A Rose Within

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 his faults,
recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can
overcome his faults. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the
thorns. Then will he blossom, blooming forth thirty, sixty, a
hundred-fold as it is given to him.

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.
~Author Unknown~