“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”
– John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) U.S. President
According to NA “Growth means change”, so what changes have you made, lately?
John F. Kennedy Brief Bio (3:17)
The Boy and The Apple Tree :
A long time ago, there was a huge apple tree. A little boy loved to come and play around it everyday. He climbed to the treetop, ate the apples and took a nap under the shadow. He loved the tree and the tree loved to play with him. Time went by. The little boy had grown up and he now longer played around the tree every day.
One day the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad. ‘Come and play with me”, the tree asked the boy.
“I am no longer a kid. Nor do I play around trees any more,” the boy replied.
“I want toys. I need money to buy them.”
‘Sorry….but I do not have money, but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money.”
The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples.
The tree was sad.
One day the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited.
‘Come and play with me’ the tree said.
“I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?’
‘Sorry…. but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house.”
‘So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.
…
One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted.
‘Come and play with me!’ the tree said.
I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself, can you give me a boat?’ said the man.
“Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy.”
So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.
Finally, the man returned after many years. ‘Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore. Not one more apples for you’, the tree said.
“No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite’ the man replied.
‘No more trunk for you to climb on.” ‘I am too old for that now.” The man said.
“I really cannot give yon anything, the only thing left is my dying roots,’ the tree said with tears.
“Nor do I need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years,’ the man replied.
‘Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest come sit down with me and rest.’
The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears.
I have changed the way that I “plan” my life. I have goals and aspirations, but I allow myself to also embrace the unexpected.
I am blessed to be learning to apply gratitude to my prayer and meditation. Without gratitude I tend to become stuck, stagnant, and mired down in old stuff. When I begin to apply gratitude, I find my heart will go the place where I find relief when I need it and a sense of being full otherwise.
I renovated my home recently to make it more inviting andand available to conduct business.this also allowed me too throw away a lot of the clutter thatfilled my place
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I think I’m a much more tolerant and patient person 90% of the time now that I do daily step work and meditate more often.
the spiritual change is one of the most important to me.
everything falls into place much better when i’m applying this step daily