Service

One day, a wise teacher took a leisurely stroll through the woods with a young pupil.

The two of them stopped before a tiny tree.

“Pull up that sapling,” the teacher instructed his pupil, pointing to a sprout just coming up from the earth.

Immediately the youngster did as instructed, pulling it up with ease and showed his teacher.

The two continued their walk.

“Now pull up that one,” said the teacher, indicating a more established sapling that had grown to about knee high to the boy.

Now the student needed to grab the trunk with his whole hand. With little effort, he was able to yank the tree came up, roots and all.

Continuing a little bit longer, the teacher stopped again.

“And now, this one,” said the teacher, nodding toward a more well-developed evergreen that was as tall as the young pupil.

Grabbing the trunk now with both hands and throwing all his weight and strength into the task the boy struggled. He looked around and decided to use sticks and stone he found to pry up the stubborn roots. Sweating profusely, the boy finally got the tree loose.

“Now,” the wise one said, “I’d like you to pull this one up.”

The young boy followed the teacher’s gaze, which fell upon a mighty oak so tall the boy could scarcely see the top.

Knowing the great struggle he’d just had pulling up the much smaller tree, he simply told his teacher, “I am sorry, but I can’t.”

“My son, you have just demonstrated the power that habits will have over your life!” the teacher exclaimed. “The older they are, the bigger they get, the deeper the roots grow, and the harder they are to uproot. Some get so big, with roots so deep, you might hesitate to even try.”

SHAME: The longer your allow shame to live in your life, the harder it will be to remove. Will you let another year go by without taking steps to remove shame from your life?