Motivational Stories 

The story of a woodcutter   

Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was really good and so was the work condition. For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best.

His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he supposed to work.

The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees.

“Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on that way!”

Very motivated by the boss words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only bring 15 trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.

“I must be losing my strength”, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.

“When was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.

“Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…”

Reflection:

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don’t take time to sharpen the “axe”. In today’s world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy that ever.

Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay “sharp”? There’s nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like our personal life, taking time to get close to our Creator, giving more time for our family, taking time to read etc.

We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don’t take the time to sharpen the “axe”, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness. 

Author: Stephen Covey
From: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

Written by Stephen on June 4th, 2012

Military: A beautiful true love story   

One day, a young guy and a young girl fell in love.

But the guy came from a poor family. The girl’s parents weren’t too happy.

So the young man decided not only to court the girl but to court her parents as well. In time, the parents saw that he was a good man and was worthy of their daughter’s hand.

But there was another problem: The man was a soldier. Soon, war broke out and he was being sent overseas for a year. The week before he left, the man knelt on his knee and asked his lady love, “Will you marry me?” She wiped a tear, said yes, and they were engaged. They agreed that when he got back in one year, they would get married.

But tragedy struck. A few days after he left, the girl had a major vehicular accident. It was a head-on collision.

When she woke up in the hospital, she saw her father and mother crying. Immediately, she knew there was something wrong.

She later found out that she suffered brain injury. The part of her brain that controlled her face muscles was damaged. Her once lovely face was now disfigured. She cried as she saw herself in the mirror. “Yesterday, I was beautiful. Today, I’m a monster.” Her body was also covered with so many ugly wounds.

Right there and then, she decided to release her fiancé from their promise. She knew he wouldn’t want her anymore. She would forget about him and never see him again.

For one year, the soldier wrote many letters—but she wouldn’t answer. He phoned her many times but she wouldn’t return her calls.

But after one year, the mother walked into her room and announced, “He’s back from the war.”

The girl shouted, “No! Please don’t tell him about me. Don’t tell him I’m here!”

The mother said, “He’s getting married,” and handed her a wedding invitation.

The girl’s heart sank. She knew she still loved him—but she had to forget him now.

With great sadness, she opened the wedding invitation.

And then she saw her name on it!

Confused, she asked, “What is this?”

That was when the young man entered her room with a bouquet of flowers. He knelt beside her and asked, “Will you marry me?”

The girl covered her face with her hands and said, “I’m ugly!”

The man said, “Without your permission, your mother sent me your photos. When I saw your photos, I realized that nothing has changed. You’re still the person I fell in love. You’re still as beautiful as ever. Because I love you!”

Author Unknown

Triumph over cancer!   

My name is Don Heding and I live in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, U.S.A. I am 63 years of age and married quite late in life for the 2nd time as my first wife died of cervical cancer. My wife, Saowanee, is a Thai Buddhist and we have two sons, Patrick and Andrew, aged seven and six respectively. I also have a son from my first marriage, Brett, who is now 29 years of age.

In the latter part of 1996, I was experiencing some difficulty in eating, that is, I was experiencing severe indigestion. Naturally, I went to my physician and, after an examination, (I) was told that I had a hyatal hernia and was treated for such. I then made a trip to South-east Asia as was my custom after Chinese New Year in 1997. I noticed I was still not feeling up to par and my appetite was not what it used to be. Upon my return, I again went to see my physician and a series of tests were prescribed to see what else could be causing my problem. After a CAT scan and a procedure where a tiny camera is put down your (my) throat and to your (my) stomach, the following became evident:
(a) I had an abdominal aorta annurism. My aorta was supposed to be approximately 2 cm in diameter and mine was 8 cm.
(b) There were cancer cells between my esophagus and stomach. Not very good news to say the least. An oncologist was recommended to me and upon seeing him, (I) was told I had two alternatives: Do nothing and die in four to six months or take radiation and chemotherapy and finally have an esophagectomy (removal of your esophagus and putting your stomach higher in your chest area).
Because of my wife and three sons, I chose the latter.

In June of 1997, I underwent the operation for the annurism and, in August, I started the radiation and chemo treatments which lasted for seven weeks. On October 4th, I underwent the operation to remove my esophagus. Incidentally, the doctor told me there was only a 50 percent chance that all of this would be successful. Now, from October 3rd to Mar28th, (1998), I did not take any nourishment by mouth. I was fed through a tube in my side and, during this period, my weight went from 178lbs down to 115lbs.

I should relate to you at this time, that I was baptized a Roman Catholic but through the years drifted away from my faith and, most importantly, my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

On March the 5th, 1998, a Catholic man, (whom) I had met through another friend of mine in Singapore, telephoned me to inquire about my health. I told him I was dying of esophageal cancer and, due to my drastic weight loss, my oncologist and also my family physicians told me that there was nothing more that they could do as I could not eat any solid food. At this time, all medical treatment had stopped including marijuana tablets that were supposed to give me an appetite. If I took any solid food, it would be only a matter of minutes and I would vomit. I was literally starving to death and was preparing myself if not welcoming the thought of death.

He consoled me and prayed with me during our phone conversation and assured me that Dr. Jesus Christ, Lord, Savior & Messiah, would answer my prayers and that he would intercede for me and get as many Christians as he could to pray for me. Our conversation lasted approx. ½ hour and, later that same evening, he faxed me 13 pages of stories of miracles extracted from “And then they were healed” a book by Fr. Corsie S. Legaspi, and an article by Ms Irene Teo, a Singaporean, who was healed of advanced colon cancer, and of his own major healings of poliomyelitis and prostate cancer.

Between Mar 5 and Mar 28th, 1998, this man phoned me 4 times and faxed messages to me 5 times. On March 26th, he faxed (and) phoned me urging me to have full trust in the divine healer, My Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Since my own doctors had given up on me, and discontinued any more treatment or medication, I had to clutch to the words of the Lord in the Bible. My friend assured me that God’s word was more powerful and potent than any chemotherapy or radiation treatment or medication. For a period of three weeks, his prayer group participated in daily Masses, fasting, two long retreats and charismatic prayer meetings. Many (of his) church members had prayed for me incessantly since Mar 5th. I had difficulty in reading the Bible but I urgently realized I needed the healing Words of God but persevered and literally and physically clutched to His Words as my life.

On Saturday, March 28th, 1998 (simultaneously a 4-hour healing Charismatic Mass was said between 8p.m. and 10p.m. at the St. Francis Xavier Retreat Centre in Singapore), I was awakened by a now very strange sensation. I was hungry! In fact, I was so hungry I felt I was starving! I also had no more pain. Immediately, I prayed to Dr. Jesus Christ and thanked him for rescuing me at the imminent hour of death. As if I had lost 5 more lbs, I am sure I would not have survived. My first meal of solid food was indeed a very strange one. I had the most awful craving to eat raw beef which is the custom in my part of the U.S.A. During the Christmas holidays I personally never enjoyed this tradition. However, my stomach was telling me something else. So off to the grocery store, my wife went and bought some ground round of beef, raw onions, rye bread and stome stinky brick cheese made only here in Wisconsin (and some mustard!). I relished my first meal of solid food in 6 months and thought for sure I would be as sick as a dog after eating this hard to digest meal. However, I had no problem and have been eating almost normally since this time. I cannot eat as much as I used to as my stomach is much smaller but I can eat more often. Praise be the Holy Name of Jesus Christ, My Lord, Master, Savior, Spiritual and Physical Physician.

My cancer recovery was dramatic as shown by my weight loss records:
178 lbs before esophageal cancer (in) 1997
114/5 lbs on March 27th 1998 — one year earlier 178lbs
120 lbs on Apr 4, 1998
128 lbs on Apr 14, 1998
152 lbs Present weight Nov 22, 1998

In mid-April, my oncologist confirmed that there was no trace of cancer but was at a loss to explain my miraculous recovery and appetite. I promptly informed him that I had a second opinion from another doctor, Dr. Jesus Christ — He just shrugged his shoulders.

My wife and children are now convinced that Jesus is indeed ominpotent and alive and are now embracing the Catholic faith.

I would like to take this opportunity to let you know it is very difficult for me to write this testimonial as I become very emotional. It is not unusual to be at Mass and break into tears thinking about my past experience and watching my family in prayer. I can only tell you this that if you have faith and completely put your life in the hands of Jesus Christ you will not nothing to worry about or fear. God is indeed great all of the time and the word impossible is not in his vocabulary as he can accomplish anything at any time He wishes.

Donald G Heding
November 22, 1998

Enjoy your life at every moment   

Once a fisherman was sitting near seashore, under the shadow of a tree smoking his beedi. Suddenly a rich businessman passing by approached him and enquired as to why he was sitting under a tree smoking and not working. To this the poor fisherman replied that he had caught enough fishes for the day.

Hearing this the rich man got angry and said: Why don’t you catch more fishes instead of sitting in shadow wasting your time?
Fisherman asked: What would I do by catching more fishes?
Businessman: You could catch more fishes, sell them and earn more money, and buy a bigger boat.
Fisherman: What would I do then?
Businessman: You could go fishing in deep waters and catch even more fishes and earn even more money.
Fisherman: What would I do then?
Businessman: You could buy many boats and employ many people to work for you and earn even more money.
Fisherman: What would I do then?
Businessman: You could become a rich businessman like me.
Fisherman: What would I do then?
Businessman: You could then enjoy your life peacefully.
Fisherman: What do you think I’m doing right now?

MORAL – You don’t need to wait for tomorrow to be happy and enjoy your life. You don’t even need to be more rich, more powerful to enjoy life. LIFE is at this moment, enjoy it fully.

As some great men have said “My riches consist not in extent of my possessions but in the fewness of my wants”.

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