Today, I offer you a gift that I just received, and feel compelled to share with you. I know that the state of our world today has not escaped your notice. The highest virtues of love, acceptance, respect, and forgiveness are alien to the front pages of all of our News Proclaimers. So, when an Email from one of my life’s most treasured gifts arrived with the presentation of the following story, I knew that it was for all of us. Therefore, with my loving thanks to Carole, I offer the following (somewhat edited and slightly modified) story from an unknown originator… with my gratitude to you, My Dear Reader, for your attention.
TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING THROUGH THE DESERT. DURING THE JOURNEY THEY HAD AN ARGUMENT AND ONE FRIEND SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE IN THE FACE.
THE ONE WHO WAS SLAPPED WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING, WROTE IN THE SAND: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE.”
THEY KEPT ON WALKING, UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS, WHERE THEY DECIDED TO BATHE .
THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN SLAPPED BECAME STUCK IN THE MIRE AND WAS IN DANGER OF DROWNING, BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.
UPON HIS RECOVERY FROM THE NEAR DROWNING, HE WROTE ON A STONE: “TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE.”
THE FRIEND WHO HAD FIRST SLAPPED, AND LATER SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND ASKED HIM, "AFTER I HURT YOU, YOU WROTE IN THE SAND AND NOW, YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?"
THE OTHER FRIEND REPLIED "WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US IT IS GOOD TO WRITE IT DOWN IN SAND WHERE WINDS OF FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY. BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING GOOD FOR US, IT IS BEST TO ENGRAVE IT IN STONE WHERE NO WIND CAN EVER ERASE IT."
MAY WE ALL LEARN TO WRITE OUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE OUR BENEFITS IN STONE.
IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT IT TAKES A MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL PERSON, AN HOUR TO EMBRACE THEM, A DAY TO LOVE THEM, AND THEN AN ENTIRE LIFETIME TO APPRECIATE THEM.
Unless expressly stated, all original material, of whatever nature, created by J. Michael Brown (John-Michael) and included in this weblog and any related pages, including the weblog's archives is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
2 comments:
One day I hope to be able to write my hurts in the sand AND forget them after the wind blows them away. Rehashing them verbally or mentally hurts just as much as when they first occurred and just as much as if they were written in stone.
Though the winds of time do their work with quick dispatch on our notations made in sand... they do not fail to exact the same (though painfully slower) effect on memories chiseled into stone... Patient trust in that work will encourage the heart that carries those inscriptions.
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