Subject: Of Roses and Thorns {Insp}
From: Unicorn (unicorn@indenial.com)
Date: Sun Jan 21 2001 - 03:05:20 EST
"Of Roses and Thorns"
A certain man planted a rose and watered it
faithfully. Before it blossomed, he examined
it. He saw a bud that would soon blossom. He
also saw the thorns, and he thought, "How can
any beautiful flower come from a plant, burdened
with so many sharp thorns?" Saddened 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 "G-d-like" qualities planted
in us at birth, growing amidst the thorns of our
faults. Many of us look at ourselves and see
only the thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking
nothing good can possibly come from us. We
neglect to water the good within us, and
eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.
Some don't see the rose within themselves. It
takes someone else to 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 truest, most
innocent, and gracious characteristic of love -
to know another person, including their faults,
recognize the nobility in their soul, and yet still
help another to realize they can overcome their
faults. If we show them the rose, they will
conquer the thorns. Only then will they blossom,
and most likely, blooming thirty, sixty, a
hundred-fold, as it is given to them.
Our duty in this world is to help others, by
showing them their roses and not their thorns.
It is then that we achieve the love we should
feel for each other. Only then can we bloom
in our own garden.
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