Fwd: Removable Rocks

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Removable Rocks

 

A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox.

He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a

shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and

tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of

the sandbox.

 

The boy dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt.

With a little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across

the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy, and the rock

was very large.) When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox

however, he found that he couldn't roll it up and over the little

wall.

 

Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time

he thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell

back into the sandbox. The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed, &

shoved; but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing

his chubby fingers.

 

Finally he burst into tears of frustration. All this time the boy's

father watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded.

 

At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and

the sandbox. It was the boy's father.

 

Gently but firmly he said, " Son, why didn't you use all the strength

that you had available? "

 

Defeated, the boy sobbed back, " But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all

the strength that I had! "

 

" No, son, " corrected the father kindly.

 

" You didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask me. "

 

With that the father reached down, picked up the rock and removed it

from the sandbox.

 

Do you have " rocks " in your life that need to be removed? Are you

discovering that you don't have what it takes to lift them? There is

One who is always available to us and willing to give us the strength

we need. Isn't it funny how we try so hard to do things ourselves.