Shoveling Dirt
As the 2008 presidential campaigns heat up, the "mud slinging" becomes more intense. One candidate's camp will start the fracas by "dishing out the dirt" on the opponent. Then the "wounded" party will return fire and off we go with a continuation of the longstanding ritual of American politics.
Almost everyone bemoans the "mud slinging" of political campaigns which is ironic in that we tend to do a little "mud slinging" of our own. How many times have you heard people's character attacked through misrepresentation, half-truths, and down right lies? Have you even participated in a "war of words" yourself or been the target of some one's "smear campaign?" I wonder what would happen if instead of retaliating, we learned to shrug off the unwarranted criticism and attacks of others. That reminded me of a story I once heard Jerry Vines tell.
There was a farmer’s donkey that fell into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally he decided the animal was old and it just wasn’t worth the effort to retrieve the donkey. Since he had planned to fill in the well anyway, he decided to kill two birds with one stone.
He invited all his neighbors to come over and help him with his problem. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the donkey cried horribly as each shovel of dirt fell on him. Then to every one's amazement, he quieted down.
The farmer looked down into the well to see what was going on. He was astonished to see that with every shovel of dirt that hit the donkey's back, he would shake it off and take a step up. The farmer returned to shoveling with a smile on his face. As he and his neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, the donkey continued his march upward. Pretty soon the well was filled enough that the donkey simply stepped over the edge and trotted off.
When people hurl insults and personal attacks your way, refuse to let their barbs sting you. Shake off the dirt and step up higher. Let adversity build Godly character in your life.
