A Cat was walking along one early evening, heading towards the village.

Cat was a friendly sort. In her lives she wore many hats. Sometimes she was a companion, listener and even a watch cat. Suddenly, out of the shadows leaped a massive dog. To cat it seemed as if a chunk of the sky had fallen into her path.

In the shadowy darkness, the animal towered over cat and bared its great, sharp, yellow teeth.

“Run away,” the dog snarled.

Startled nearly out of her wits, cat knew that if she were going to survive she must not panic. She imposed a steely calm on herself and looked up at the beast.

“I beg your pardon,” answered cat, far more calmly than she felt. “I have business here. Let me pass.”

The dog had not expected this reaction. He usually left his victims weak with fear by simply looking at them.

“Run,” he repeated. “I don’t like the way you drift about these parts cozying up to people and making them feel so secure. This is my place. Everyone here does as I tell them to.”

Now cat was nearly paralyzed with fear and running was absolutely out of the question. Cat knew that if she did run away she would never be able to see her friends in these parts again. She also realized that if she did not stand, she would always live in fear of dogs. Perhaps she would spend her life cringing at shadows as so many other cats did.

It wasn’t right. There was nothing wrong with cat helping people. The wrong was in the animal she was facing.

Cat breathed a silent prayer; “Oh help me find my way home safe.” A little spark kindled in cat’s heart. The light in her heart began to fill her and unfreeze her muscles and nerves. Suddenly, cat was no longer pretending – she really wasn’t afraid.

Cat realized at that moment, nothing mattered more to her than shining her light in this dark creature.

“I invite you to come with me and meet my friends,” cat purred. “I hate to think of you out here all alone.”

Slowly, cat managed to put one paw in front of another until she found herself gliding past the menacing creature.

“Stop,” snarled the dog. “Take one more step and I will destroy you. Don’t you dare cross me!”

It was too late. Cat had found her feet and was going at a fast pace toward the village where her friends waited for her.

She rushed into the home of the village’s guard dog and told her story.

“Did I do right?” cat asked.

“You did just fine,” he answered. “You aren’t finished. Now you must go out and tell your tale so that others who find themselves in fear might recall it and find their light.”

And so cat did.

– - – Contributed by Lisa Suhay

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water in his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. “I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.” “Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?” “I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your masters house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts.” The pot said

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion he said, “As we return to the masters house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the Pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pots side? That’s because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my masters table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

NB : Each of us has our own unique flaws. We are all cracked pots. Don’t be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and you too can be the cause of beauty. Know that in our weakness we find our strength.

A young man approached the foreman of a logging crew and asked for a job.

“That depends,” replied the foreman. “Let’s see you fell this tree.” The young man stepped forward and skillfully felled a great tree. Impressed, the foreman exclaimed, “You can start Monday.”

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday rolled by. Thursday afternoon the foreman approached the young man and said, “You can pick up your paycheck on the way out today.”

Startled, the young man replied, “I thought you paid on Friday.”

“Normally we do,” said the foreman. “But we’re letting you go today because you’ve fallen behind. Our daily felling charts show that you’ve dropped from first place on Monday to last place today.”

“But I’m a hard worker,” the young man objected. “I arrive first, leave last and even have worked through my coffee breaks!”

The foreman, sensing the young man’s integrity, thought for a minute and then asked, “Have you been sharpening your axe?”

The young man replied, “No sir, I’ve been working too hard to take time for that!”

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Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don’t take time to “sharpen the axe”  In today’s world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever but less happy than ever. Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay sharp?

There’s nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But God doesn’t want us to get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like taking time to pray, to read and study scripture or to listen to “the still small voice of God.”

We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don’t take time to sharpen the axe, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.

Take time today to sharpen your axe!

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