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A legend tells the story of a fisherman called Aaron. Aaron
lived on the banks of a river. Walking home with his eyes half-closed one
evening after a hard day's work, he was dreaming of what he could do if he were
rich. As he walked his foot struck against a leather pouch filled with what
seemed to him to be small stones. Absentmindedly he picked up the pouch and
began throwing the pebbles into the water. "When I am a rich man," he
said to himself, "I'll have a large house". And he threw another
pebble into the river. He threw another one and thought, "My wife and I
will have servants and rich food, and many fine things". And this went on
until just one stone was left. As Aaron held it in his hand, a ray of light
caught it and made it sparkle. He then realized that is was a valuable gem. He
be had been throwing away the real riches in his hand, while he dreamed of
unreal riches in the future." This legend summarizes the situation of many
Christians. We have been given everything we need or could want, it has been
placed in our hands, and we have been invited to enjoy it. But for some reason
we do not look into our hands, we do not take what God has given us, and
actually use it. Instead we dream of the day when we will be richly blessed, we
dream of the day when the joy of the banquet will be ours.
(I found this this story in Rev RJ Fairchild's homily
for 28th Sunday of Year A. A link to his site is in my page of links.)
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