Isn't it amazing how you can hear or read a story a hundred times and yet when you hear it again you learn something new? That happened to me recently when I reread the story below.
In the Middle Ages, a man traveled to a city where they were building a new church（教堂）in the square. He saw many people working on the great new building. He walked up to a strong man cutting rock and asked him what he was doing. "I am a stone mason（石匠）," the man said. "I spend all my days cutting and shaping stones."
The traveler then walked over to a man cutting wood high above him and called out the same question to him. The man called back, "I spend my days cutting and hammering（锤）wood."
Finally, the man walked into the church. Deep inside the church walls, the traveler saw an old woman sweeping the floor while she was singing happily to herself. He asked her what she was doing. "I am building a beautiful church," she said.
I always read that story with a smile on my face. I saw it as a lesson in taking pride in your work and seeing the value in your job. But this time I felt something deeper in my heart. My mind cleared and I saw there was an even deeper meaning to this story. It wasn't only about how you feel about your job but also about how you live your life. Each one of our lives here is a church. Each choice we make is a stone we lay. Each act of kindness we do is the wood we cut. Each moment of love we create builds it up higher and more beautiful.
