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 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 God like qualities planted in us
at birth growing amid the
 thorns of our faults.

Many of us look at ourselves and
see only the thorns, the defects.
We despair, thinking that 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 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  ~~~
 

Ecclesiastes 4:10 For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.
John 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
1John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.