August 24, 2008 09:39 PM >I received this from a friend who had a choice to make. It said that I had a choice to make too.
>I've chosen. Now it's your turn to choose.
>The story goes that some time ago a mother punished her five year old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and she became even more upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.
>Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her mother the next morning and then said, 'This is for you, Momma.'
>The mother was embarrassed by her earlier over reaction, but her anger flared again when she opened the box and found it was empty. She spoke to her daughter in a harsh manner.
>'Don't you know, young lady, when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package?'
>She had tears in her eyes and said, 'Oh, Momma, it's not empty! I blew kisses into it until it was full.'
>The mother was crushed. She fell on her knees and put her arms around her little girl, and she begged her forgiveness for her thoughtless anger.
> An accident took the life of the child only a short time later, and it is told that the mother kept that gold box by her bed for all the years of her life.
> Whenever she was discouraged or faced difficult problems she would open the box and take