In a place very near here, there was a king. The
king, given all the riches and luxuries he had,
might have been more content. Sadly, he found
himself wondering why he always seemed less
than content with his life.
Sure, he had the attention of people wherever
he went, attended fancy dinners and parties,
but somehow, he still felt something was amiss
and he was unable to define it.
One day, the king woke up earlier than usual to
stroll around his palace. He entered his huge
living room and came to a stop when he heard
someone happily singing away… following this
singing… he saw that one of the servants was
singing and had a very contented look on his face.
This fascinated the king and he summoned this
man to his chambers.
The man entered the King’s chambers as ordered.
The king asked why he was so happy?
To this the man replied: “Your majesty, I am only
a servant, but I make enough of a living to keep
my wife and children happy. We don’t need too
much, a roof over our heads and warm food to
fill our tummy. My wife and children are my
inspiration, they are content with whatever little
I bring home. I am happy because my family is
happy.”
Hearing this, the king dismissed the servant and
summoned his personal assistant to his chambers.
The king related his personal anguish about his
feelings and then related the story of the servant
to his personal assistant, hoping that somehow,
he will be able to come up with some reasoning
that here was a king who could have anything
he wished for at a snap of his fingers and yet
contentment escaped him, whereas, his servant,
having so little was extremely contented.
The personal assistant listened attentively and
came to a conclusion. He said, “Your majesty, I
believe that the servant has not been made part
of The 99 Club.”
“The 99 Club? What exactly is that?” the king
inquired.
The assistant replied, “Your majesty, to truly
know what The 99 Club is, you will have to do
the following… place 99 gold coins in a bag and
leave it at this servant’s doorstep, you will then
understand what The 99 Club is.”
That very same evening, the king arranged for
99 gold coins to be placed in a bag at the same
servant’s doorstep. Although he was slightly
hesitant and thought he should have put 100
gold coins into the bag, but since his assistant
had advised him to put exactly 99, that is what
he did.
The servant was just stepping out of his house
when he saw a bag at his doorstep. Wondering
about its contents, he took it into his house
and opened the bag. When he opened the bag,
he let out a great big shout of joy…gold coins…
so many of them. He could hardly believe it. He
called his wife to show her the coins.
He then took the bag to a table and emptied it
out and began to count the coins. Doing so, he
realized that there were 99 coins. He thought it
was an odd number so he counted again, and
again and again only to come to the very same
conclusion… 99 gold coins.
He began to wonder, what could have possibly
happened to that last 1 coin? Surely one would
hardly leave 99 coins. He began to search his
entire house, looked around his backyard for
hours, wanting to make sure that he would not
lose out on that one coin. Finally, exhausted,
he decided that he was going to have to work
harder than ever to make up for that single gold
coin to make his entire collection an even 100
gold coins.
He got up the next morning, in an extremely
horrible mood, shouting at the children and his
wife for his delay, not realizing that he had just
spent most of the night finding ways of working
hard so that he had enough money to buy that
gold coin. He went to work as usual - but not in
his usual best mood, singing happily - as he did
his daily errands.
Seeing the man’s attitude change so drastically,
the king was puzzled. He promptly summoned
his assistant to his chambers. The king related
his thoughts about the servant and once again,
his assistant listened. The king could not believe
that the servant who until yesterday had been
singing away and was happy and content with
his life had taken a sudden change of attitude,
even though he should have been happier after
receiving the gold coins.
To this the assistant replied “Ah! Your majesty,
that servant has now officially joined The 99
Club.” He explained: “The 99 Club is just a
name given to those people who have so much
that it seems like everything and yet are never
contented, therefore they are always working
hard and striving for that extra 1 to round it
out to 100!
We have so much to appreciate and we can live
with very little in our lives, but the minute we
are given something bigger and better, we want
even more!”
Are you the same happy contented person you
used to be? Do you want more and more and
by wanting more and more miss the price you
pay for it? Do you lose your happiness and your
sleep? Do you hurt the people around you just
as a price to pay for growing needs and desires?
That is what joining The 99 Club is all about.”
Hearing this the king decided that from that day
onwards, he was going to start appreciating all
the little things in life.
Do you dwell on what is missing in your life or
live in gratitude for all you have and all God is
sending you even as you read this?
~
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