God's compassion

One man dreamt that he and God were walking on the beach through the journey of life.
He told God, “Oh Lord! I dreamt that you and I were walking on the sands of the beach. When I looked back at the trails on the sand, I saw that at times when life was most testing, at times when I had the deepest troubles, there was only one line of footsteps, the other was missing. How could you move away from me during those times?”
God replied, “Son! It was during those times that I carried you!”

7 Wonders of the world

A small story:

One day, the Geography teacher in a school asked her students to write down the Seven Wonders of the World.
All the kids listed the great wonders like the Great Wall of China, the Pyramids, the Eiffel Tower and so on.
One girl was writing and she kept writing, shaking her head and continuing to write.
The teacher came to her and asked, “What happened, you forgot what you learnt?”
The little girl said, “No. I am a bit confused. There are many more than seven.”
The teacher was surprised and took her sheet and read it. She then read it aloud for the class to hear, “The seven wonders of the world are: I can see; I can touch; I can smell; I can hear; I can taste; I can laugh; I can love…”
The class was suddenly filled with penetrating silence.

These small things are forgotten because we think that they are small. Everything becomes small to us when it is easily available. There are so many millions of people in this world who can’t see, who can’t hear, who can’t talk, who can’t taste. We never think of all these things. We are always thinking of what more, what better, what next, all the time, that’s all.

Gratitude to God

A Sufi Master, Junnaid used to pay his gratitude to God five times a day.
At one time, he and his followers were wandering through some villages where Sufism was not accepted as a religion.

In the first village, people accused them of begging, and threw meager alms at them.
The next day, the people refused to give them any alms.
On the third day, the village they passed through was so hostile that the villagers drove them out with sticks and stones.
That night as usual, Junnaid knelt down and offered his gratitude to God.
His disciples were watching him. It was too much for them. They could not understand why Junnaid was thanking God. They were furious.
They cried out, “Master! For three days we have gone without food! Today we were even driven out of that village like dogs! Is this what you are offering your gratitude for?”
Junnaid looked at them and said, “You talk about three days of hunger! Have you thanked God for the food you have received for thirty years? And know one thing: My gratitude is not for receiving or not receiving anything. It is simply an expression of the deep joy and love in my Being; it is a choice-less and prayerful expression, that’s all.”