Story of Dreams

Here are some inspirational stories i had from my inbox.

-----Unknown Author -----


Once there were three trees on a hill in the
woods. They were
discussing
their hopes and dreams when the first tree said,
"Someday, I hope to be a
treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver
and precious gems and
be
decorated with intricate carvings. Everyone would see
my beauty."

The second tree said, "Someday, I will be a
mighty ship. I will take
kings
and queens across the waters and sail to the corners
of other world.
Everyone
will feel safe in me because of the strength of my
hull."

Finally, the third tree said, "I want to grow to
be the tallest and
straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on
top of the hill and
look
up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God
and how close to them I
am
reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time, and
people will always
remember me."

After a few years of praying that their dreams
would come true, a
group of
woodsmen came upon the trees. One came to the first
tree and said, *This
looks
like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell
the wood to a
carpenter,"
and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy,
because he knew that the
carpenter would make him into a treasure chest. At the
second tree, one of
the
other woodsman said, "This looks like a strong tree. I
should be able to
sell it
to the shipyard." The a second tree was happy, because
he knew he was on
his way
to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the
tree was frightened,
because it knew that, if it was cut down, its dreams
would not come true.
One of
the woodsmen said, "I don't need anything special from
my tree, so I'll
take
this one," and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenter's,
he was made into a
feed box
for animals, placed in a barn and filled with hay.
This was not at all what
he
had prayed for.

The second tree was cut and made into a small
fishing boat. His dreams
of
being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an
end. The third tree
was
cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about
their dreams. Then one
day, a
man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth, and
they placed the baby in
the
hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree.
The man wished that
he
could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger
would have to do. The
tree
could feel the importance of this event and knew that
it had held the
greatest
treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing
boat made from the
second
tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While
they were out on the
water,
a great storm arose, and the tree didn't think it was
strong enough to keep
the
men safe.

The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and
said "Peace," and the
storm
stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had
carried the King of Kings
in
its boat. Finally, someone came and got the third
tree. It was carried
through
the streets, and the crowd mocked the man who was
carrying it.

Finally,the man was nailed to the tree and raised
in the air to die at
the
top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to
realize that it was
strong
enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close
to God as was
possible,
because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that, when things
don't seem to be going
your
way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you
place your trust in
Him, He
will give you great gifts. Each of the trees got what
they wanted, just not
in
the way they had imagined. We don't always know what
God's plans are for
us. We
just know that His ways are not our ways,but His ways
are always best.

Sometimes the heart sees what the eyes can't.