Everyone who has ever taken a shower has had an idea. It’s the person who gets out of the shower, dries off, and does something about it that makes a difference.  — Nolan Bushnell

I have sent the following Donkey story before. But since it has been a while and since there are certain people in our lives that seem to be constantly willing to throw dirt and hurt on us… here it is again. 

One day a farmer’s donkey fell down into a well.  The animal cried pitifully for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do.  Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.

The farmer invited all his neighbors to come over and help him.  They all grabbed a shovel and began to toss the dirt into the well.  At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly.  Then, to everyone’s amazement, he quieted down. A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally looked down the well.

He was astonished at what he saw.  With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing.  He would shake it off and then take a step up.  As the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up.  Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shoveled dirt on you, all kinds of dirt.  The trick to getting out of the “well” is to shake it off and take a “step up.”  Each of our troubles is a stepping stone.  We can get out of the deepest of “wells” just by not stopping, never giving up!  Shake it off and take a step up.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 19th, 2008 at 7:22 am and is filed under T4D. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.