Writes Shahzad Hussain Hamdani
Sometimes we get what we need and not what we want. Sometimes we plan so many things in life and every single day and night we live with those dreams; making our heart to believe that one day those dreams will come true but dreams are dreams and it’s only the destiny which rules our life and make your dreams come true in the way it wants. My part of life has always been full of mysteries and dreams. Dreams of togetherness; dreams of every moment i lived and every moment i tried to live. The day i was left all alone, life gave me a mystery box, my destiny told me whenever you had a wish, just write it on a paper and put that letter inside it and open it the next morning and you will surely get an answer. Every single day i used to put a letter inside it but it used to end up with no answer. This all remained for two years and one day intentionally i put an empty page inside the mystery box. The next morning i unlocked the mystery box, and found a letter. The letter started with a story.
Once there were 3 trees on a hill in the woods. They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the 1st tree said, “Someday, I hope to be a treasure chest. I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems and be decorated with intricate carvings. Everyone would see my beauty.”
The 2nd tree said, “Someday, I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of other world.
Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.”
Finally, the 3rd tree said, “I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches,
and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time, and people will always remember me.”
After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. One came to the 1st tree and said,
“This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter,” and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because
he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.
At the 2nd tree, one of the other woodsmen said, “This looks like a strong tree. I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.” The 2nd tree was happy,
because he knew he was on his way to becoming mighty ship.
When the woodsmen came upon the 3rd tree, the tree was frightened, because it knew that, if it cuts down, its dream would not come true.
One of the woodsmen said, “I don’t need anything special from my tree, so I’ll take this one,” and he cut it down.
When the 1st tree arrived at the carpenter’s, he was made into a feed box for animals, placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.
The 2nd tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat. His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.
The 3rd tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark.
The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one filtered day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth, and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree. One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose, and the tree didn’t think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said “Peace,” and the storm stopped. At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings
in its boat.
Finally, someone came and got the third tree. A long Hanging stand was made out of it and finally, an orphan hanged to the tree and rose in the air to die at the top of a hill. The tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as possible, because an innocent orphan was hanged on it.
I realized the moral of this story and ended up my wish with a note that we plan and wish so many things in life but life doesn’t give the answers to those wishes you desire just like those letters which i had put since last two years in that mystery box, but life is that empty page where you ask without knowing what you get in your life and its then you get the answer of what you deserve maybe not in the same way you thought of, just like each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined.