The Carpenter

The Carpenter
(Author Unknown)

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer/contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the pay cheque, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favour. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate
 way to end his career.
When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you." What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well.

The Message

So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realised, we would have done it differently.
Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project."
Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.
 

May you have an incredible week, where every brick you lay in the construction of life, is one of great commitment and dedication, making it all worth while.

Darren Zwiers

The Quote:
Whatever good things we build end up building us. - Jim Rohn

How Would You Like to Be Remembered

How Would You Like to Be Remembered

About a hundred years ago, a man looked at the morning newspaper and to his surprise and horror, read his name in the obituary column. The news papers had reported the death of the wrong person by mistake. His first response was shock. Am I here or there? When he regained his composure, his second thought was to find out what people had said about him. The obituary read, "Dynamite King Dies." And also "He was the merchant of death." This man was the inventor of dynamite and when he read the words "merchant of death," he asked himself a question, "Is this how I am going to be remembered?" He got in touch with his feelings and decided that this was not the way he wanted to be remembered. From that day on, he started working toward peace. His name was Alfred Nobel and he is remembered today by the great Nobel Prize.

This Weeks Message:

Just as Alfred Nobel got in touch with his feelings and redefined his values, we should step back and do the same. What is your legacy and how would you like to be remembered? An interesting exercise which I highly recommend doing is writing your own eulogy, it does seem strange and hard for some, but is such a powerful tool to identify how you would like to be remembered and to recognise if you are actually on the right path to being respected as you wish. We all want to leave foot prints of greatness yet so many of us are too busy with our everyday activities that we forget how important it is to keep building a strong character of goodness and love, so that we can be known and remembered for it. If you want to be spoken well of, then start living it today.

May you have an exceptionally awesome week, where life is enhanced by all the good things of who you are and what you want to be.
Darren Zwiers
 

This Weeks Quote:

Activate yourself to duty by remembering your position, who you are, and what you have obliged yourself to be. - Thomas Kempis

The Problem with Dandelions

The Problem with Dandelions

A man who took great pride in his lawn found himself with a large crop of dandelions. He tried every method he knew to get rid of them. Still they plagued him. Finally he wrote to the Department of Agriculture. He enumerated all the things he had tried and closed his letter with the question: "What shall I do now?" In due course, the reply came: "We suggest you learn to love them."

This Weeks Message:

This short story holds such a beautiful message on how we need to learn to love the things we cant change. Dandelions are pretty cool, but lets think of the things in our life that we always trying to change when we dont have the power or permission to, just because we want it 'our' way. Letting go of our egos and learning how to love these things will make life so much more enriching, It will give us the reward of patience and unconditional love and that is one of the greatest personality traits to master. Be patient and love more...more than you already do!

May you have an awesome week where you gain the knowledge to identify what you can or cant change and have the strength to make it work.
Darren Z

This Weeks Quote:

Nothing is more simple than greatness; indeed to be simple is to be great. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson