This was given to me by someone who found this a great help to them in their life and so they asked me to put it on my blog page, so here it is. It fills me with a warm feeling reading it, hope you feel that too…..

He looked in the mirror, repelled by the sight, a constant reminder of his last fire-fight. ‘Though he’d rescued a man, a dog, and a boy, his fame as a “hero” brought him little joy. For his wife had now left him for a more handsome man. She said, “Care of an invalid was not in my plan.”

As he stood there bemoaning his unhappy state, he was filled with self-pity, with anger and hate. His dreams for the future now turned upside down, he limped to the park, on his face a deep frown. As relief for his mind, he sat down to read. To the movement around him he paid little heed. Then out from a group of some children at play a ragged young girl approached, her head turned away. Standing close to his side, her eyes to the ground, she stretched out her arm and said, “Look what i found!” she held in her hand what looked like a weed, all wilted and brown, its flowers gone to seed.

The man growled in answer, “Just leave me alone. Get on with your playing, or run along home.”

But the child was undaunted. ‘” picked these for you. They’re awfully pretty, and i think you are, too.”

The man was annoyed, for her eyes seemed to shift. He pushed her aside, refusing her gift. He thought that she mocked him, as others had done- - the object of ridicule, the target for ”fun”.

And then something happended. God opened his mind. A new look he took: the wee girl was blind! He reached out and touched her. He patted her head; then he accepted her flowers, although they looked dead.

His anger and hatred had started their melt. God’s love, through this child, he knew he had felt. The man turned to thank her, but she wasn’t there. She seemed to have vanished into the noon air. Although day after day to the park the man came, he never did see his small Angel again.

But the child had awakened in him a desire to start a new life, to forget that last fire. He went to the hospital, where once he had been. He stood there and stared at familiar scenes. He watched the burn patients in their therapy. In some he saw anger, in some, agony. Remembering so vividly the pain he’d endured, he knew that the ”inside” was the hardest to cure. From that moment on, he knew what he’d do. He’d help these folks heal. And his soul would heal, too.

Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there, they serve some sort of purpose, teach you a lesson or help figure out who you are or who you want to become.

You never know who these people may be; your roommate, your neighbour, teacher, long lost friend, lover or even a complete stranger who, when you lock eyes with them, you know that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.

And sometimes things happen to you and at the time that seem horrible, painful and unfair, but in reflection you realize that without overcoming those obstacles you would never have realized your potential, strength, will power of heart.

Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good or bad luck. Illness, injury, love, lost moments or true greatness and sheer stupidity all occur to test the limits of the soul.

Without these small tests, if they be events, illness or relationships, life would be like a smooth paved, flat road to nowhere. Safe and comfortable but dull and utterly pointless.

The people you meet who affect your life and successes and downfalls your experience, they are the ones who create who you are. Even the bad experience can be learned from…… Those lessons are the hardest and probably the most important ones.

If someone hurts you, betrays you, or break your heart….. forgive them, for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart to.

If someone loves you, love them back unconditionally, not only because they love you, but because they are teaching you to love and opening your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them.

Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can, for you may never be able to experience it again. Talk to people you have never talked to before, and actually listen, let yourself fall in love, break free and set your sights high. You can make of your life anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it.

I wish you all the best in your endeavours as well as struggles in life. Have a fighting spirit and never hesitate to get back in the struggle!