AE: ANECDOTES WITH INTENTION

Do work well for God   

Doing A Good Job Pays Off

Once upon a time a man sent for a carpenter. A sturdy young fellow appeared. "I want this fence mended," said the man, "but I don't want to spend much money on it. Here are some unplaned boards, use them. You need not take much time to do a fancy job.  I will give you only three dollars for your work. I will come back tomorrow and pay you."

The next day the man came to inspect the fence. He found the boards carefully planed and neatly nailed in place. The fence, which had badly sagged, was neatly straightened up. The man was surprised and much pleased at the excellent job, but feared that the cost would be greater than he had ordered. So he called in the workman. "I'm afraid you've gone to much more expense on this job than I wanted," said the man, a bit irritated. "I really did not care how it looked."

"But I DID," replied the workman. "You see, it was MY work, not yours, that mended the fence and I wanted to do the work right."

"But I did not want to go to much expense," said the man. "I admit it looks nice; but now tell me, how much do I owe you?"

"Three dollars," said the workman.

The owner of the fence stared at the workman, "How could you do all that work for so little money?" he asked.

"Because it was my job and it had to be right!"

"Nobody would have seen the fence after I got the vines on it," said the man. "But I would know that I did a poor job," replied the workman, "and every time I would look at it, I would have to say to myself, 'Joe, you're a fake; you could havedone a good job and be square with yourself.' No, my friend, I cannot do a poor job, and live with myself."

Some years later, the man had a contract to let for the construction of several large public buildings. There were many applicants among the master builders, but the face of one of them caught his eye. "It was my man of the fence," he said. "I knew we would have only genuine work with him, so I gave him the contract and it made him a rich man." 

Bees distinguish real flowers from artificial ones

There is a legend that the Queen of Sheba once sent two wreathes of roses to Solomon. One was genuine and the other was artificial. According to the legend, she defied Solomon to detect which was artificial and which was genuine.

Solomon opened the window and let in a swarm of bees, which at once settled on the real roses.

Likewise, God knows the difference between sincere and insincere worship.