Reminders: Be Wise as an Ass

What happens to us is less important than how we react to it.  Take the case of the donkey that fell in a pit.  The farmer who owned the donkey had trouble figuring out how to get him out.  He decided just to bury the old donkey where he was by filling in the pit.  He started shoveling dirt into the pit.  At first the donkey brayed and honked in complaint, but after a while he just started to shake the dirt off and stepped up on top of it.  Eventually the pit was filled in, and the donkey was able to climb out on his own. 

The moral of the story is that we should all be as wise as that old donkey.  When we find ourselves in a “pit”, and someone throws “dirt” on us, we should shake it off, step up and climb out of our own metaphorical pits.  It is all too easy to just sit there complaining and becoming angry and vengeful.  What’s worse, when we find ourselves feeling down, it seems like everything that happens, heaps misery on top of misery. 

Jesus set a good example when He was being mocked on the way to the cross.  Matthew 27:27-31 tells us that the Roman soldiers stripped Him, put a ruby robe and a crown of thorns on Him.  They put a staff in his right hand, then pretended to bow down to him, mocking him saying, “Hail to the king of the Jews”.  They beat him with the staff, and even spit on Him.  Christ did not complain or use his Godly powers to retaliate.  Instead, He said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34

Few of us will ever be subjected to such humiliation and torture; so why is it so hard for us to shake off the petty frustrations and slights that happen to us?  Why is it so hard for us to forgive those who hurt us?  We claim it is because we are, “only human”.  We use that as our excuse for sitting in our own little pity parties grumbling.  Let us resolve to be as wise as an ass, to step up and find a positive way to climb out of our own misery.