Treasure in Heaven

A wealthy man lay on his deathbed. His entire life had been centered around money. As his life ebbed away, he presumed that in the afterlife, money would also be everything. So he gave orders that a purse filled with gold coins be placed inside his casket alongside his body. His last wish was carried out. In the next world it took the bookkeepers a long time to find his name in any of the good books. In fact it took so long that he got very hungry and thirsty just waiting. He looked around and sure enough, he saw an attractive eatery not far away. "Aha," he said to himself, "it's just like I thought. It's a good thing that I brought some money along with me." His mouth was already watering as he approached the restaurant. But before he sat down to eat, he was told that the money he had brought along had no value now. In fact, only money that was of any value now was the money he had given away on earth. The rich man dropped his head in deep thought, but could not remember having given any money away... so now he had none.

As an Englishman of another stripe let his tombstone explain: "What I spent I had. What I kept I lost. What I gave I have." 

 

Listening

 

A man realized that he could not hear very well and that he had to buy a hearing aid. But he did not want to spend much money on it. So he went to the store and asked the clerk, "How much do hearing aids cost?" "Well" said the salesman, "it depends. They run from two dollars to two thousand .'' "Let me see the two dollar model," the man said. The clerk hung a string around the man's neck. "Just put this button in your ear," he said, "and stick this string in your pocket." "How does it work?" asked the customer. "It doesn't work. But when people see it on you, they'll speak louder."

Actually most of our communication problems are not due to people speaking too softly, Most of us are not good listeners. Big companies know that people want to be listened to. One company uses the motto: "We listen better, and another company says, "We hear you." As one little girl promised, "I'll try to listen louder." 

 

Un-Selfishness

 

They tell a story about Saint Peter. He was taking a visitor to the next world on a tour. First they came to hell. It was like a big dining room with long tables all loaded with food. And still, everyone seemed skinny and half starved. They had a special way of eating here in hell: each one had a spoon with a handle which was two meters long. Now when the guest visited heaven he noticed that they had the same system of eating in their dining room. But here everyone seemed well fed. Noticing this, the visitor asked Saint Peter for the reason. "Well," he explained, "did you notice that in hell everyone tried to feed himself with that long spoon? Well, no one can reach his mouth, and so they are all starving. But in heaven everyone feeds everyone else with those long spoons. And so, everything goes just fine.

This is a good example of Christianity in practice. We think of the other person first and of ourselves, last.