The Old Hermit
Ever heard of the story about the old hermit who could answer any question? One day two mischievous boys decided to go and test him. They took along with them a live bird, which they hope they could use to trap the hermit. They would ask the hermit what bird they had in their hands, to which the hermit would obviously answer correctly. They would then ask him whether the bird was alive or dead.
If he said the bird was dead, they’ll release it alive to prove him wrong. And if he said it was alive, they’ll squeeze the life out of this poor creature to show it was dead. Tricky. Isn’t it? Off the boys went to box this hermit in a tight corner. But could they pull it off? They got to where the hermit lived and after a brief exchanges, they posed their question. The hermit thought for a while and then gave his answer in a calm voice thus, “as you may have it my dear”. In other words, dead or alive - you decide!
What do you have in your hands right now? Your very life. Is it dead or alive? You decide. Whether or not your life has meaning and purpose depends on you. We can choose to remain where we are or decide that we deserve better and begin a process of change to add more value to our lives. We all want to be happy, to be healthy, to have the means to meet our needs and to have the time for those we love and care about. The nature of life is such that we can’t have all our needs met at once. Hence the need to have preferences and goals. We thus project our goals into the future and work to achieve them.
The process of pursuing this can be made simpler and straight forward or more difficult, depending on how we define ourselves. What are you most passionate about. What are your strengths and what opportunities do you see around you. Unless we are willing to properly examine ourselves in this way, we will continue to chase after every job and never make any real progress. We don’t want to forever pick breadcrumbs from under the table when we can have the big loaf on the table all to ourselves. By the big loaf we mean making the most out of life. It’s about living up to your potential. It’s about living a fulfilling life, doing the things you love and being an exceptional person.
“I have come, that men may have life, and may have it in all its fullness” John 10:10
This is by way of introduction. I hope you join me in these columns as we regularly examine some of the things we can do to create more value for our lives.
Posted by on Thursday, March 13, 2008 (819) Comments