Once upon a time, a very
strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant and he got it. The pay
was really good and so was the work condition. For those reasons, the
woodcutter was determined to do his best.
His boss gave him an axe and
showed him the area where he supposed to work.
The first day, the woodcutter
brought 18 trees.
“Congratulations,” the boss
said. “Go on that way!”
Very motivated by the boss
words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only bring 15
trees. The third day he tried even harder, but he could only bring 10 trees.
Day after day he was bringing less and less trees.
“I must be losing my
strength”, the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying
that he could not understand what was going on.
“When was the last time you
sharpened your axe?” the boss asked.
“Sharpen? I had no time to
sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…”
Reflection:
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 that 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 we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things
in life, like our personal life, taking time to get close to our Creator,
giving more time for our family, taking time to read etc.
We all need time to relax, to think and
meditate, to learn and grow. If we don’t take the time to sharpen the “axe”, we
will become dull and lose our effectiveness.
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