A small girl had a beautiful silken handkerchief gifted by her loving mother. It was her most treasured possession and she carried it with her wherever she went. One day, while cleaning her table, a bottle of ink fell down and the ink was spilt on the table. Her handkerchief was on the table and some ink fell on it making an ugly stain on the pretty piece of cloth. She cried aloud as her dearest treasure was disfigured. She left it on the table and went away, sobbing sadly.

There was a gifted artist in the family. He saw the stained handkerchief and the sad little girl. He took the handkerchief and carefully painted on it the picture of a fine flower cleverly incorporating all the ink-stains artistically in the final figure. Then he showed the handkerchief to the sad girl. On seeing the beautiful figure of the flower developed from the ugly ink-stain, she jumped with joy holding it high with pride. The artist consoled her and said that we should not feel depressed when we face failures or apparent losses. We must try to convert our failures to occasions for improvement of performance to attain victory. Failures should be stepping stones to reach the final success.

Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget self, carry his cross, and follow me” {Matthew 16:24}.