Facing Problems (Short story)

      Mary was a young girl. She used to get annoyed with everything. She had a negative attitude towards life. 

     Once, when she felt that life was unbearable, she asked her father what to do. She told him that if she was able to manage and solve one problem, another one followed quickly. Her father consoled her and took her to the kitchen. He asked Mary to take a potato, an egg and two spoons of tea leaves. Mary was surprised, and asked her father, "Do you want me to cook?" "No," her father said. He then took three vessels and poured one cup of water into each vessel. The vessels were placed on the stove. Once the water started to boil, he dropped the potato in a vessel, the egg in the second one and the tea leaves in the third one. "Why are you doing all these things?" Mary asked, really annoyed with her father. "Just wait fifteen minutes," said her father. The impatient daughter managed to wait for around 15 minutes. Father removed the potato from the pot and placed it on a plate. He did the same with the eggs. He filtered the tea decoction using a cup. Now, he placed the two plates, one with the potato and the other with the egg, and the cup of tea in front of Mary. He asked Mary, "What do you see? "Potato, egg and a cup of tea," said Mary. "No, you are wrong," said her father. "Look at it closely and answer me," Mary replied the same."Now touch it and answer me." The potato was cooked and soft, egg was boiled hard, and the tea carried a nice aroma. Mary couldn't find the correct answer. Her father said, "The potato was so hard and strong before it was boiled; now it has turned soft and smooth. Also, the egg was delicate but after boiling it became hard. Sip the tea. It is delicious!" Mary asked, "What does it mean father? I don't understand!"  

     Each object responded differently to water. Each object was put under the same kind of circumstances, faced similar adversities, but reacted differently. The potato, when put in boiling water, became very weak. The soft egg became very hard when we put it in boiling water. And the tea leaves are unique. It changed the water itself, giving it a unique flavour and aroma! It gave something new." Mary understood that we can create something new and unique even when we experience adversities.

    So, what are you? A potato, an egg, or a tea leaf?

The Barren Fig Tree

 

        The barren fig tree is a simple parable said by Jesus[luke13:6-9].

        

        In this parable, Jesus said about a man who had planted a fig tree in his garden. But even after three years, the tree bears no fruit.  The master got angry and told his vinedresser to cut down the tree instead of allowing it to use up the land. But the wine dresser pleaded with him to let the tree for one more year and told him that he could put some effort by digging around it and putting on some manure. If the tree bears no fruit even after that he can cut it down.

        The parable is simple. The fig tree resembles us, The Lord Almighty as the master and Jesus as the vinedresser. The purpose he has in us is that we have to live fruitful life. Just think about it "Are we fruitful to others?". Our Saviour is always trying to speak with us so that we can turn ourselves into a good one. "Are we listening to his words?".

        My dear friends, hear his words. Listen to him. Live as he taught us. Live a fruitful life and stay blessed.

Kaziranga National Park

• Kaziranga National park is located in Assam. 
• It is one of India's Oldest Reserve areas.
• It is located in Golaghat and Nagaon, in the Karbi Anglong district of  Assam in North-East India.
• The park is administrated by the Forest Department of Assam State Government.
• Kaziranga National park is famous for being the world's largest habitat for the great One-Horned Rhinos.
• It was declared as a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1985.