Golden Stories - Kuldsed lood

Few days ago I went to buy some vege's for dinner and found a book. It was the only one left, had no prize on it. If you know me and have been to my place, you probably have realized that I love books. I love to read them, to buy them, to mark them when i read and find a good thought. :) Books are a real treasure for me, I have loved books since I can remember. My sister told me couple weeks ago, that she and my brother (they are about 10 years older than me), liked to experiment on me, and one experiments was that they taught me to read when I was 3, so me and books - we have a long history together. :) I remember, reading till late night, hiding it from my mum, and being so sleepy next day at school. At first, books were a doorway to the adventures, which I'd never heared before, later, I felt for suffering of characters of timeless love-stories, was mesmerized by great travelling books - like Captain Grant, exited and held my breath reading criminals. :)

Nowadays, I love books, which tell the stories of people's lives or their thoughts and contemplations. The knowledge, which has been filtered out from their own life, pain, happiness. When I visited New Zealand, I went to the Gold Mining place, it wasn't active anymore, but I heard wonderful stories about Gold digging and the journey of a piece of Gold. Gold in New Zealand is found in riverbeds, brought down from mountains, washed out from stones and other particles. Two pieces of Gold, laying side by side, can have a different origin, they tell a different story, but still - they are Gold. I think books are the same - they are the creation and reflection of people - washed and cleansed - each one can tell a different story, which both are true, righteous to exist and to be told.

Couple weeks ago I got an email from a friend, who had read a posting (the long story about renewing, challenging and by doing that putting yourself into service and using the gifts you have or the gift you are). He thanked me for writing this and asked if I've ever thought about writing a book. :) He was not the first person to ask that. And it made me to think - should I write a book. How people come to a point to write a book? Have you thought about writing a book?

I have thought that there are so many good books already written, I feel that writing another one, I should have something really important to say. Otherwise, I would be guilty of wasting time and money of people, and wasting my time instead of doing something useful. But who has that ruler, which measures what is right in this world?

It brought to my mind the story, which happened four years ago: I had to prepare Morning Prayers in Baptist Seminary, Prague, where I was taking a 9-month course of Applied Theology. And one morning I had asked a wife of some lecturer to share what God had done in her life. Hearing her story, didn't give me anything new, it wasn't anything special - I kinda felt, I should have asked someone else - wiser, better speaker, more interesting storyteller...next day, I had another person sharing her story - and she told how the day before, God had told her what she really needed to hear thru the story of that lady, that I had not found interesting. That taught me a great lesson, I'll never forget - at least I do not have the ruler, which lets me to measure the value of a story. Therefore, wheather its in a form of a book or a blog, or a sermon, or a conversation with your friend, or a stranger on the street - we should be story-tellers, because these are a source of a great wisdom - which perhaps help us to become more than we are today. Like Tõnu Lehtsaar, our preacher tonight, quoted someone and said Stone Age didn't end because all the stones were used up, but because the way of thinking changed. :) 

And I would like to share a story which I read from this book called Golden Stories

No reason to be upset

Once upon a time someone asked from a speaker of Antique Creek, called Demosthenes: "Why do you never get upset or take offence, when someone criticizes or says something unfriendly to you?" Demosthenes replies: "Well. If its true, what's been told, then there is no reason to get upset about it, but if it's wrong, then it does not apply to me, and why should I get upset about it, then."

My sister-in-law told me this summer, when I asked her to teach me how to cut up one special vegetable, and she expressed her suprise: " People don't always ask others to teach them something, when they get to a certain age, because they don't want to show their shortcomings." It is sometimes hard for me, as well, to show my weaknesses, :), but at the same time - I have tried to remind myself that whenever I do that, I am gonna miss an opportunity to learn something, a lesson. :) And also take away the opportunity to let someone feel wise and experienced. :) 

How are things with you? What are the areas in your life, where it is hard to learn a lesson - to try something different, to challenge yourself to be able to learn a better way to live? How often do you humble yourself and ask someone, perhaps younger than you, to teach you?

Or perhaps, do you think that you are not great enough, or not such a Big Peace of Gold, to be worthy to write a book - to let others learn and find comfort or help from you?