THE WEEPING LADY
Somewhere
in a far away land, there once was a young maiden who came to be known as The
Weeping Lady. She was actually a beautiful woman, but since she took to endless
crying, her face began to look unpleasant, which depressed her and made her cry
even more. Days, weeks and months passed and tears just kept on rolling from
her eyes until she has actually cried a river! Well, admittedly, it was just a
small river, but hey, that was a river nonetheless.
One
day, an old woman chanced upon The Weeping Lady by her river of tears. Taking
pity on her, the old woman approached her.
“What
troubles you, dear, that you should weep so much?” the old woman asked.
“Oh,
I feel so lonely. I don’t want to do anything but cry and cry all the time. I
live by myself and no one wants to come near me. I am utterly miserable”, the
lady answered in-between sobs.
“Ah,
you poor child,” the old woman said in understanding, “loneliness is a natural
emotion which visits people sometimes, but you must not allow it to stay. You
should be busy, think of other thoughts, and your loneliness will move away. Here’s
what you can do – find some blessing behind your sorrows, and share it, and
you’ll see, you will be happy again. Here,” she said, opening her sack and
fishing out a plant with young, green leaves and brown, sturdy roots, “this is
one such thing that will grow from your river of tears.”
“What
shall I do with it?” the young lady asked, as she took the plant in her hands.
“Give
it space in your little river. Allow it to grow and see what happens,” the old
woman answered as she began to leave.
“You
are very kind”, the young maiden said as her lips parted in the dawning of a
smile.
Days passed and The Weeping Lady did not weep
as much as she used to. She was getting fascinated by the growth of her little
plant.
One
day, she was very thrilled to find that a lovely pink bud had risen proudly
from its roots. And when the sun came and touched it with its warm rays, the
bud blossomed into a big, many-petalled flower! The moment she saw it, she shed
tears anew because she had not expected something quite so pretty to come out
from her river of tears.
Weeks
continued to pass and the plant grew so healthily that the Weeping Lady had to
divide it into a number more plants. Then, at last, she stopped weeping
altogether for she tended her plants so devotedly that she had no time to cry
or fret away. Of late, a couple of fish even made a home of her little river,
and before long, had it swarmed by tens of their little ones. As a result,
children from the neighboring houses came often to watch her little wards. And
when they leave, they take some of her flowers to put into their mothers’
vases.
And
so it was that the maiden who once was The Weeping Lady forgot all about her
aching loneliness. She started to play with the children, laugh with them, and
take delight in simple things with them. Later, she even made friends with the
children’s mothers, fathers, and elder brothers and sisters. Now, no one calls
her The Weeping Lady anymore, for she is always cheerful and smiling, and her
loveliness shines in her face anew.
And
by the way, she never forgets to thank God everyday for sending her the old
woman who taught her how to find blessing amid her misery, and showed her how
to be happy again.
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Well,
wasn’t that cheezzy.
Actually,
something like that is really happening to us – minus the Weeping Lady, and the
flowers. Rather, change the flowers to a guyabano tree.
You
see, Nally, our home companion, planted a guyabano seed she took from a fruit
we ate, (yes, we did not even buy the seed!) and wonders(!), it magically grew!
And
you must know, guyabano is touted as a miracle plant because it is widely
believed to cure and prevent certain kinds of cancers. That’s why many people
from our subdivision – some we know, some we don’t – come knocking at our gates
asking for guyabano leaves which they boil so their loved ones can drink its
tea.
And
we are happy to share our tree, particularly its leaves. Our guyabano is
something so simple and yet it has become a source of various blessings – new friends,
good health, shade from the sun, an ornament to our front yard, and well,
oxygen.
Most
of us have probably something in our lives that we can share; and when we do,
will make others happy; and by making them happy, we become happy.