Obstacles And Opportunities

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king's wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the stone out of the way.Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. After the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many of us never understand. Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve our condition.
by:
Izzah

Rock in Sand

Funny story of three friends who came to the New York CityGot this by email ages ago and so I thought I would share it here with you...

Not long ago, three friends came to the New York city. They decided tostay in a hotel during the visit. It so happened that their room ended up being on the 60th floor. The policy of the hotel was that everynight after 12:00 a.m. the elevators are shut down for securityreasons.

The next day, the three friends rented a car and went out to explore the city. They enjoyed movies, concerts, and other things throughout the whole day. At one point, they remembered that they have to get back to the hotel before 12 a.m.

When they arrived, it was beyond 12 a.m. at night. The elevators were shut down. There was no other way to get back to their room but to take the stairs all the way to the 60th floor. All of a sudden, one friend got an idea.

He said "For the first 20 floors, I will tell jokes to keep us going. Then another one of us could say wisdom stories for the next 20 floors. Finally, we will cover the other 20 floors with sad stories."So, one of the friends started with the jokes. With laughs and joy,they reached the 20th floor. Now, another friend started saying stories that are full of wisdom. So, they learned a lot while reaching the 40th floor. Now, it was time for the sad stories.

So, the third friend started thus, "My first sad story is that I left the key for the room in the car."Now, what is the point of this story?

This story resembles our lifecycle. For the first 20 years of our life, we spend time in joking and enjoying whatever is out there. Then, after we reach 20, we go into the work force, get marriead, have kids and this is the time when we use our wisdom. Then, if we reach 40, we finally see the white hairs and begin to think that my life is coming to an end and the sadness begins.

It's better that we start our life in the very beginning by remembering death rather than preparing for it at the end our life when very few of us have the energy to obey Allah completely. We should also remember that there is no guarantee of a life of 60 years for any of us, many have already left this world way before that age.
courtesy:Ahmed's World