the illusion of reflection

> Author Unknown
>
> Once there was a king who had presented his daughter, the princess, with a
> beautiful diamond necklace. The necklace was stolen and his people in the
> kingdom searched everywhere but could not find it. Some said a bird may have
> stolen it. The king then asked them all to search  for it and put a reward
> for $50,000 for anyone who found it.
>
> One day a clerk was walking home along a river next to an industrial area.
> This river was completely polluted and filthy and smelly. As he was walking,
> the clerk saw a shimmering in the river and when he
>  looked, he saw the diamond necklace. He decided to try and catch it so that
> he could get the $50,000 reward. He put his hand in the filthy, dirty river
> and grabbed at the necklace, but some how missed it and didn't catch it. He
> took his hand out and looked again and the necklace was still there. He tried
> again, this time he walked in the river and dirtied his pants in the filthy
> river and put his whole armin to catch the necklace.
>
> But strangely, he still missed the necklace! He came out and started walking
> away, feeling depressed. Then again he saw the necklace, right there. This
> time he was determined to get it, no matter what. He decided to plunge into
> the river, although it was a disgusting thing to do as the river was
> polluted, and his whole body would become filthy. He plunged in, and searched
> everywhere for the necklace and yet he failed. This time he was really
> bewildered and came out feeling very depressed that he could not get the
> necklace that would get him $50,000. Just then a saint who was walking by,
> saw him, and asked him what was the matter. The clerk didn't want to share
> the secret with the saint, thinking the saint might take the necklace for
> himself, so he refused to tell the saint anything.
>
> But the saint could see this man was troubled and being compassionate, again
> asked the clerk to tell him the problem and promised that he would not tell
> anyone about it. The clerk mustered some courage and decided to put some
> faith in the saint. He told the saint about the necklace and how he tried and
> tried to catch it, but kept failing.
>
> The saint then told him that perhaps he should try looking upward, toward the
> branches of the tree, instead of in the filthy river. The clerk looked up and
> true enough, the necklace was dangling on the branch of a tree. He had been
> trying to capture a mere reflection of the real necklace all this time.
>
>  Moral of the story:
>
>  Material happiness is just like the filthy, polluted river; because it is a
> mere reflection of the TRUE happiness in the spiritual world. We don't
> achieve the happiness we are looking for, no matter how hard we endeavor in
> the material life. Instead we should look upwards, toward God, who is the
> source of real happiness, and stop chasing after the reflection of this
> happiness in the material world. This spiritual happiness is the only thing
> that can satisfy us completely.
>
> May the Lord help us LOOK UP TO HIM.
>
> The Word:
>
>  "There is no force in nature that is equal to the power of prayer. The law
> of gravitation holds the planets in their orbits, and links the sun to all
> the spheres that circle round him. But prayer has now made gravitation itself
> cease to exert its energy: 'Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon,' said Joshua,
> who had first spoken to the Lord about the matter (Joshua 10:12)."
> 
>  "All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty." 
> Proverbs 14:23
>