Befrienders Johor Bahru

23/09/2026

16/09/2026

Parable: “Three Ways of Seeing the Same Situation”

One day, three women were standing at a market beside a table piled with apples.

The first woman sighed:

“Just look at them—so small and bruised… And the prices are outrageous! You can’t find anything good anymore. The world is going downhill…”

The second woman smiled:

“I see it differently. This year’s harvest is actually a gift. The weather wasn’t easy, yet these apples, even if they aren’t perfect, are still juicy and fresh. Someone worked hard to grow them.”

The third woman quietly reached for her wallet.

“My grandson is sick at home,” she said. “He loves baked apples. He doesn’t care what they look like. All that matters is that they’re made with love.”

Moral:

We all see the world through the lens of our own story.

To one person, they are simply bad apples.

To another, they are a chance to support someone’s hard work.

And to someone else, they are a way to give warmth, love, and care.

So before you judge, try to understand from what place in your heart you are looking at the world.

11/09/2026

11/09/2026

One peaceful morning, a turtle watched a tiny ant struggling to carry a piece of food several times larger than its own body.

The ant stumbled over stones, climbed tiny slopes, slipped into cracks, and fell more than once.

But every time it fell, it picked up the crumb, steadied itself, and kept going.

The turtle smiled.

“You are so small,” he said. “Why carry something so heavy when you could simply leave it behind?”

The ant looked up and replied,

“Because strength is not measured by how big you are. It is measured by how deeply you believe in what you are carrying.”

The turtle became quiet.

He looked at his own slow-moving feet.

“I have spent my whole life wishing I could move faster,” he admitted. “The rabbits race past me. The deer barely notice me. Sometimes I wonder if being slow means I am losing at life.”

The ant smiled gently.

“Do you know something?” he said. “I spend my days rushing, yet I have never thought less of you because you move slowly. You have never envied me because I am small and quick.

Perhaps nature did not make us different by mistake.

Maybe we were given different strengths because we were given different purposes.”

The turtle thought about those words as they continued their journey together.

The ant taught the turtle the power of persistence—that even the smallest creature can overcome enormous obstacles when it refuses to quit.

And the turtle taught the ant something equally important—that not everything in life must be rushed. Some journeys are meant to be slow enough for us to notice the beauty along the way.

By sunset, they reached a wide river.

The ant stood at the edge and realized he could not cross it alone.

Without hesitation, the turtle lowered his shell.

“Climb on,” he said.

The ant carefully carried his precious crumb onto the turtle’s back.

And as they crossed the river together, they both understood something beautiful:

**Neither of them was complete on their own.**

The ant had determination.

The turtle had endurance.

The ant knew how to keep moving.

The turtle knew how to keep going.

Life is like that.

Some people move quickly and achieve their dreams early. Others take a longer road, learning lessons that only time can teach.

Some build their lives through relentless action.

Others build them through patience, faith, and quiet perseverance.

So never compare your chapter to someone else’s.

An ant was never meant to move like a turtle.

A turtle was never meant to run like a rabbit.

And you were never meant to live someone else’s life.

** never measure your worth by how quickly someone else is moving.**

The world may celebrate the person who arrives first.

But life also honors the person who simply refuses to turn back.

The ant reached home because it never gave up.

The turtle reached his destination because he never stopped moving.

Different paths.

Different strengths.

Different speeds.

**But the same beautiful victory—staying faithful to the journey God gave you.**