Once upon a time, there was a man who lived in a small hamlet. He was extremely indolent and lived a rather frivolous life. Due to his laziness, the village chief gave him two sons to raise: Hardship and Fear. These two were rascals and instantly added disquietude to his life, making his usually preferred lackadaisical orientation to everything impossible. Hardship instantly brought difficulty into every possible situation, while Fear always introduced anxiety.

Consequently, the man always felt uneasy and oppressed with these two wretches around, preventing the lassitude that defined his erstwhile existence. The pressure of the discomfort his sons brought to his hitherto sluggish life instantly made him contemplate a plan to rid himself of these malcontents. He knew the village chief would retract them if he could prove he led an active and productive life. So he hatched a plan. As he was a bachelor, he decided to pursue marriage with the coveted maiden “Change”.

For the next two weeks, he woke up betimes and, of all the male villagers, left his house earliest to work in the fields. He was also the last to return home. During his walk home, he would stop by two huts: the first is where Change and her parents lived, and the second was where the village chief resided. He would then present his profuse haul from the day of working as a gift. His actions had threefold intentions: 1) to stay away as long as possible from Hardship and Fear at home; 2) to demonstrate he could take good care of Change if she agreed to marry; and 3) to prove to the chief he was being productive so he could retract the two sons.

After weeks of hell at home, coupled with his daily ritual of extra exertion, Change was impressed and agree to marry him. Overjoyed, he went home and knew it would only be a short time before he could discard these two rascal boys back to the village chief. The next day, he walked to the large hut of the chief with the damsel Change and presented their engagement rings, with the resounding proclamation: “Chief, through my newly found productive life, Change has chosen me. This is the declaration of our willingness to marry”.

The chief looked at him with circumspection, and with a bit of hesitation, consented to the union. The date for the marriage was set a few months away. Walking merrily to Change’s parents hut, a date was also finalized when she would take domicile at his home. After all these arrangements accompanied by the presence of Change, the chief decided to take Hardship and Fear back into custody. The man was exuberant with joy and beside himself with gladness to rid himself of these anvils of misery. Free at last!

Once the two boys left his  home, he relaxed comfortably with a calmness that for weeks had evaded him. Due to all this taxation, he decided to sleep in the next morning instead of waking up early and venturing to the fields. After all, Hardship and Fear were gone, and Change promised to marry him. The following day he did the same thing. Slowly, he lapsed back into his old ways with Hardship and Fear gone and with Change on the horizon. Before long, his hitherto laziness even doubled due to increased indulgence that sought to counterbalance all the strenuous exertion of the two weeks when he pursued Change. Eftsoons, Change noticed this and decided to call off the marriage. The chief also lamented these regretful developments. Hatching a plan of his own, he decided to return the two brothers, Hardship and Fear, to the man. This time, he added a third boy: Suffering.

……….

When we face hardship and fear, we often decide to change in the moment of misery. Making strides toward the promised land. But once this external hardship and fear is removed that caused the discomfort, we often slowly lapse back into old ways. Even before the permanent change is realized, with only the prospect of it in the offing. It is quite difficult to distinguish, based on our spiritual indolence, the genuineness to change just for change itself, versus the urge to change just to escape a distasteful set of circumstance. Both awaken a deep fervor and an urge to action. The difference is that one diminishes in intensity once the external pressure subsides. While the other continues consistently. When we slip back into old ways, we introduce suffering and make it harder on ourselves.

~By Ikenna Q Ezealah

www.foundationforascent.com

Perplexed, a young man finds himself alone in a rapidly moving car. What propels this vehicle, where is it heading?- He knows not. The car takes him through ugly towns and cities. On rare occasion, he is exposed to the beautiful countryside. “Why this darkness, why this ugliness?” “Go back to the beautiful countryside,” he yells at the car. He yells louder but to no avail. Hopeless, he surrenders to his fate. For how much longer would this last? The monotonous gloominess for what seemed like years became too much for the poor man to bear.

Helpless and filled with fear, he cried for help. His humble petition was soon rewarded. The car slowed down and turned toward the beautiful countryside. The sight of the sun and the magnificent mountains filled him with such deep gratitude. With tears coursing down his cheeks, he thanked the car. He thanked The Creator of the sun and the mountains.  In his state of joy and gratitude, he wished to admire the beautiful flowers in the meadow.  To his surprise, the car obeyed this silent volition and drove him closer to the flowers. He wished to see the flowing stream and again the vehicle obeyed his unspoken volition and drove him closer to the stream. “For years I only saw darkness, ugliness and filth why did you not grant my wish to see the countryside then, why do you only listen to me now?” lamented the young man.

He reflected on this for a while and soon discovered the difference between his outward wishes and his innermost volition. He now knew that the vehicle has always listened to him, for it is propelled by his volition. It could not obey his outward wish to go to the beautiful countryside because his inner volition was primarily filled with dark aspirations that drew him to the ugly towns and cities.

The consciousness of the power bestowed upon him through his volition to direct his destiny became clear to him. Shaking, he trembled at the greatness of this recognition and gave thanks for it.

Sheldon and his wife, Tan, are traveling back home to Taiwan after ten years in Sheffield, England. They have been making preparations for months and eagerly look forward to the trip. The week before the trip, Tan realizes that she had no gift for her now 20 year old niece. Since she will be tied up at work, she begs Sheldon to purchase a handbag for her niece and gives him one of her handbags to serve as a sample.

He was overwhelmed by the different styles at the mall and could not find one similar to his wife’s sample. He favored a brown Nila Anthony designer handbag with ostrich textured satchel and decided to go with it. On his way home, he found himself for the first time in his life paying attention to the different handbags women had on their arms. Sometimes approving the quality and design, other times critiquing the handbag choice. “This is strange,” he laughed. “Since when did I become interested in women’s handbags?”

He thought seriously about this question and came to the realization that it was only after his search for a handbag that he began noticing them all around him. It dawned on him that a man sees and hears not with his eyes and ears but with his spirit.

… And the state of a man’s spirit changes with his change in volition. Hence his volition determines how he sees and hears the things before him.

Immersed in her Saturday afternoon reading, Aramide hears her doorbell ring. She enjoys her time alone on Saturday afternoons when her husband and kids are at soccer practice. Alone time is hard to come by so this period is all the more precious for the busy mom.

The doorbell rings again. Slightly annoyed, she drops her novel and walks to the door where she meets two well-dressed young men who extend her an invitation to their church. Suppressing her irritation, she politely accepts their card and goes back to her novel.

She picks up her novel… but her thoughts remain with these young men. “Just believe in Christ,” she remembered them saying. She had heard the same from her mother for as long as she could remember but always recoiled upon hearing it. What was it about these words she rejected? She thinks of her young children and wants to bring them up according to the teachings of Christ, but she must first strive to assimilate these teachings in their true sense.

“Just believe?… but can this be right.” Just believing that exercise is good brings no benefit, unless one actually lives accordingly, unless one actually exercises.” Happy to have made this correlation, she is encouraged in her questioning of these words.

The parable of the Good Samaritan emerged before her. Unlike the priest and the Levite, the Samaritan spoke of no beliefs but rather revealed them through his actions. True belief must become deed! This became abundantly clear to Aramide. It must become visible in everything that pertains to one.

He who truly has gold does not seek to persuade others of the worth of his gold. His gold will do the talking. It will shine from his eyes, his warmth, his every movement and in his interactions with all living creatures.