A certain man planted a rose and watered it
faithfully, and before it blossomed, he examined it. He
saw the bud that would soon blossom and also the
thorns. And he thought, "How can any beautiful flower
come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?"
Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the
rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died.
So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a
rose. The God-like qualities planted in us at birth
grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many of us look at
ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We
despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come
from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and
eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves;
someone else must show it to them. One of the greatest
gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past
the thorns and find the rose within others.
This is the characteristic of love, to look at a
person, and knowing their faults, recognize the
nobility in their soul, and help them realize they can
overcome the faults. If we show them the rose, they
will conquer the thorns. Then will they blossom,
blooming forth thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold as it is
given to them.
Our duty in this world is to help others by showing
them their roses and not their thorns. Only then can we
achieve the love we should feel for each other; only
then can we bloom in our own garden.
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