Name: qiaoxiang I would like to share a piece of inpirsational story to all. I first heard this story from one of my professors which I am so captivated by it. Hence, I searched for it in the web so that I can share with all of you. The story goes like this...
In the very olden times, there was once a great king. This
king had many, many servants to take care of every task.
One particular servant was responsible for bringing water
from the well to the King's table. However, it was a
long journey from the castle to the well from which fresh,
clean and pure water could be obtained. As this was the
time before cars and other convenient machines, the servant
carried two buckets - one attached to each end of a
long stick - to transport water back to the castle. One of
the buckets was new - it shone in the sunlight and it was
perfect in every way. The other bucket was older and it
had a small hole on one side that caused water to leak from
it onto the ground, along the road back to the castle.
Thus, whenever the servant arrived back to the castle, although
he had filled 2 buckets of water, he had only 1 and
a half to present to the king. This caused the leaky bucket
great distress. Twice a day when the servant picked up
the buckets to go to the well, the older one would look
longingly at the new one, "Oh, why can't I be as shiny and
flawless as the other?" the bucket would bemoan. The
leaky bucket would cast envious looks at the new bucket
as not a single drop fell from its new, glistening metal.
The leaky bucket tried every possible way of shifting its
weight, of rotating its sides to minimize the leakage, but
all to no avail. It could retain no more than half a bucket
of water through the long walk back to the castle.
One day, the leaking bucket was distraught and cried out
to the servant, "Why don't you just throw me away? I'm of
no use to you. I can do barely half the work of your new
bucket. You have to walk such a long way back and forth
to the well and I leak out half of the water you fill me
with. The king is such a good, noble, divine king. I want to
serve him as well as your new bucket. But I can't; I can't
even give him a full bucket of water."
The servant was very wise (sometimes wisdom lies hidden
in places where we don't expect it). He said to the bucket,
"Look down. Look below you on the path to the castle, the
path upon which you leak your water." The bucket at first
was too ashamed to look and see drops of precious water
scattered on the ground. When it finally looked, however,
it noticed a thick row of beautiful flowers - so many lush,
blossoming varieties - lining the path with vibrancy and
beauty.
"Every day I pick these flowers to decorate the king's table
and his room," the servant said. "When I noticed that you
were leaking, I planted seeds all along the path on your
side of the road. Then, twice a day you come and water
them. Now, they have grown and blossomed into the king's
favorite centerpiece. He says their fragrance calms his
mind and brings peace to his heart. So, see, you are not
useless at all. Rather, you are serving two purposes - both
to bring water and also to bring beautiful flowers to the
king's castle.
of water through the long walk back to the castle.
One day, the leaking bucket was distraught and cried out
to the servant, "Why don't you just throw me away? I'm of
no use to you. I can do barely half the work of your new
bucket. You have to walk such a long way back and forth
to the well and I leak out half of the water you fill me
with. The king is such a good, noble, divine king. I want to
serve him as well as your new bucket. But I can't; I can't
even give him a full bucket of water."
The servant was very wise (sometimes wisdom lies hidden
in places where we don't expect it). He said to the bucket,
"Look down. Look below you on the path to the castle, the
path upon which you leak your water." The bucket at first
was too ashamed to look and see drops of precious water
scattered on the ground. When it finally looked, however,
it noticed a thick row of beautiful flowers - so many lush,
blossoming varieties - lining the path with vibrancy and
beauty.
"Every day I pick these flowers to decorate the king's table
and his room," the servant said. "When I noticed that you
were leaking, I planted seeds all along the path on your
side of the road. Then, twice a day you come and water
them. Now, they have grown and blossomed into the king's
favorite centerpiece. He says their fragrance calms his
mind and brings peace to his heart. So, see, you are not
useless at all. Rather, you are serving two purposes - both
to bring water and also to bring beautiful flowers to the
king's castle.
So many times in life we condemn ourselves for our failures,
we compare ourselves unfavorably to others, we
grieve over our own shortcomings, wishing that we could
be different, more like someone else or some pre-conceived
ideal. And as we do this, we blind ourselves to our real
assets, to the flowers we are watering each day, to the real
gifts we can give to the king.
God has given everyone a unique, special set of gifts and
it is up to us to make the most of these. Some of us will be
able to carry water without spilling a drop. Our gift to the
world will be a full bucket of water. Others of us will be
able to give only half a bucket of water, but we will line
the world’s paths with beautiful flowers and sweet fragrance.
Let us never underestimate our potential or the
significance of our own gifts. Let none of us ever feel just
like a "leaky bucket."