初一英语阅读短文
想要提高英语的阅读能力，就要增加我们的阅读量，下面我收集了初一英语阅读的短文，欢迎大家阅读欣赏!
初一英语阅读短文一：友谊的颜色
Once upon a time the colors of the world started to quarrel.All claimed that they were the best.The most important.The most useful.The favorite.
从前，世界上的各种颜色进行过一次争吵。每一种颜色都说自己是最好的，最重要的，最有用的，最美丽的、最受人喜欢的。
Green said:"Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would die. Look over the countryside and you will see that I am in the majority."
绿色说：显然，我是最重要的。绿色是生命和希望的标志。草、树、叶子都选择了绿色。如果没有我，所有的动物都将死亡。鸟瞰乡村大地，到处都是绿色。
Blue interrupted:"You only think about the earth, but consider the sky and the sea. It is the water that is the basis of life and drawn up by the clouds from the deep sea. The sky gives space and peace and serenity. Without my peace, you would all be nothing."
蓝色打断他说：“你只考虑了陆地上的颜色，但是想想天空和海洋。水是生命之源，由云层从深海里带来。天空显得那么广阔、平和、宁静。没有我的平和，你们什么也不是。”
Yellow chuckled:"You are all so serious. I bring laughter, gaiety, and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Every time you look at a sunflower, the whole world starts to smile. Without me there would be no fun."
黄色轻声笑道：“你们全都如此严肃。而我把笑声、欢乐和温暖带给了世界。太阳是黄色的，月亮是黄色的，星星也是黄色的。每次看见向日葵，全世界都开始微笑。没有我，世界将索然无味。”
Orange started next to blow her trumpet:"I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins. Think of carrots, pumpkins, oranges, mangoes, and papayas. I don't hang around all the time, but when I fill the sky at sunrise or sunset, my beauty is so striking that no one gives another thought to any of you."
橙色紧接着开始自吹自擂：“我是健康和力量的颜色。我可能稀少，但是很珍贵，因为我能满足人类生命的需要。我含有最重要的维生素。想想胡萝卜、南瓜、橙子、芒果，还有木瓜。我没有一直闲着，当日出或日落时，天空涂满橙色，我的美丽让人震撼，那时没有人会想到你们。”
Red could stand it no longer he shouted out:"I am the ruler of all of you. I am blood - life's blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. I am willing to fight for a cause. I bring fire into the blood. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon. I am the color of passion and of love, the red rose, the poinsettia and the poppy."
红色再也控制不住了，他大声嚷道：“我是你们所有颜色的统治者。我是血--生命的.颜色!我是危险和勇敢的颜色。我愿意为伟大的事业而奋斗。我把满腔热情融进血液。如果没有我，地球将像月球一样空空如也。我是激情和爱情的颜色，是红玫瑰、猩猩木和罂x的颜色。”
Purple rose up to his full height:He was very tall and spoke with great pomp: "I am the color of royalty and power. Kings, chiefs, and bishops have always chosen me for I am the sign of authority and wisdom.People do not question me! They listen and obey."
紫色有高大的身躯，他伸展全身站起来，用洪亮的声音说道：“我是王位和权力的颜色。国王、首领、主教总是选择紫色，因为我是权威和智慧的象征。人们从来不质疑我!他们只是聆听和服从。”
Finally Indigo spoke, much more quietly than all the others, but with just as much determination:"Think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me you all become superficial. I represent thought and reflection, twilight and deep water. You need me for balance and contrast, for prayer and inner peace."
最后，青色说话了，他比起其他的颜色显得安静很多，但其语气也非常坚定：“想想我。我是寂静的颜色。你们几乎注意不到我，但是如果没有我，你们将变得肤浅。我代表思索和反省、黄昏和深水。你们需要我作为反衬来取得平衡，需要把我作为祈祷文来求得内心的安宁。”
And so the colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own superiority. Their quarreling became louder and louder.
颜色们继续自夸，每种颜色都确信自己的优越。他们的争吵声越来越大。
Suddenly there was a startling flash of bright lightening thunder rolled and boomed. Rain started to pour down relentlessly.The colors crouched down in fear, drawing close to one another for comfort.
突然电闪雷鸣，大雨无情倾泻。因为恐惧，颜色们蹲下身子，互相靠拢以求安慰。
In the midst of the clamor, rain began to speak:"You foolish colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to dominate the rest. Don't you know that you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me."
在吵闹中，雨开始说话了：“你们这些愚蠢的颜色，相互争斗，试图支配其他的颜色。难道你们不知道每种颜色的形成都有着特殊的目的，每种颜色都是独特而与众不同的吗?手拉手，到我这儿来!”
Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands.
按照雨说的，颜色们手拉手，团结起来。
The rain continued:"From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace. The Rainbow is a sign of hope for tomorrow." And so, whenever a good rain washes the world, and a Rainbow appears in the sky, let us remember to appreciate one another.
雨继续说：“今后，当下雨时，你们所有的颜色将横跨填空，形成一道巨大的彩虹，以提示你们七种颜色能友好共处。记住，彩虹象征着明天的希望。”因此，每当好雨洗礼世界的时候，一道彩虹都会出现在天空，让我们记得要学会彼此欣赏。
初一英语阅读短文二：那些不忍直视的童年照
We all have the odd photographic skeleton in our closets - those embarrassing childhood pictures that we hope never see the light of day.
我们每人都有几张古怪的相片，像藏在壁橱里的骷髅一样不可见人。我们希望这些令人尴尬的童年照永远封存不见天日。
But it seems that users of the Chinese equivalent to are more than happy to air their most cringeworthy snaps of bygone days.
但貌似中国——微博的用户更愿意把他们曾经的旧照摆到网上供人膜拜。
Weibo users have been taking to the website in their droves to post hundreds of hilariously awkward pictures to amuse their friends using a hashtag that translates as 'showing off some embarrassing photos of our childhood'.
一大拨微博用户将成百上千张既搞笑又尴尬的童年照发在网上相互娱乐，还加上了“不堪回首的童年照”标签。
Some seem to have been taken for festivals or special occasions - the red dots on the children's heads are for beauty or good luck.
可能有些照片拍摄于节日或特殊场合——孩子们头上的红点代表美丽或好运气。
The photos, many of which appear to date back to the eighties and early nineties, show the youngsters in a range of bizarre outfits and wearing far too much make up.
许多照片都拍摄于80年代和90年代初，上面的小孩子穿着各种各样的奇装异服，脸上还涂着过于浓重的艳妆。
Many of the photos appear to have been shot in a studio - with children giving grown up props such as cigarettes that one can only assume are fake.
许多照片都是在摄影棚里照的，孩子们还拿着大人才有的道具摆拍——希望那不是真的香烟。
While some parents have gone for the sophisticated look while dressing their little angels, others have just gone for the downright bizarre.
有些父母把他们的小天使打扮得精致深邃，但有些却选了不折不扣的诡异风格。
Some parents dressed their kids in outfits reminiscent of Chinese classics like Journey to the West and Legend of the White Snake.
有些家长让小孩穿上奇怪的装束，使人想起《西游记》或《白蛇传》等中国古典文学里的人物。
七年级英语阅读文章
英语考试中，阅读很重要。下面我给大家准备了七年级的英语阅读文章，欢迎大家阅读欣赏!
第一篇：Keep Your Direction 坚持你的方向
What would you do if you failed? Many people may choose to give up. However, the surest way to success is to keep your direction and stick to your goal.
On your way to success, you must keep your direction. It is just like a lamp, guiding you in darkness and helping you overcome obstacles on your way. Otherwise, you will easily get lost or hesitate to go ahead.
Direction means objectives. You can get nowhere without an objective in life.
You can try to write your objective on paper and make some plans to achieve it. In this way, you will know how to arrange your time and to spend your time properly. And you should also have a belief that you are sure to succeed as long as you keep your direction all the time.
如果失败了你会怎么做?很多人可能会选择放弃。然而，要想成功，最可靠的方法就是坚持你的方向和目标。
在通往成功的路上，你必须坚持你的.方向。它就像一盏灯，在黑暗中为你指路，帮助你度过难关。否则，你很容易就会迷失方向或犹豫不前。
方向意味着目标。人生如果没有目标，将一事无成。
你可以试着把你的目标写在纸上，并制定实现目标的计划。这样，你就会懂得如何合理安排时间，如何正确地支配时间。而且你还要有这样的信念：只要你一直坚持自己的方向，你就一定可以成功。
第二篇：
As a high school coach, I did all I could to help my boys win their games. I rooted as hard for victory as they did.
A dramatic incident, however, following a game in which I officiated as a referee, changed my perspective on victories and defeats. I was refereeing a league championship basketball game in New Rochelle, New York, between New Rochelle and Yonkers High. New Rochelle was coached by Dan O'Brien, Yonkers by Les Beck. The gym was crowded to capacity, and the volume of noise made it impossible to hear. The game was well played and closely contested. Yonkers was leading by one point as I glanced at the clock and discovered there were but 30 seconds left to play.
Yonkers, in possession of the ball, passed off — shot — missed. New Rochelle recovered — pushed the ball up court — shot. The ball rolled tantalizingly around the rim and off. The fans shrieked.
New Rochelle, the home team, recovered the ball, and tapped it in for what looked like victory. The tumult was deafening. I glanced at the clock and saw that the game was over. I hadn't heard the final buzzer because of the noise. I checked with the other official, but he could not help me. Still seeking help in this bedlam, I approached the timekeeper, a young man of 17 or so. He said, "Mr. Covino, the buzzer went off as the ball rolled off the rim, before the final tap-in was made."
I was in the unenviable position of having to tell Coach O'Brien the sad news. "Dan," I said, "time ran out before the final basket was tapped in. Yonkers won the game."
His face clouded over. The young timekeeper came up. He said, "I'm sorry, Dad. The time ran out before the final basket."
Suddenly, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, Coach O'Brien's face lit up. He said, "That's okay, Joe. You did what you had to do. I'm proud of you."
Turning to me, he said, "Al, I want you to meet my son, Joe." The two of them then walked off the court together, the coach's arm around his son's shoulder.
作为一名高中篮球教练，我竭尽全力体帮我的学生在比赛中取得胜利。我全力支持他们在比赛中取胜，他们也刻苦训练。
然而，在一场我所裁判的比赛之后发生了一件富有戏剧性的偶然事件。这件事改变了我对胜败的看法。那是一次蓝球冠军联赛，当时，我在纽约州的新罗谢尔市给新罗谢尔和扬克斯两个队之间的比赛作裁判。 新罗谢尔队的教练是丹·奥布赖恩，而扬克斯队的教练是莱斯·贝克。体育馆内座无虚席，呼声震天。比赛顺利进行，两队比分接近，扬克斯队仅以一分的优势领先。我看了一下时钟，距离比赛结束仅剩三十秒。
扬克斯队控球在手，传球、投篮，但是没投中。新罗谢尔队重新控球，将球向场地的另一个方向传球，然后投篮。观众急切地盯着球，球沿着篮球筐边急速旋转，最终又落了下来。球迷们尖声喊叫。
主队新罗谢尔队重新把球夺过来，把球拨进篮筐，似乎已经赢得了比赛的胜利。人群的呼喊声震耳欲聋。我看了一下时钟，已经过了比赛结束时间。由于声音太大，我没有听到终场信号声。我向另外一名工作人员核对时间，但是他说不清楚。
我仍然在混乱中求助，我走近计时员——一个大约17岁的年轻人。他告诉我：“科维诺先生，当球滚出篮筐时，终场信号发出了，在最后球又被拨进篮筐之前。”
“丹，在最后那个球被拨进篮筐之前，时间已经到了。”我无可奈何地告诉奥布赖恩教练，“扬克斯队赢了。”
他脸色阴沉了下来。那个年轻的计时员走上前，说：“爸爸，对不起。在最后一个球投中之前时间就已经到了。” 突然间，奥布赖恩教练的脸色就像太阳拨开了乌云，转晴了，他说：“没关系，乔。你做了你应该做的，我为你感到骄傲。”
他把脸转向我，说："埃尔，我介绍一下我的儿子，乔。"
奥布赖恩教练把胳膊搭在儿子的肩膀上，两个人一起离开了球场。
在初一阶段，阅读一些优秀的短文也是很有必要的。下面是我整理的初一英语优秀短文以供大家阅读。
初一英语优秀短文(一)
The thing that goes the farthest toward making life worthwhile,
That costs the least and does the most, is just a pleasant smile.
The smile that bubbles from the heart that loves its fellow men,
Will drive away the clouds of gloom and coax the sun again.
It’s full of worth and goodness, too, with manly kindness blent;
It’s worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.
There is no room for sadness when we see a cheery smile;
It always has the same good look; it’s never out of style;
It nerves us on to try again when failure makes us blue;
The dimples of encouragement are good for me and you.
It pays the highest interest — for it is merely lent;
It’s worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.
A smile comes very easy — you can wrinkle up with cheer,
A hundred times before you can squeeze out a salty tear;
It ripples out, moreover, to the heartstrings that will tug,
And always leaves an echo that is very like a hug.
So, smile away! Folks understand what by a smile is meant;
It’s worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.
初一英语优秀短文译文：
那最能赋予生命价值、代价最廉而回报最多的东西，
不过一个令人心畅的微笑而已。
由衷地热爱同胞的微笑，来源：优习网
会驱走心头阴郁的乌云，心底收获一轮夕阳。
它充满价值和美好，混合着坚毅的仁爱之心;
它价值连城却不花一文。
当我们看到喜悦的微笑，忧伤就会一扫而光;
它始终面容姣好，永不落伍;
失败令我们沮丧之时，它鼓励我们再次尝试;
鼓励的笑靥于你我大有裨益。
它支付的利息高昂无比──只因它是种借贷形式;
它价值连城却不花一文。来源：优习网
来一个微笑很容易──嘴角欢快翘起来，
你能百次微笑，可难得挤出一滴泪;
它的涟漪深深波及心弦，
总会留下反响，宛若拥抱。
继续微笑吧!谁都懂得它意味着什么;
它价值连城却不花一文。
初一英语优秀短文(二)
One windy spring day，I observed young people having fun using the wind to fly their kites. Multicolored creations of varying shapes and sizes filled the skies like beautiful birds darting and dancing. As the strong winds gusted against the kites，a string kept them in check.
Instead of blowing away with the wind，they arose against it to achieve great heights. They shook and pulled，but the restraining string and the cumbersome tail kept them in tow，facing upward and against the wind. As the kites struggled and trembled against the string，they seemed to say，“Let me go!Let me go!I want to be free!”They soared beautifully even as they fought the restriction of the string. Finally，one of the kites succeeded in breaking loose. “Free at last，”it seemed to say. “Free to fly with the wind.”
Yet freedom from restraint simply put it at the mercy of an unsympathetic breeze. It fluttered ungracefully to the ground and landed in a tangled mass of weeds and string against a dead bush. “Free at last” free to lie powerless in the dirt，to be blown helplessly along the ground，and to lodge lifeless against the first obstruction.
How much like kites we sometimes are. The Heaven gives us adversity and restrictions，rules to follow from which we can grow and gain strength. Restraint is a necessary counterpart to the winds of opposition. Some of us tug at the rules so hard that we never soar to reach the heights we might have obtained. We keep part of the commandment and never rise high enough to get our tails off the ground.
Let us each rise to the great heights，recognizing that some of the restraints that we may chafe under are actually the steadying force that helps us ascend and achieve.
初一英语优秀短文译文：
在一个有风的春日，我看到一群年轻人正在迎风放风筝玩乐，各种颜色、各种形状和大小的风筝就好像美丽的鸟儿在空中飞舞。当强风把风筝吹起，牵引线就能够控制它们。
风筝迎风飘向更高的地方，而不是随风而去。它们摇摆着、拉扯着，但牵引线以及笨重的尾巴使它们处于控制之中，并且迎风而上。它们挣扎着、抖动着想要挣脱线的束缚，仿佛在说：“放开我!放开我!我想要自由!”即使与牵引线奋争着，它们依然在美丽地飞翔。终于，一只风筝成功挣脱了。“终于自由了，”它好像在说，“终于可以随风自由飞翔了!”
然而，脱离束缚的自由使它完全处于无情微风的摆布下。它毫无风度地震颤着向地面坠落，落在一堆乱草之中，线缠绕在一颗死灌木上。“终于自由”使它自由到无力地躺在尘土中，无助地任风沿着地面将其吹走，碰到第一个障碍物便毫无生命地滞留在那里了。
有时我们真像这风筝啊!上苍赋予我们困境和约束，赋予我们成长和增强实力所要遵从的规则。约束是逆风的必要匹配物。我们中有些人是如此强硬地抵制规则，以至我们从来无法飞到本来能够达到的高度。我们只遵从部分戒律，因此永远不会飞得足够高，使尾巴远离地面。
让我们每个人都飞到高处吧，并且认识到这一点：有些可能会令我们生气的约束，实际上是帮助我们攀升和实现愿望的平衡力。
适合七年级的英语阅读文章
英语现在已经发展成为一个在世界范围内使用最广泛的语言。英语作为英美文化信息的载体和表现形式,一度深深地烙上了英美独有的文化印记。下面我收集了英语的阅读文章，很适合七年级的同学阅读欣赏，希望同学们喜欢!
You went to the butcher's for meat, the pharmacy for aspirin, and the grocery store for food. But when I spent the summer with my Grandmother in Warwick, N.Y., she sent me down to the general store with a list. How could I hope to find anything on the packed, jumbled shelves around me?
I walked up to the counter. Behind it was a lady like no one I'd ever seen. Fake-jewel-encrusted glasses teetered on the tip of her nose, gray hair was piled on her head.
"Excuse me," I said. She looked up.
"You're that Clements kid," she said. "I'm Miss Bee. Come closer and let me get a look at you." She pushed her glasses up her nose. "I want to be able to describe you to the sheriff if something goes missing from the store."
"I'm not a thief!" I was shocked. I was seven year too young to be a thief!
"From what I can see you're not much of anything. But I can tell you've got potential." She went back to reading her newspaper.
"I need to get these." I said, holding up my list.
"So? Go get them." Miss Bee pointed to a sign on the screen door. "There's no one here except you and me and I'm not your servant, so I suggest you get yourself a basket from that pile over there and start filling. If you're lucky you'll be home by sundown."
Sundown was five hours away. I wasn't sure I would make it.
I scanned the nearest shelf for the first item on my list: pork and beans. It took me three wall-to-wall searches before I found a can nestled between boxes of cereal and bread. Next up was toilet paper, found under the daily newspaper. Band-Aids—where had I seen them? Oh, ye next to the face cream. The store was a puzzle, but it held some surprises too. I found a new Superman comic tucked behind the peanut butter.
I visited Miss Bee a couple of times a week that summer. Sometimes she short-changed me. Other times she overcharged. Or sold me an old newspaper instead of one that was current. Going to the store was more like going into battle. I left my Grandma's house armed with my list—memorized to the letter—and marched into Miss Bee's like General Patton marching into North Africa.
"That can of beans is only twenty-nine cents!" I corrected her one afternoon. I had watched the numbers change on the cash register closely, and Miss Bee had added 35 cents. She didn't seem embarrassed that I had caught her overcharging. She just looked at me over her glasses and fixed the price.
Not that she ever let me declare victory. All summer long she found ways to trip me up. No sooner had I learned how to pronounce bicarbonate of soda and memorized its location on the shelf, than Miss Bee rearranged the shelves and made me hunt for it all over again. By summer's end the shopping trip that had once taken me an hour was done in 15 minutes. The morning I was to return to Brooklyn, I stopped in to get a packet of gum.
"All right, Miss Potential," she said. "What did you learn this summer?" That you're a meany! I pressed my lips together. To my amazement, Miss Bee laughed. "I know what you think of me," she said. "Well, here's a news flash: I don't care! Each of us is put on this earth for a reason. I believe my job is to teach every child I meet ten life lessons to help them. Think what you will, Miss Potential, but when you get older you'll be glad our paths crossed!" Glad I met Miss Bee? Ha! The idea was absurd...
Until one day my daughter came to me with homework troubles.
"It's too hard," she said. "Could you finish my math problems for me?"
"If I do it for you how will you ever learn to do it yourself?" I said. Suddenly, I was back at that general store where I had learned the hard way to tally up my bill along with the cashier. Had I ever been overcharged since?
As my daughter went back to her homework, I wondered: Had Miss Bee really taught me something all those years ago? I took out some scrap paper and started writing.
Sure enough, I had learned ten life lessons:
1. Listen well.
2. Never assume—things aren't always the same as they were yesterday.
3. Life is full of surprises.
4. Speak up and ask questions.
5. Don't expect to be bailed out of a predicament.
6. Everyone isn't as honest as I try to be.
7. Don't be so quick to judge other people.
8. Try my best, even when the task seems beyond me.
9. Double-check everything.
10. The best teachers aren't only in school.
The significant inscription found on an old key---“If I rest, I rust”---would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest bit of idleness. Even the most industrious person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture---every department of human endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room‘s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end.
They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn‘t hear the band - he could see it in his mind‘s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.
Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly and painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.
The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold.
Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.
When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.
With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words… "PAID IN FULL".
How many times do we miss blessings because they are not packaged as we expected? I trust you enjoyed this. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. Sometimes we don't realize the good fortune we have or we could have because we expect "the packaging" to be different. What may appear as bad fortune may in fact be the door that is just waiting to be opened.
