My nephew's 10-year-old son came for a visit one hot, July weekend. I persuaded him to 1 inside and joined him in a game. After 2 for an hour, I suggested that we relax for a while. I 3 my favorite chair to let my neck relax. He left the room and I was catching a few enjoyable4 of peace.

    “Look, Alice,” he said excitedly as he 5 over to the chair where I was sitting. “I found a kite. Could we go outside and 6 it?” Looking out of a nearby window, I noticed it was 7 outside. “I'm sorry. Tripper,” I said, sad to see his 8 expression. “The wind is not 9today. The kite won't fly.”

    The 1010-year-old boy replied, “I think it's windy enough. I can get it to fly,” he answered 11he hurried out to the back door.

    He ran back and forth, as 12as his ten-year-old legs would carry him, looking back 13 at the kite behind. After about ten minutes of unsuccessful trying, he came back in.

    I asked, “How did it 14?” “Fine,” he said, not wanting to admit (承认) the failure. “I got it to fly some.”15 I heard him say secretly, “I guess I'll have to wait for the 16”

    At that moment I heard another voice speak to my17“Alice, sometimes you are just like that. You want to do it your way 18waiting for the wind.”

    And the voice was 19. We usually want to use our own efforts to 20what we want to do. We must learn how to make use of “the wind”in the first place!

    Once upon a time, a hardworking farmer had a fine farmland. And the harvest is always 1 under his care. But he knew that his three sons 2down upon the farm work, and were3to make wealth through adventure.

    When the farmer was old and felt that he would 4soon, he called the three sons to him and said, “My sons, there is a pot of gold hidden in the5 Dig for it, if you wish it.”

    The sons 6to get him to tell them in what part of the farmland the gold was hidden; but he would tell them 7more.

    After the farmer was dead, the sons went to work to 8the pot of gold; since they did not know9 the hiding-place was, they 10to begin in a line, at one end of the farmland, and to 11until one of them should find the money. They dug until they had turned up the 12from one end of the farmland to the other, round the tree-roots and between them.13no pot of gold was to be found. It seemed as if someone must have14it, or as if the farmer had been playing a joke on his15The three sons were very16to have all their work for nothing.

    The next year, the farmland produced 17food than they had ever given; when it was sold, it gave the sons a whole pot of18

    And when they saw how much money had come19the farmland, they suddenly understood what the 20father had meant.

    When a mom attended school to help her disabled son, her son and the school thanked her in the sweetest way possible. It wasn't until after his college years that Marty became disabled after1down stairs. When her son   2to get his MBA Judy O' Connor attended every class with him to help him write and3. Every day, Judy would sit by Marty in class, taking notes to make sure to set down4requests, raising her hand so he could answer questions, and silently filling in his5on test days. “After a little while, we found that working together we could6a great deal,” Marty says.

    On graduation day at Chapman University, Judy was dressed in black to mix in with the other7. Little did she know she'd soon be the center of8. When Marty's name was called, his mom helped9him to the front of the stage,10for a picture with Marty as he received his diploma. Over the loudspeaker, a voice11with happy tears made an12: The university was giving Judy an honorary MBA. “A lump came to my throat, I was proud of my son and13to be honored,” says Judy.

    The mother and son had joked that Judy was putting in enough work to earn her own14. To Marty, there was no question his mom, a retired elementary school teacher with a business degree, had15earned her honorary MBA.

    Perhaps just as important, Judy gave Marty16. Life as Marty knew it before the17may have changed, but he encourages anyone in a 18situation to keep up hope. “Just keep an open mind,19you can make your diversity your advantage and take challenges as a(n)20for growth in your life,” he says.

    We have five fantastic children. As they've grown older, from high school to college and so on, we found ourselves cleaning out our home of furniture only to replace it with something new. We had this living room set (一组) 1 a sofa, love seat and chair go 2 a couple of the kids, dragging it up the stairs to their third floor apartments and back down again to the next apartment. Our son was the last to have the set when 3 he asked for a place to 4 it because he was going out of town for a semester. We told him we would 5 it for him in our garage. So we picked the furniture up and 6 it back to the house.

    One day, while at 7, I heard a couple of people talking in the hallway. A mother and her two children were 8 out of their own house by her husband, with 9 but the clothes on their backs. Some warmhearted people found them a place to stay, but no belongings, clothes, food, or furniture.

    Our colleagues and I 10 all we could to help her. I went to the store and bought some clothes for the children and some 11 essentials. I came home that day after work and looked at the furniture in the garage sitting there, 12. I called my son and told him what I wanted to do. He agreed.

    The next 13 was to the mother of two. She came to my house within an hour to pick up the furniture and the bag of clothes. She said she would 14 the furniture as soon as she would be able to.

    I looked at her and said, "15 you are done with the furniture, give it to someone else in16."

    She cried, 17 by the generosity and thanked everyone greatly for all that 18 did to help. It makes me so happy to know that the 19 that grew with our family was being 20 to good use.

    It was a warm, sunny Saturday afternoon some fifteen or sixteen years ago. I took my two kids to the local playground. As soon as we got there my daughter headed for the swings (秋千)and asked for a1. I noticed another little girl2to get her own swing going high as I was3my daughter to go higher and higher.

    I walked over to the little girl and asked4she needed help. She smiled and said YES and I soon had her feet flying towards the5while she laughed happily. For the next two hours I found myself pushing swings and playing games with my daughter and the little girl. By the time we headed home, I was6tired, but my spirits were flying7than those swings.

    Three years later I was8again after a day's work. Still, I needed to9my kids from their school before heading home. I stood in the10waiting area waiting for my children. Suddenly, I felt two11arms wrapped around my legs. I looked down and there was the little girl I met 3 years before on the12smiling up at me. She gave me a big hug before running away to13the school bus. As I watched her14, I didn't feel tired any more and my spirits were once again15with that swing.

    The love we16with others will find its way back to us. It will travel from heart to heart. It may take seconds or it may take17. The law of love,18, is never broken. We will get back what we give. We will harvest what we19. The kindness we give and the joy we create will always come back to20us.

I had a terrible experience last year. One night my younger brother, Chase, was driving us home from our weekly cleaning of the church. We were both getting 1 , so we picked up a couple of energy drinks at a gas station. Then we jumped onto the freeway and 2 home.

The ride was fine. My brother was focused, so I 3 my eyes. I woke up when we were close to our exit. But the car 4 turned to the right. I did not care at first because Chase often played jokes. Then I 5 it was not a joke at all.

I shouted my brother's name at the top of my 6 . He woke up from his sleep in time to slam on the brakes, though the brakes did little to 7 us down. We crashed into a streetlight, 8 us hit the dirt hill of the off-ramp (出口匝道).

Then I 9 something white and bright shoot toward my chest. It hit me and left me breathless but 10 me from the dashboard (仪表盘). The streetlight swung around, hitting two other 11 and then crashed back onto the hood of our car. One inch 12 to us, Chase and I wouldn't be here today. A kind man 13 us out of our car, and the policeman came to 14 us. They said there were no broken ribs (肋骨) and no internal bleeding.

Our dad 15 on the scene in his car and drove us home. From that day on, we never drove while we were sleepy or tired again.