There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son
went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the
youngest son in the fall.
When they had all
gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son
said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no, it was
covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son
disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked
so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son
disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full
of life and fulfillment.
The man then
explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but
only one season in the tree’s life.
He told them that
you cannot judge a tree, or a person by only one season, and that the essence
of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can
only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.
If you give up
when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your
summer, fulfillment of your fall.
Moral:
Don’t let the
pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don’t judge life
by one difficult season.
Persevere through
the difficult patches and better times are sure to come.
Oh Leona, what a wonderful lesson. One which we all need to learn, too.Wishing the entire world could read this. Why do we humans rush to judgment? I will tell this story in homeschool Monday. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteI hope all is well with you and that cutie pie grandson of yours.
Hi, Robyn. Thank you for stopping by to read, I appreciate that so much.
ReplyDeleteI'll be looking forward to hearing how this goes over with your class.
I thought it was such a powerful lesson, I just had to share it.
good comparison-we each have our season!
ReplyDeleteHi there, Lin. How is your weekend so far? I hope it's good.
ReplyDeleteYes, we do have seasons...some are beautiful, others are not.
Thank you for taking time to stop by.
This is such a beautiful lesson, Leona. Thank you for sharing with us. I wish I had a pear tree here in Hawaii. :-)
ReplyDeleteBlessings...
ReplyDeleteLove it,
reminds me of parrables, fables with a moral and my grandmother.
thanks. i enjoyed it
Have a blessed and joy filled week.
I love this. Sometimes I feel unfairly judged because someone saw me during one of my bad moments.
ReplyDeleteI loved your post! And thank you so much for your well wishes. I have lacked the drive to write, and yet I love to write. I have been reading more[my New Year's hope]. I am currently reading 'Defending Jacob'. I have read all of Mitch Album's books including his latest one. Again, thanks for reminding us that spring is on the way. It has been a long, cold winter.
ReplyDelete