Thought for the Day 12/7/2018
Friday Tale: The Blessing of Burdens
Sadhu Sundar Singh, a Hindu convert to
Christianity, became a missionary to his people in India. Late one afternoon
Sadhu was traveling on foot through the Himalayas with a Buddhist monk. It was
bitterly cold and the wind felt like sharp blades slicing into their skins. Night
was fast approaching when the monk warned Sadhu that they were in danger of
freezing to death if they did not reach the monastery before darkness fell.
Suddenly, on a narrow path above a steep
precipice, they heard a cry for help. At the foot of the cliff lay a man,
fallen and badly hurt. The monk looked at Sadhu and said, "Do not stop.
God has brought this man to his fate. He must work it out for himself. Let us
hurry on before we, too, perish."
But Sadhu replied, "God has sent me here
to help my brother. I cannot abandon him."
The monk continued trudging off through the
whirling snow, while the missionary clambered down the steep embankment. The
injured man's leg was broken and he could not walk, so Sadhu made a sling of
his blanket and tied the man on his back. With great difficulty he climbed back
up the cliff, drenched by now in perspiration.
Doggedly, Sadhu made his way through the
deepening snow and darkness. It was all he could do to follow the path. But he
persevered, though faint with fatigue and overheated from exertion. Finally, he
saw ahead the lights of the monastery.
Then, for the first time, Sadhu stumbled and
nearly fell. But not from weakness. He had stumbled over an object lying in the
snow-covered road. Slowly he bent down on one knee and brushed the snow off the
object. It was the body of the monk, frozen to death.
Years later a disciple of Sadhu's asked him,
"What is life's most difficult task?"
Without hesitation Sadhu replied: "To
have no burden to carry."
Ask God to enable you to view life's
challenges as a means of serving others and of strengthening your muscles of
faith.
~ from Amy Bloomquist
Therefore I am well
content with weaknesses,...
with distresses,.... with difficulties, for
Christ's sake;
for when I am weak, then I am strong.
~ 2 Corinthians 12:10