Temperament. Is the best brand.

Author: Shi Yino
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: The Tears of God
There is a story that says, one day, an angel came to the home of an elderly couple in a farm. He told them, "Because of your innocence and kindness, God has decided to grant you three wishes, but there is a precondition: whatever wish you make, your neighbor will also receive double the blessing." The elderly couple was delighted and said, "Give us a small mountain of ready rice, so we won’t have to farm this year!" The next morning, to their surprise, a small mountain of rice piled up in front of their door—plentiful and full. The old man was overjoyed! But then he thought that their barn might not be big enough to store it all, so he decided to go to town to buy wood to expand the barn. Halfway there, he bumped into his neighbor. Upon asking, he found out that his neighbor was also planning to buy wood to build a barn. The neighbor was dancing with excitement, saying, "Wow! Suddenly, two small mountains of rice appeared in front of my house! I won’t have to farm this year or next!" Instantly, the old man felt a surge of envy, wishing his neighbor would disappear from sight right then and there.
A week later, the angel visited again, and the elderly couple made their second wish. They said to the angel, "We hope God will grant us a lovely baby, as we have no children." Ten months later, they indeed had a baby. Just as they were about to tell their friends and family the good news, they saw their neighbor enter with red eggs, saying excitedly, "My wife gave birth! I never expected we would have children, and they’re twins!" The elderly couple felt terrible. Looking at the red eggs their neighbor had brought, they couldn’t bring themselves to eat.
That night, the angel visited once more to hear their third wish. The old man, furious, demanded, "I ask God to cut off one of my arms!" The angel was startled! The old man then said resentfully, "I want to deprive that arrogant neighbor of both his hands, so he can’t do anything for the rest of his life, ha ha!" The old man knelt on the ground, waiting for God to take away one of his arms, but there was no response. Suddenly, he looked up and saw the angel with tears streaming down his face, saying, "God will not grant this request, for He loves everyone in the world. Do you know? When you made that request, God was grieving and crying in heaven. Foolish person! Why would you leave pain for yourself while hurting the heart of God?"
I love this little story. Dear friend, in our daily lives or work circles, do we often unintentionally envy our "neighbors" for having more blessings than us? When we start envying them, even wishing curses upon them. Do you know that at that very moment, your loving heavenly Father is silently crying for you in heaven? As the angel in the story said: Envy is leaving pain for yourself and sorrow for God. Life is short. Learn to share in the joy of your "neighbors’" success, don’t let envy bind you, and never let the God who loves us grieve for you in heaven.