Perspective

There are poisons that look like crystal spring water. A glass of such poison, placed next to a glass of clear water will fool the eye; the two look exactly alike. But one has death in it, the other life. You have to discover by other means than drinking the true nature of the two liquids.

In the same way there are many things in life that are deadly, but have the seeming appearance of goodness. This is why, when you must make a choice about some pleasure, amusement, or action, you must not come to your decision on the basis of appearances.

A certain missionary society, in order to gain access for a missionary to work in some of the African tribes, sent down trinkets to be bartered with the natives. Among them was a package of little hand mirrors, such as ladies use.

The natives had never seen their own faces except in the waters of some lake or stream. So the news of this wonderful instrument by which people could see their features was spread abroad. The missionary was invited by the tribe after tribe to visit them with his hand glass.

In 2004, Dove commissioned a study that interviewed women around the globe asking them what they thought about beauty. Only 2% of the women described themselves as beautiful. A companion article quoted Angelina Jolie as saying, “I struggle with low-self esteem all the time. I think everyone does. I have so much wrong with me, it's unbelievable.”

Source: In Other Words

Satan promises the best, but pays with the worst;
He promises honor and pays with disgrace;
He promises pleasure and pays with pain;
He promises profit and pays with loss;
He promises life and pays with death.—Thomas Brooks

One man challenged another to an all-day wood chopping contest. The challenger worked very hard, stopping only for a brief lunch break. The other man had a leisurely lunch and took several breaks during the day. At the end of the day, the challenger was surprised and annoyed to find that the other fellow had chopped substantially more wood than he had. “I don't get it,” he said. “Every time I checked, you were taking a rest, yet you chopped more wood than I did.”

Farmer Jack watched two men park their county truck on the side of the road. One man got out and dug a hole, then moved a few feet and dug another. The other man followed, filling in each hole.

The farmer called, “What’s going on with all the digging?”

“We work for the county,” one of the men said.

“I see that, but one of you is digging a hole and the other is filling it. You’re just wasting my tax money.”

When the Klingler’s were going on an extended vacation, they asked their nine-year-old neighbor, Mike, about taking care of the family dog. They explained that the job would require feeding, watering, grooming, walking, and spending plenty of time playing with the dog while giving her lots of love. After covering the job description, they asked what the job would be worth to him. The little boy replied, “I’ll give you ten bucks.”

Source: Unknown

In the Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007, a man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about forty-five minutes. During that time approximately two thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After three minutes, a middle-aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds before hurrying to meet his schedule.

4 Minutes:

The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat, and without stopping, continued to walk.