I love this story!

I first heard this story when I was 22 years old and serving a mission for my church. We had been invited to dinner, at a sweet young family's home. Afterwards  they asked us to stay while they read a Christmas story to their kids. They had flannel board cut outs to help the little ones understand it better. The children loved it, and I thought is was one of the most beautiful Christmas stories I had ever heard. I now have the book and read it my kids and grandkids. Hope you enjoy it!

Good night! 

The Three Trees

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: " I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I'll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!" The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on it's way to the ocean. " I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I'll be the strongest ship in the world! The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. I don't want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me they'll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world.

Years, passed. The rain came, the sun shone and the little trees grew tall. One day three wood cutters climbed the mountain. The first wood cutter looked at the first tree and said, "This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining ax, the first tree fell. "Now I shall make a beautiful chest, I shall hold wonderful treasure!" the first tree said.

The second wood cutter looked at the second tree and said, "This tree is strong. It's perfect for me." With a swoop of his shining ax, the second tree fell. "Now I shall sail mighty waters!" thought the second tree. " I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!"

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last wood cutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the wood cutter never even looked up. "Any kind of tree will do for me." He muttered. With a swoop of his shining ax, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the wood cutter brought her to a carpenter's shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, or treasure. She was coated with saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals. The second tree smiled when the wood cutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead the once strong tree was hammered and awed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail to an ocean, or even a river, instead she was taken to a little lake. The third tree was confused when the wood cutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. "What happened?" The once tall tree wondered. " All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God..."

Many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams. But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box. "I wish I could make a cradle for him." Her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. " This manger is beautiful." She said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and a thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She new she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through the wind and the rain. The tired man awoke. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, "Peace." The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten wood pile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man's hand to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel. But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God's love had changed everything. It had made the third tree strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

The next time you feel down because you didn't get what you wanted, sit tight and be happy because God is thinking of something better to give you.

"I seldom end up where I wanted to go, but almost always end up where I need to be."  ~ Douglas Adams

"I have no regrets in my life, I think that everything happens to  you for a reason. The hard times that  you go through build character, making you a much stronger person."  ~ Rita Mero

HOT HOT HOT!

Well, as many of you know we here in Seattle don't usually have to worry about the heat very often for our summers. It is rare to find a house here that even has air conditioning, because you wouldn't use it that often...normally!  But this summer has been quite different, we have had way more heat and sun than we normally have. Here is a photo of firemen cooling down public at the 35th annual Seafood Fest. I don't know that we even ever had a record this hot... to break as yesterday? We checked in here in our neighborhood at 109 degrees yesterday. It was unbelievable!

We jokingly called some of our family and friends and told them good bye, just in case we didn't make it through the HOTTEST day ever!  Humor did seem to help the situation some. My niece is with me and she is from Utah and even she is HOT,HOT, HOT! Yes, we spent most of our day yesterday in stores because it was almost unbearable here at the house. We left and didn't come back till 9:30pm. Even then, the upstairs was just too hot to sleep or do anything, that is why I didn't even write in my blog ( that's not NORMAL either). So we put mattresses on the floor and stayed down stairs. I am always surprised at how the humidity and heat like this just drains you of your energy. I am trying to redecorate a room and clean the house before all my kids get here on Saturday and do you think I got that accomplished? No, it is just too hot, it something doesn't change soon, we will just have to make finishing this room and cleaning the house, a WONDERFUL FAMILY EXPERIENCE! Shhhh.. don't tell the kids yet, wouldn't want to spoil their fun, or give them a chance to back out! :)

So here I am the next morning and I can say that I did it! I survived the HOTTEST DAY ever! I kept thinking to myself, "Lynn, you have lived through a lot of things, you can do this!"  :)

I have to admit, I didn't have it as hard as my daughter Amy,who has a baby coming in a couple of weeks. Her poor hands and feet are so swollen, it reminded me of my pregnancy days in West Virginia in the summer. Man, yesterday I thought I had been caught in some type of time warp and had traveled back to those hot summer days at home. YUK! That is exactly why we wanted to move to Washington, to get less humidity and less extreme summers and winters. Oh well.

I need to remember to be more like my granddaughter and just try and enjoy every minute of each day...hot or cold!

Life truly is...what we make it! :)

"You don't get paid for the hour. You get paid for the value you bring to the hour."   ~ Jim Rohn

"THERE ARE TWO BIG FORCES AT WORK, EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL. WE HAVE VERY LITTLE CONTROL OVER THE EXTERNAL FORCES SUCH AS TORNADOES, EARTHQUAKES, FLOODS AND DISASTERS, ILLNESS AND PAIN. WHAT REALLY MATTERS IS THE INTERNAL FORCE. HOW DO I RESPOND TO THOSE DISEASTERS? OVER THAT I HAVE COMPLETE CONTROL."   ~ Leo F. Buscaglia

As ye sow, so shall ye reap

I am always interested in what makes people tick. I believe there are many aspects to that answer, but the bottom line for me is how to be an observer self each day. Knowing how to make the necessary changes that come with life and life's challenges and experiences. Life is all about change ... Isaac Asimov "The only constant is change..." I think that it is vital, to look at the decisions that we make each day, what are we sowing? I am just trying to plant a few pumpkin plants in my garden for my granddaughter and I totally expect to have pumpkins this fall not anything else. I think this article was good on this whole subject. I hope it makes us all stop and think on a daily basis what we are really sowing!

The Strangest Secret
by Earl Nightingale
George Bernard Shaw said, "People are always blaming their circumstances for what they are. I don't believe in circumstances. The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want, and if they can't find them, they make them."
Well, it's pretty apparent, isn't it? And every person who discovered this believed (for a while) that he was the first one to work it out. We become what we think about.
Conversely, the person who has no goal, who doesn't know where he's going, and whose thoughts must therefore be thoughts of confusion, anxiety and worry - his life becomes one of frustration, fear, anxiety and worry. And if he thinks about nothing... he becomes nothing.
How does it work? Why do we become what we think about? Well, I'll tell you how it works, as far as we know. To do this, I want to tell you about a situation that parallels the human mind.
Suppose a farmer has some land, and it's good, fertile land. The land gives the farmer a choice; he may plant in that land whatever he chooses. The land doesn't care. It's up to the farmer to make the decision.
We're comparing the human mind with the land because the mind, like the land, doesn't care what you plant in it. It will return what you plant, but it doesn't care what you plant.
Now, let's say that the farmer has two seeds in his hand- one is a seed of corn, the other is nightshade, a deadly poison. He digs two little holes in the earth and he plants both seeds-one corn, the other nightshade. He covers up the holes, waters and takes care of the land...and what will happen? Invariably, the land will return what was planted.
As it's written in the Bible, "As ye sow, so shall ye reap."
Remember the land doesn't care. It will return poison in just as wonderful abundance as it will corn. So up come the two plants - one corn, one poison.
The human mind is far more fertile, far more incredible and mysterious than the land, but it works the same way. It doesn't care what we plant...success...or failure. A concrete, worthwhile goal...or confusion, misunderstanding, fear, anxiety and so on. But what we plant it must return to us.
You see, the human mind is the last great unexplored continent on earth. It contains riches

" NOBODY CAN GO BACK AND START A NEW BEGINNING, BUT ANYONE CAN START TODAY AND MAKE A NEW ENDING" ~Maria Robinson

" THE KEY TO CHANGE...IS TO LET GO OF FEAR" ~ Rosanne Cash

"SOMETIMES IT'S THE SMALLEST DECISIONS THAT CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER" ~ Keri Russell

"BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD" ~Mahatma Gandi