The pretty lady

Once upon a time a big monk and a little monk were traveling together. They came to the bank of a river and found the bridge was damaged. They had to wade across the river. There was a pretty lady who was stuck at the damaged bridge and couldn't cross the river.

The big monk offered to carry her across the river on his back. The lady accepted. The little monk was shocked by the move of the big monk. 'How can big brother carry a lady when we are supposed to avoid all intimacy with females?' thought the little monk. But he kept quiet.

The big monk carried the lady across the river and the small monk followed unhappily. When they crossed the river, the big monk let the lady down and they parted ways with her.

All along the way for several miles, the little monk was very unhappy with the act of the big monk. He was making up all kinds of accusations about big monk in his head. This got him madder and madder. But he still kept quiet. And the big monk had no inclination to explain his situation.

Finally, at a rest point many hours later, the little monk could not stand it any further, he burst out angrily at the big monk. 'How can you claim yourself a devout monk, when you seize the first opportunity to touch a female, especially when she is very pretty? All your teachings to me make you a big hypocrite The big monk looked surprised and said, 'I had put down the pretty lady at the river bank many hours ago, how come you are still carrying her along?'

This very old Chinese Zen story reflects the thinking of many people today. We encounter many unpleasant things in our life, they irritate us and they make us angry. Sometimes, they cause us a lot of hurt, sometimes they cause us to be bitter or jealous. But like the little monk, we are not willing to let them go away. We keep on carrying the baggage of the 'pretty lady' with us. We let them keep on coming back to hurt us, make us angry, make us bitter and cause us a lot of agony. Why? Simply because we are not willing to put down or let go of the baggage of the 'pretty lady'. We should let go of the pretty lady immediately after crossing the river, that is after the unpleasant event is over. This will immediately remove all our agonies. There is no need to be further hurt by the unpleasant event after it is over.

Hold my hands

Little girl and her father were crossing a bridge.

The father was kind of scared so he asked his little daughter, 'Sweetheart, please hold my hand so that you don't fall into the river.'

The little girl said, 'No, Dad. You hold my hand.'

'What's the difference?' Asked the puzzled father.

'There's a big difference,' replied the little girl. 'If I hold your hand and something happens to me, chances are that I may let your hand go. But if you hold my hand, I know for sure that no matter what happens, you will never let my hand go.'

~THE END~

In any relationship, the essence of trust is not in its bind, but in its bond.
This short story makes me recall how I trusted the Lord when I just met Him years ago. Days that I was misunderstood by, seem like people had forgotten about my existing. However, the Lord never leave me because I chose to let Him hold my hands.

There is a verse that speak deeply in my heart, such assurance from Him

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, and not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; Your walls are continually before Me. Isaiah 49:15-16

妇 人 焉 能 忘 记 他 吃 奶 的 婴 孩 ， 不 怜 恤 他 所 生 的 儿 子 ？ 即 或 有 忘 记 的 ， 我 却 不 忘 记 你。看 哪 ， 我 将 你 铭 刻 在 我 掌 上 ； 你 的 墙 垣 常 在 我 眼 前 。 以 賽 亞 書 49:15-16

If you had been waiting for people to hold your hands or maybe you are
expecting others to hold your hands. At this moment, open your hands for Jesus to hold you. Others may let go their hands or you may let go others hands but the hand of Jesus is like the hand of the father to the little girl, He never let go. As He had promised, He had inscribed my name and your name on the palms of His hand and it is always in front of Him.