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Inspirational
Stories
The Carpenter's
House
An elderly carpenter
was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor
of his plans to leave the house building business and live
a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended
family.
He would miss the paycheck, but he needed
to retire. They could get by.
The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked
if he could build just one more house as a personal favor.
The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that
his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship
and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to
end his career.
When the carpenter finished his work and the
builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the
front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house,"
he said, "my gift to you."
What a shock! What a shame! If he had only
known he was building his own house, he would have done it
all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had
built none too well.
So it is with us. We build our lives in a
distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put
up less than the best. At important points we do not give
the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the
situation we have created and find that we are now living
in the house we have built. If we had realized that we would
have done it differently.
Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think
about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board,
or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will
ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that
day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The
plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project."
Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and
the choices you make today.
- Author Unknown
The Mercedes
There's nothing like a new car
in the neighborhood to bring the guys together.
"Nice car, Wayne," I said.
Mike crossed over from his house: "Hey
Wayne, new or used?"
"Used."
John was two steps behind Mike. "Six
or eight cylinders?"
"Four."
Jim peeked over the fence: "CD or Cassette?"
"Neither."
We were all impressed. Then, the new neighbor
appeared out of nowhere and stole Wayne's moment.
"Wow, look at that!"
We starred, our mouths dropped open, as Bob
Henderson parked his new Mercedes in his driveway. We watched
him walk inside.
"No kids, you know," Mike said breaking
the silence.
"Probably waiting until they've gone
through their selfish stage."
"Yeah," we chimed. We had enough
kids amongst us to field our own little league team –
batboy included.
Jim pointed to the Mercedes. "Imagine
owning a beautiful car like that with no one kicking the back
of your seat."
"Ever notice how baby formula cuts through
new car smell faster than a toddler passes salsa."
"Yeah," we said.
"I saw his wife and him going out again
last night. All dressed up."
"Must be nice not paying for a babysitter."
"We received a lovely card the other
day from our sitter thanking us for the 401K and profit sharing
plan."
"He leaves early and comes home late
from work any time he wants."
"Wives only want us around for crowd
control."
"Yeah," we chanted.
"I bet his watch doesn't get buried in
the backyard like treasure."
"I doubt he's ever worked all day oblivious
to a Barbie sticker on his butt."
"He can eat his dinner while it's hot."
"And not standing up."
"Yeah," we said standing there shaking
our heads.
Wayne's wife brought out a tray of lemonade.
"What are you guys staring at?"
Wayne gestured across the street: "The
neighbor's new car, we were just saying if they had kids it..."
"They can't have children, you know,"
she announced.
The five of us looked at each other,
"They're infertile." She passed
out the lemonade and returned to the house. Except for the
tinkling of ice against the glasses, it was quiet for a long
time.
"It's a nice car, Wayne."
"I think I'll go see what my kids are
doing."
"Yeah."
-Author Unknown
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Cosmos
of Happiness
