The Folded Fist

A child happened to see in his house, a large number of sweet candies in a glass bottle with a narrow neck. He eagerly put his hand into the bottle and clasped a candy. He could not remove his hands from the bottle as he was reluctant to open his hand. He was worried and cried aloud. His parents came to him and asked him to open his hand and pull it out of the bottle. But he did not co-operate because he feared that he would lose the candy if he opened his hand. He tightened his grip on the candy and continued to cry. The parents tried their best but he would not listen to them. When all attempts failed, they thought that the only option to save the child was to break the bottle. But they feared that it may wound the child. They summoned their nearest neighbour, who was a doctor, to arrange medical care in case of an accident.

The doctor heard the story. He was very wise and clever. He asked them not to break the bottle till he arrived. The Doctor came soon. He opened his bag and took out a large candy in a very attractive packet. He offered it to the child. The child was delighted. He opened his folded fist readily, removed his hand from the bottle and grabbed the new, larger candy. Every one was happy. They appreciated the ingenuity of the Doctor and thanked him.

Like the child in this story, we may have to be ready to leave out smaller pleasures to gather greater goals. When we clasp worldly interests we fail to open our hands to receive the bliss of God’s generous gifts and heavenly happiness. Will a person gain anything if he wins the whole world but loses his life or his soul?

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© By Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India and Leo. S. John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath,Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally, Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.

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This is Story No. 55 in this site. Please click ‘Older Posts’ at the bottom of a page to read previous stories and click 'Newer Posts' at the bottom of a page to read newer stories in this site. Please click on a word in the 'Story Themes' to read stories on that theme.