God created the rose in the likeness of a woman.

The rose represents her beauty.
The stem represents her strength.
The petals are soft as her delicate skin, the fragrance so pure and so sweet.
The leaves represent her arms outstretched, always loving and giving
and for perfection --- He made her heart of pure gold.

A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully. Before it blossomed, he examined it.

He saw a bud that would soon blossom. He also saw the thorns, and he thought,

"How can any beautiful flower come from a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?"

Saddened by this thought, he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died.

So it is with many people.
Within every soul, there is a rose.

The"God-like"qualities planted in us at birth, growing amidst the thorns of our faults.
Many of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects.

We despair, thinking nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

Some don't see the rose within themselves. It takes someone else to show it to them.

One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others.

This is the truest, most innocent and gracious characteristic of love -- To know another person, including their faults, recognize the nobility in their soul, and yet still help another to realize they can overcome their faults.

If we show them the rose, they will conquer the thorns.

Only then will they blossom, and most likely, blooming thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold, as it is given to them.

Our duty in this world is to help others, by showing them their roses and not their thorns.

It is then that we achieve the love we should feel for each other.Only then can we bloom in our own garden.

~~ Author Unknown ~~

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