Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Aesop’s Fable, The Farmer and His Sons. Aesop’s Fables is available for free download here.
The Fable
“A Farmer, being at death’s door, and desiring to impart to his
Sons a secret of much moment, called them round him and said, “My
sons, I am shortly about to die; I would have you know, therefore,
that in my vineyard there lies a hidden treasure. Dig, and you will
find it.” As soon as their father was dead, the Sons took spade and
fork and turned up the soil of the vineyard over and over again, in
their search for the treasure which they supposed to lie buried
there. They found none, however: but the vines, after so thorough a
digging, produced a crop such as had never before been seen.”
Note: Has it ever happened to you where you wanted something so badly, didn’t get it, felt disappointed, and sometime later looked back and were happy you didn’t get it? You discovered you got something better. It’s happened to me many times. There were times when I prayed and prayed for something. I was sure God wasn’t listening to me. I discovered later that something better was waiting for me. Something that I could not imagine was possible for me. There ae times when all we can do is to trust and keep on working. It may feel like walking in a dense fog where one can only see a few feet. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Keep working. Be open to wonderful surprises.
The Seedling
Paul Laurence Dunbar
As a quiet little seedling
Lay within its darksome bed,
To itself it fell a-talking,
And this is what it said:
“I am not so very robust,
But I’ll do the best I can;”
And the seedling from that moment
Its work of life began.
So it pushed a little leaflet
Up into the light of day,
To examine the surroundings
And show the rest the way.
The leaflet liked the prospect,
So it called its brother, Stem;
Then two other leaflets heard it,
And quickly followed them.
To be sure, the haste and hurry
Made the seedling sweat and pant;
But almost before it knew it
It found itself a plant.
The sunshine poured upon it,
And the clouds they gave a shower;
And the little plant kept growing
Till it found itself a flower.
Little folks, be like the seedling,
Always do the best you can;
Every child must share life’s labor
Just as well as every man.
And the sun and showers will help you
Through the lonesome, struggling hours,
Till you raise to light and beauty
Virtue’s fair, unfading flowers.
“My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.”
What’s on the menu? I hope having a great day is today’s special. Much like a great meal, a great day takes effort. It doesn’t happen until we decide to add all the special ingredients. These are the ingredients I put into my great day: (Hint:add generously) smiles, gratitude, kindnesses, reaching out to speak/connect to others, reading and viewing things that make me feel better. My great day just got greater writing this post.
The early mornings are dark in south Texas. I stepped outside this morning at 5:30. It was dark and the night sky was hanging around. I saw Venus and Orion. The air was refreshing. I was there alone. My neighbor’s homes were all dark. My only company was a deer a bit down the street nibbling on a neighbor’s plants. I took a deep breath of the fresh air and new that I was , going to have a great day.
Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection on Richard Bach’s, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
Jonathon Livingston Seagull finds himself ostracized and banned from the flock. He doesn’t sulk, he decides to keep following his dream.
What he had once hoped for the flock, he now gained for himself alone; he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid. Jonathan Livingston seagull discovered that boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gulls’ life is so short, and with those gone from his thought, he lived a long fine life indeed.
Note: Paying more attention to other people than to ourselves and trying to control their lives instead of worrying about our own life creates a great angst both for the other person and for ourselves. Instead of criticizing those who are different from us why not encourage them? Why not look at our own lives and discern what it is that we are meant to do and be. I think what we are meant to do and be is something that is always evolving. What we were meant to be at one stage in our life will not be the same at another stage of our lives. Wise people understand this and adjust and adapt and continue to learn and grow. And those who don’t, like the gulls in the story, discover that their lives are filled with boredom and fear and anger.
