Shake It Off, Take a Step Up!

I believe that stories are one of the best ways that we can learn life's important lessons. Stories create an experience for us to learn important principles in a memorable, easy to understand way. Here is one of my favorites:

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was too old and the well needed to be covered up anyway. It just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey. He had a load of dirt dumped near by and with the help of neighbors, began to fill in the well. The donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. But soon the donkey became very quiet. After several more shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well and was surprised with what he saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey would shake it off, and take a step up. As the farmers neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and trotted away.

Just like with the donkey, we have a choice to either be buried by our challenges, or to shake them off and stand a little higher because of it. Our challenges can either be burdens that hold us back or stepping stones that take us where we want to go. We can overcome any challenge no matter how deep it may seem if we will learn to shake it off, and take a step up.