Not a bad day

It was during one of the hectic and crazy days of last week, that I heard the following passage being read as part of the spiritual reading in the Chapel:

Blessed John Tauler, the fourteenth century Rhenish mystic and Dominican theologian, prayed for eight years that God would send him a person who would be able to point out to him the true way to perfection.  ... 

Tauler found on the steps of the church a beggar in rags, with feet bare, wounded and caked with mud. He greeted the beggar with the words: "May God give you a good day" to which the beggar answered:  "I do not remember ever having a bad day." 

As those words and the enumeration of the beggar to Bl. Tauler poured into my ears, my heart and mind, traced back the day and I found questioning myself: Can I too utter those same words with the same conviction of the beggar?  ... Not a bad day!  

Put the glass down

Here's an amusing and interesting anecdote that I read today: Once a professor began his class by holding up a glass with some water in it. He held it up for all to see and asked the students, "how much do you think this glass weighs? '50gms!'?...'100gms...'125gms'....
The students answered, "I really don't know unless I weigh it."
The professor said, 'now, my question is: What would happen if I held it up like this for a few minutes?'
'Nothing' the students said.
"OK what would happen if I held it up like this for an hour?" the professor asked.
"Your arm would begin to ache" said one of the students.
"You're right, now what would happen if I held it for a day?"
"Your arm could go numb; you might have severe muscle stress & paralysis; have to go to hospital for sure! Ventured another student", all the students laughed.
"Very good. But during all this, did the weight of the glass change?" Asked the professor.
"No" was the reply of all the students.
"Then what caused the arm to ache; the muscle to stress?" After a pause the professor asked "Before my arm ache, what should I do?"
The students were puzzled.
"Put the glass down!" said one of the students.
"Exactly!" said the professor, "Life's problems are exactly like this. Hold it for a few minutes in your head; they seem OK. Think of them for a long time; they begin to ache. Hold it even longer; they begin to paralyze you. You will not be able to do anything."
It's important to think of the challenges (problems) in your life, but EVEN MORE IMPORTANT to 'put them down' at the end of every day before you go to sleep. That way, you are not stressed, you wake up every day fresh; strong; can handle any issue, any challenge that comes your way! Remember to put the glass down everyday!