Building A House

An old carpenter about to retire was telling his boss about his plans to stop working with construction and enjoy life with his wife and kids. He was so excited about retiring that he wasn't even looking forward to the paycheck of that month. All he wanted was to retire.

The boss was upset about losing a good worker and as a personal favor asked the man to work on the construction of one last house. The old carpenter didn't want to accept it but he couldn't deny his boss one last favour. So he took the job, but it was clear that his heart wasn't in it. He just wanted to get it finished and over with. Consequently he was careless and ended up using bad quality material in the construction of the house. It was a sad way to finish such an excellent career with so many years of total dedication.

When the house was done his boss was there to inspect it. He gave the key of the house to the old carpenter and said "This is your house. It's a gift for you after so many years of hard work."

The carpenter was shocked "What a shame!" he thought. If he had known that it was his house he would have done things differently.

Remember that you are the carpenter of your own life. You construct your life a little bit every day. You hit a nail here, build a wall there and so on. Life is a do-it-yourself project. Your acts and choices now will build the house you will live in later on. So do it right.