~A Rose Within~
A certain man planted a rose and watered it
faithfully, and before it blossomed,
he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon
blossom, and also thorns, and he thought...
"How can any beautiful flower come from a plant
burdened with so many sharp thorns?"
Sadened by this thought, he neglected to water
the rose, and before it was ready to bloom,
It died. So it is with many people.
Within every soul there is a rose. The God-like
qualities planted in us at birth grow amid the
thorns of our faults. Many of us look at ourselves
and see only the thorns, the defects.
We dispair, thinking that nothing good can
come from us. We neglect to water the good
within us and eventually it dies.
We never realized our potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves;
Someone else must show it to them.
One of the greatest gifts a person can possess
is to be able to reach past the thorns
and find the rose within others.
This is the characteristic of love,
to look at a person, and knowing his faults,
recognize the nobility in his soul,
and help him realize that he can overcome
his faults.
If we show him the rose, he will conquer the
thorns. Then will he blossom, blooming forth
thirty,sixty, a hundred-fold as it is
given to him.
Our duty in this world is to help others by
showing them their roses and not their thorns.
Only then can we achieve the love we should
feel for each other; only then can we bloom
in our own garden.
~Author unknown~
