Two traveling angels stopped to spend the night in the home of a wealthy family. The family was rude and refused to let the angels stay in the mansion’s guest room.

Instead the angels were given a small space in the cold basement. As they made their bed on the hard floor, the older angel saw a hole in the wall and repaired it.

When the younger angel asked why, the older angel replied, “Things aren’t always what they seem.”

The next night the pair came to rest at the house of a very poor, but very hospitable farmer and his wife.

After sharing what little food they had the couple let the angels sleep in their bed where they could have a good night’s rest.

When the sun came up the next morning the angels found the farmer and his wife in tears. Their only cow, whose milk had been their sole income, lay dead in the field.

The younger angel was infuriated and asked the older angel, “How could you have let this happen? The first man had everything, yet you helped him,” he accused. “The second family had little but was willing to share everything and you let the cow die.”

“Things aren’t always what they seem,” the older angel replied.

“When we stayed in the basement of the mansion, I noticed there was gold stored in that hole in the wall. Since the owner was so obsessed with greed and unwilling to share his good fortune, I sealed the wall so he wouldn’t find it.

“Then last night as we slept in the farmer’s bed, the angel of death came for his wife. I gave him the cow instead.”

Things aren’t always what they seem.

Lesson:

Our vision or perception is very limited. Therefore, we can never have a complete, whole or holistic vision of any event, situation or experience. We may have a limited perception or knowledge of one or two aspects or characteristics of an event or a situation and based on that we jump to conclusion, mostly negative ones. Hence we suffer in life. Things aren’t always what they seem.

Sometimes that is exactly what happens when things don’t turn out the way we want. We should have faith. We just need to trust that every outcome is always to our advantage. There is something positive even in seemingly negative ones. In fact, negative events, situations and experiences teach us more valuable lessons than the positive ones. After observing the negative events of old age, disease and death, Prince Siddhartha left the palace and became a wandering monk in search of immortality and infinite bliss and became a Buddha — the enlightened one.

Therefore, these seemingly negative events help us evolve spiritually. Shraddhaa (faith plus the element of surrender) helps us to develop this ability to perceive the positive in every experience and event, especially in the negative or the adverse ones. Things could have been worse. We just might not know it until some time later... and sometimes it is known as blessing in disguise. 

Never take away anyone’s hope.

That may be all they have.