Here is a story I like to share with all of you which is in Chinese so I tried to translate into English. Hope you do not mock my poor translation.

There was a young, beautiful, smart girl, she was born in a decent family. When she grown up as an adult, she had been wooed by dozens of guys, but she did not like either of them, because she thought she has not met the right person yet.  One day she went to a fair, she saw a guy passing by, and soon her eyes were glued to him.  She said to herself: it’s him that I have been longing for.  But before she could approach him, he had already disappeared in the crowd.  Oh, where is he? Where is he from? Will I see him again?  All these questions lingered in her mind, she could not do anything, so she started to look for him where he first appeared, but he never showed up again.

After searching for a couple of years, she went to the Temple and prayed: “God, please help me, let me see him again.”

God was touched: “my dear girl, do you really want to see him again?”

She replied: “yes, I want to see him one more time.”

God said: “But you would have to give up everything, your family and all what you have.”

She said: “yes, I can!”

God said: “also, you have to penance for 500 years on a mountain, then you could see him one more time, will you regret this choice?”

She said: “no, I will not regret it.”

Then the girl became a stone, and lied in a desert for more than 400 years. The heat, the rain did not make her bitter, the hardest thing was that no one passed by, and she could not see any hope, which almost cracked her to dust.

The last year, there came a team of stone-cutters, they found her as a huge stone, and thought it/she would be useful, so they cut her into a flat huge stone and shipped her into the city, where a bridge was under construction, so the girl become the railing of the bridge.

On the day when the bridge was completed, the girl saw the man for whom she had been waiting for 500 years.  He strode away, and looked like something bothered him. Soon he disappeared by walking through on the middle of the bridge. He did not know one stone was staring at him affectionately which had been waiting for him for 500 years.

Again, the man disappeared.

God showered up.

“Are you satisfied?” God asked.  The girl cried: “no!!! why? Why should I become the railing, not the foundation? If I lied in the middle of the bridge, so I could touch him when he passed by.”

God said: “you want to touch him? Then you have to serve another 500 years more.”

The girl said: “I would like to.”

God said: “you have not regretted suffering so much?”

The girl said: “no.”

So the girl became a tree standing on a busy road.  Everyday there come a lot of passengers. The girl looked at everyone closely, but the worse thing was none of them was him. Without the previous 500-years-wait, she could not sustain the disappointment after hope.  Day by day, the girl clamed down, as she realized that he would not appear until the last day.  Aha, another 500 years.  The last day came, the girl knew he would come, but she was not excited any more.

Here he is. He still wears his favorite blue shirt, still good looking.  The girl looked at him intensely.  This time, he did not walk by hastily, because the weather was too hot.  He noticed there was a big and tall tree with thick leaves which created a big shade, and it looked tempting.  Let me have a rest, he said to himself.  He walked to the foot of the tree, leaned back on it, closed his eyes, so he feel asleep.  Now the girl could touch him, he was so close to her, but she could not tell him for this moment she has been waiting for 1000 years.  All she could do is to tighten the gaps between leaves so that to shade him. What a thousand -years- affection!!!

He just took a nap, as he had errand to do. He stood up, spanked the dust from his clothing, looked back the tree, and touched the trunk, maybe it’s a way to express his gratitude to the tree.  Then he walked away without looking back.

Before he disappeared in the sight of the girl, God appeared.

God said: “do you want to be his wife? Then you have to suffer more.”

The girl interrupted peacefully: “ I want to but it is not necessary.”

God asked: “why?”

The girl said: “I am fine, love is enough, it is not necessary to be his wife.”

God said: “yes.”

The girl then asked:” has his current wife suffered all just as I did?”

God smiled, nodding.

The girl grinned: “I could do that do, but it is not necessary now.”

At that moment, the girl noticed God relieved with a sigh.

“ what’s wrong? Is there something bothered you?” the girl was surprised.

The God laughed: “no, not at all, I am relieved, as some guy does not need to wait for another 1000 years more, for seeing you, he has been waiting for 2000 years.”

I cried when I read this story, my friend concluded that love is more important and beautiful than it fulfillment, meanwhile, my understanding is we always look for or wait for someone does not belong to us, and ignore those who love and support us utterlessly.