock Winder

The king of Elfland had a large collection of clocks. An elf called Dickory Dock had to wind them up every day. Dickory Dock was a forgetful elf So the king gave Dickory Dock an enchanted key and said. “Now you don’t have to use many different keys. You can wind up all the clocks with this key. In fact, it can wind up anything.”
Alas! Dickory Dock would still forget to wind the clocks. The furious king punished him severely. The naughty elf decided to teach the king a lesson. He wound up all the furniture in the castle! Soon all the chairs and books were dancing. “Mercy on its! This must be Dickory Dock’s doing. Fetch him!” exclaimed the king. He wound Dickory Dock up with the magic key and banished him from the kingdom. And so he goes dancing around to this day.