A woman came out of her house and saw 3 old men with long white beards sitting in her front yard. She did not recognize them. She said "I don’t think I know you, but you must be hungry. Please come in and have something to eat."



"Is the man of the house home?", they asked.



"No", she replied. "He’s out."



"Then we cannot come in", they replied.



In the evening when her husband came home, she told him what had happened.



"Go tell them I am home and invite them in!"



The woman went out and invited the men in"



"We do not go into a House together," they replied.



"Why is that?" she asked.



One of the old men explained: "His name is Wealth," he said pointing to one of his friends, and said pointing to another one, "He is Success, and I am Love." Then he added, "Now go in and discuss with your husband which one of us you want in your home."



The woman went in and told her husband what was said. Her husband was overjoyed. "How nice!!", he said. "Since that is the case, let us invite Wealth. Let him come and fill our home with wealth!"



His wife disagreed. "My dear, why don’t we invite Success?"



Their daughter-in-law was listening from the other corner of the house. She jumped in with her own suggestion: "Would it not be better to invite Love? Our home will then be filled with love!"



"Let us heed our daughter-in-law’s advice," said the husband to his wife.



"Go out and invite Love to be our guest."



The woman went out and asked the 3 old men, "Which one of you is Love? Please come in and be our guest."



Love got up and started walking toward the house. The other 2 also got up and followed him. Surprised, the lady asked Wealth and Success: "I only invited Love, Why are you coming in?"



The old men replied together: "If you had invited Wealth or Success, the other two of us would’ve stayed out, but since you invited Love, wherever He goes, we go with him. Wherever there is Love, there is also Wealth and Success!!!!!!"



MY WISH FOR YOU...



-Where there is pain, I wish you peace and mercy.

-Where there is self-doubting, I wish you a renewed confidence in your ability to work through it.

-Where there is tiredness, or exhaustion, I wish you understanding, patience, and renewed strength.

-Where there is fear, I wish you love, and courage.

Thanks Ichazod, you made my morning.

Thanks Mike!



I always like stories like that one!





Sincerely,

Steve

I just reread the story and I have a question.



Why is it that the woman can't have love, success, or wealth on her own?



Why only when the man enters her life?



Two sides to every story



Tom

Cute story Mike

I'm filling up .

Perhaps you can tell me where I can find these guys?

Lee

Okay, Ichazod, make Tom happy:

Retell the story with three WOMEN with long beards, sitting in front of the house!

cheers,

Peter Marucci

showtimecol@aol.com

I think Tom was referring to the fact that the three men wouldn't come in to her house until her husband was home. That said, I also think there's a chance we're reading too much into the parable at the point that we debate about this :o)

Great story Ichazod. I assumed the three men couldn't come in because the man wasn't home and it would have been improper. Perhaps that doesn't jive with the whole parable thing, but it made sense at the moment.



Sable

How about if the three men refused to come in, when the man wasn't there, because it had to be a unanimous decision? That way, the story also promotes "Unity" in the home.



Just a thought.



Pete

I thought the point of my post -- injecting a little humor -- would have been obvious, and yet I added the laughing smiley.

Apparently it wasn't enough!

It's a lovely story but let's not analyze it to death!

Remember the old gag about comparing the analyzing of humor with the dissecting of a frog:

Nobody much cares -- and the frog dies.

Just enjoy the yarn and don't think about it too much.

cheers,

Peter Marucci

showtimecol@aol.com

Thank you Peter, I just wanted to share that with everyone.



Now if we want to get really deep, why did the chicken cross the road?



I'm just kidding, please don't answer

I love this story!

Thanks!