A Valuable Lesson

One Sunday morning, a man was reading 1001 Inspirational Stories when his wife interrupted him with troubling news: their son no longer wanted to go to church. Upon hearing this the father asked his son why.

“Our helper told me that it’s no use,” said the son, “because I don’t get anything out of it.”

So the father asked the helper to unlock their old storage room, and he took his son inside.

“Son, do you see those woven baskets in the corner? Take one of them and go to the lake. Try to fill the basket with water. ”

“But why?” asked the son. “We have all the water we need right here. Plus the weaving at the bottom will–”

“Trust me son,” said the father. “You will learn a valuable lesson.”

The son took one of the woven baskets and sneezed because of all the dust on it. Then he left for the lake, which was a kilometer away.

An hour later the son arrived with the basket. The father then asked, “Did you get anything from the lake? You see son, when you go to church, you might not get any–”

“Yes,” the son replied, perspiring. “I filled it with water as you had asked.”

Puzzled, the father checked the basket, which was indeed filled with water. He saw that the bottom was filled with leaves to keep the water from leaking out of the basket’s weaving. He then removed the leaves, letting all the water drain out.

“Why’d you do that?” asked the son.

“Trust me son,” the father replied. “Now go take the basket to the storage room and place it next to the other baskets. The son obeyed, then went back to the father.

“Did you notice anything different? You see son, before you go to church, your soul is like a dirty basket, but after you go to church, all the dust in your heart will–”

“Nothing was different. The baskets were all the same”

The father then went to the storage room with his son and checked the baskets. They were all clean.

The helper noticed the father’s puzzlement, so he said, “Sir, I saw that they were dirty, so I cleaned them, as I did the entire storage room.”

“Now do you see son? You went to the lake with a dirty basket, and now all the baskets are clean, thanks to God.”

“But god did not clean them, I did, our helper did.”

“You see son, God uses people to fulfill His plan. You just have to believe in Him”

“But I don’t believe in him, and our helper doesn’t believe in him.”

“You see son, God uses all kinds of people, even sinners, even those who don’t believe. Now will you go to church?”

The son said, “No. I don’t see what you mean, and I don’t see the point in believing in something you can’t even see.”

The father turned on an old electric fan in the storage room and said, “You feel that, don’t you? But do you see it? You see son…”

9 comments

  1. "The father then pushed the boy into the well"

    Good one Red. hahahaha. At least the father went up a notch in the thinking department however violently.

  2. "Yes father, Now I know it’s only in my head”

    The father then pushed the boy into the well, and the boy screamed until a thud and splash echoed up the well. And then there was silence.

    "Now," the father called down the well. "Do you see Him?"

  3. I guess here's what happened next…
    Despite the electric fan's cool air, the boy's father were drenched in sweat because still, he can't make his point so he asked the boy to go outside beside their old well:

    “What is in there?” the boy asked,

    “God is hidden in there.”

    “God is hidden inside this well? That is a sin! What you may be seeing is an image left by the unfaithful!”

    The father asked the boy to get closer and lean out on the edge. Reflected on the water, the boy could see his own face.

    “But that is me!”

    “Right. Now you know where god is hidden.”

    ……"Yes father, Now I know it's only in my head"

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