Here is your Sunday STORY on: LOVE OF WISDOM: Wisdom is a strange subject, what may be right for one person isn’t always right for another. What is equally important, other than the wisdom being right for you, is that is empowers you. Each day you are getting stories of wisdom, you may understand the wisdom being expressed but it may not suit your lifestyle. This is how we must expect it to be. But if a particular piece of editorial empowers your soul and it shakes your very roots, then we need to be thankful for this encounter. If you were in a situation and the very best possible result, was your happiness, yet as you study the worst possible scenario, this results in your happiness too. This may not happen too often, but what you have done is think positive. When others may strive for greatness and finish up with the opposite of their desire, they can almost certainly expect sadness and depression. Try and see the good in everything. If you have two possible solutions to a problem and the outcome doesn’t depend on you, then if you have the ability to make the most of whatever is presented to you, you’ll survive happier. Today’s story is a tussle with circumstances. But accepting them rather than fight them has proven in this example to be more fulfilling. MAMA'S ADVICE Last Friday I came home from work and as I entered my home, I realised that someone had been in the house. As I walked through the house assessing the damage, I found polished furniture, made and changed beds, vacuum and mopped floors, clean bathrooms, laundered and folded clothes, a sparkling kitchen - in general I had a very clean house. I assure you that this is not how I had left my house that morning. I immediately knew that my daughter had visited and cleaned my house for me. Of course, I was elated but I also felt bad because I knew what a sacrifice it was for her to do this, with three children, a business and a house of her own to manage. As I was looking at all the deeds she had done, I suddenly heard my mama's voice in my ear screaming at me, "Will you ever learn this lesson?" I realized then that I was going around unconsciously moving things and putting them in their 'proper order.' The lesson that my mental ear was hearing was some advice my mama gave me when I got married. "If your husband helps you in the house doing anything, never go behind him and change it. When I was first married, your daddy would help me by making the beds, washing dishes or whatever. I never liked the way he did it, so I always went behind him and did it my way. Before long, he stopped helping me and never offered to help me with anything else. So, even if it doesn't meet your standards or is not done your way, accept it as a gift or he will stop giving." Boy, did that lesson ring true today and so many other times in my life. Why is that we cannot accept help without wanting to customize it to our way of thinking? As long as the job gets done well, does it really matter how it gets done? I reflected back, and realised that I had a tendency to always change or rearrange things to my way of doing or thinking. Could it be that this had kept me from growth in my life? Could it be that I had failed to see a better way, just because it was not my way? Could I have missed blessings because of my narrow-minded view? Were there others in my life that wanted to help but were afraid their efforts would not meet my standards? Had I made others feel inferior and unimportant because I had to change them to my liking? Well, I sat down in my clean house, keeping everything just as my daughter had so painstakingly left it, and thanked God for children that loved me and for His grace in giving me one more chance to pass the test. I hope I have learned to follow Mama's advice this time! (Maxine Wright) QUOTE: "The essence of greatness is the ability to choose personal fulfilment in the circumstances where others choose madness.” (Dr. Wayne W. Dyer., American Psychotherapist, Author, Lecturer).