Smell Your Roses, Disregard the Thorns…

“I won a million dollars – but unfortunately because of an illness I became blind and paralyzed.”

How many of us would like to trade places with that person? Not many. But we would prefer the former to the latter. This is selective listening.

We are so focused on complaining about things we don't have that we lose sight of the things we have. There is a lot to be thankful for.

The following example will shed light on:

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A medical doctor was invited as a guest speaker to address a group of alcoholics. He wanted to make a demonstration that would be powerful enough to make people realize that alcohol was injurious to their health.

He had two containers, one with pure distilled water and one with pure alcohol.

He put an earthworm into the distilled water and the worm swam beautifully and came up to the top.

He put the same earthworm into the alcohol and it disintegrated in front of everyone's eyes. He wanted to prove that this was what alcohol does to the insides of our body.

He asked the group, “What is the moral of the story?”

One person from behind said, "If you drink alcohol, you will not have worms in your stomach."

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Was that the message? Of course not. That was selective listening – we hear what we want to hear and not what is being said.

Similarly, many of our blessings are hidden treasures – count your blessings and not your troubles.

Do not complain of the Thorns in the Roses but be grateful for Roses among Thorns.

Therefore, let’s take time to smell our Roses and ignore the Thorns and…

Stay Blessed!