A few friends meet for coffee every Friday and this past Friday a woman brought some extra copies of “The Fishwrapper” a bi-monthly publication that prints positive news. I had never heard of them before but I was greatly impressed by the following article I found in it that to me was profound and definitely fits in to our group
The Boy Who Changed a Village
In a small mountain village, it was the custom of the villager to strap on their knapsacks each morning. Then, during the day, each time they worried about something or felt depressed about a problem, they would pick up a small pebble and put it in their knapsack. The knapsacks were heavy and a burden to carry because the villagers never emptied them. They carried their burdens every day. It was all they knew.
One day, one of the village elders walked down to the riverbank, bent over from his knapsack full of burdens, and noticed one of the boys from the village skipping pebbles across the water. The boy’s knapsack was empty.
“What are you doing?” the old man asked. “And why is your knapsack empty? Why aren’t you carrying your burdens like the rest of us?”
“I come down to the riverbank at the end of each day,” the boy said, “and skip my pebbles across the water until my knapsack is empty. I see no reason to keep carrying them.”
The old man was stunned, and so bent over from his knapsack full of burdens that he could hardly move. He had never seen anyone cast their burdens away like that.
“Would you like to try it?” the boy asked.
The old man was hesitant, yet it seemed like such a good idea. Slowly he reached into his knapsack that was large and heavy from all the burdens he had accumulated over many years. He took a pebble and studied it, recalling the burden of pain that he felt when he placed it in his knapsack. He was so bent over that it was difficult to cast the burden away and watch it skip across the water and finally disappear, but he somehow did it.
The boy smiled.
The old man smiled also. It was easier than he thought to let go of the burden. Then he tossed another pebble, another burden, then another, and another. The boy stayed and watched. They built a fire and the old man kept throwing until his knapsack was at last empty. He felt so relieved.
The next day the old man, standing straight and tall, told the other villagers what had happened and how good he felt. They could see how happy he was, how he looked and acted like a different person. They were amazed.
At the end of the day, all the villagers joined the old man and the boy and went to the riverbank and skipped their burdens across the water until their knapsacks were empty. They were amazed at how good and happy they felt. From that time on they unloaded their burdens at the close of every day.
A sign was erected at the entrance to the village that said.
It’s hard To Be
On Top Of the World
When You’re Carrying it
On Your Shoulders.
Let Go And Live.
After reading the above article, I started to ponder what way anyone could do this and I thought about Thought Adjusters, so this morning I asked my Thought Adjuster if we could hand our burdens to them, could they cast them aside for us. Here is what HE had to say.
Of course we can, that is one of the primary reasons we are here: To smooth and ease the way for you. I cannot say we just toss everything aside but we try to make it the easiest for you we can. There are just some things you need to experience so we do try to make it the easiest for you to get through. Also the more you advance in Spirit the less burdens you will acquire so it gets better and better and all will lead you to that road to Light and Life. By the way that article was a great down to earth one to describe a part of living.
