There was a king in Africa who had a close friend that he grew up with.
The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred
in his life (positive or negative) and remarking, “This is
good!”

One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition.  The
friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had
apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns,
for after taking the gun from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb
was blown off.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, “This is good!”

To which the king replied, “No this is NOT good!” and proceeded to send
his friend to jail.

About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have
known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured him and took him to their
village. They tied him to a stake surrounded by wood.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king had
but one thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone that was less
than whole. They untied the king and sent him away.

As he returned home, he was reminded of the event that had taken his
thumb and felt so very badly about his treatment of his friend. He went
immediately to the jail to speak with his friend. “You were right”  he
said, “it was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell
the friend all that had just happened. “And so I am very sorry for
sending you to jail for so long.  It was bad for me to do
this.”

“No,” his friend replied,  “this is good!”

“What do you mean, ‘this is good’! How could it be good that I sent you,
my good friend, to jail for all this time?”

“If I had not been in jail, I would have been with you - and eaten!”

There was this couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery, especially teacups.

One day in a beautiful fine shop, they saw this beautiful teacup.

The man said, “May I see that? I never have seen one quite so beautiful.” And the lady handed it to him.

As she handed it to him, suddenly the teacup spoke:

“You don’t understand,” it said, “I haven’t always been a teacup. There was a time when I was red and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, ‘Let me alone.’

But he only smiled, ‘Not yet.’ “Then I was placed on a spinning wheel,” the teacup said, “and suddenly I was spun around and around and around and around. ‘Stop it! I’m getting dizzy’ I screamed.

But the master only nodded and said, ‘Not yet.’ “Then he put me in the oven. I’d never felt such heat! I wondered why he wanted to burn me. I yelled! I knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as he shook his head, ‘Not yet.’

“Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf and I began to cool.

There, that’s better,’ I said.

Then he brushed me and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. ‘Stop it! Stop it!’ I cried.

He only nodded, ‘Not yet.’

“Then suddenly he put me back into the oven not like the first one. This one was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head, saying, ‘Not yet.’

“Then I knew there wasn’t any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf.

One hour later, he handed me a mirror and said, ‘Look at yourself,’ and I did, and I said, ‘That’s not me, that couldn’t be me, it’s beautiful. ‘I’m beautiful!”

‘I want you to remember then,’ he said, ‘I know it hurt to be rolled and patted, but if I just left you, you’d have dried up. I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled.

I know it hurt and it was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn’t put you there, you would have cracked. I know the fumes were bad and when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn’t done that, you never would have hardened.

You would not have had any color in your life, and if I hadn’t put you back in that second oven, you wouldn’t survive for very long because the hardness would not have held.

Now you are a finished product.

P - Predictors - they help mould our future
R - Reminders - we are not self sufficient
O - Opportunities - they pull us out of our rut and cause us to think creatively
B - Blessings- they open doors we don’t usually go through
L - Lessons - each new challenge will be our teacher
E - everywhere - no place or person is excluded from them
M - Messages - they warn us about potential disaster
S - Solvable - no problem is without a solution