The Shoebox

Talking about love...this is from an email...author unknown (comments in green, mine)

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. It pays to marry your friend.

They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside.


She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box.

When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls And a stack of money totaling $95,000. He asked her about the contents. 'When we were to be married,' she said, ' my grandmother told me "The secret of a happy marriage was to never argue." She told me that If I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.'

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He didn't consider how long it took her to crochet one doll...I wonder if she kep crocheting until she cooled off?

He almost burst with happiness. 'Honey,' he said, 'that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?' 'Oh,' she said, 'that's the money I made from selling the dolls.' I can't imagine how much each doll cost?

So what should those of us who don't know how to knit or crotchet do? Come to think of it, I used to knit and crotchet years ago...hmm wonder if I should reevaluate what I do in my spare time...

This one of those pieces that we smile (& some smirk) at when we read. There as lots of things and tips to takeaway from this piece...for me (& hopefully for all of us), one of them is that it is possible to redirect anger productively...and possibly make money too :).

This could very well be someone's "trigger" to consider starting their own business. Now if you do, you'll need to have the self-confidence and internal motivation to continue the business and not let anger be your "driving force". You could start earning money from one of your hobbies too...just an idea.

Another takeaway, is for me to do all I need to to make my marriage work and flourish. Bishop David Oyedepo says, you're not married to see if it will work...you're married to see (i.e. ensure) that it will work...and it's a 2-way street and ties in to the Courage to Love - the woman in the story sure had that Courage. My personal desire (& prayer) is that from now and in years (& decades) to come, the story of my marriage will one filled with WoW moments underpinned by Courage to Love amongst other things. AMEN!!!