Centuries ago, in a small Mediterranean town, there was a poor =
man who was in a great amount of debt. His banker, who was an old, unattrac=
tive man, strongly desired the poor man’s beautiful youngest daughter=
=2E The banker decided to offer the man a deal to forgive the debt that he =
owed the bank completely. However, there was a bit of a catch.
For the man t=
o become debt-free, he was to have his daughter marry the banker. Obviously=
, the man didn’t want this agreement, but he had no other choice, as =
his debt was so extreme. The banker said he would put two small stones into=
a bag – one stone was white, and the other black. The daughter would=
then need to reach into the bag and blindly choose a stone.
If she chose the bl=
ack stone, the poor man’s debt would be cleared and the daughter woul=
d have to marry the banker. However, if she chose the white stone, the debt=
would be cleared, but the daughter would not have to marry him.
While =
standing in the stone-filled path in the poor man’s yard, the banker =
reached down and chose two small stones, not realizing that the poor man=
217;s daughter was watching him. She noticed that he picked up two bla=
ck stones and put them in the bag. When it came time for the daughter to pi=
ck a stone out of the bag, she felt she had three choices:
>Refuse to do it.
>Take out both stones and expose the banker’s cheating.
>Pick a stone, knowing it would be black, and sac=
rifice herself to get her father out of debt.
She picked a stone from the bag, an=
d immediately ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the abundance of s=
tones where they were all standing. She said to the banker, “I’=
m sorry, I’m so clumsy! Oh well. Just look in the bag to see what col=
or stone is in there now so you will know what color stone I picked.”=
Of c=
ourse, the remaining stone was black. Because the banker didn’t want =
his deceit to be exposed, he played along, acting as if the stone that the =
peasant’s daughter dropped must have been white. He cleared the busin=
essman’s debt and the daughter remained free from having to spend the=
rest of her life with the banker.
&nbs=
p;
[While you may have to think outside of the bo=
x sometimes, it’s always possible to conquer a difficult situation. Y=
ou don’t have to always give in to the options you’re presented=
with. To overcome challenges, you need to think in ways that you’ve =
never thought before.]
~~
Dr Bob Griffin
[email protected] www.grif.net
"Jesus Knows Me, T=
his I Love!"