It is What it Is

"Peace comes through acceptance." Linda Dillow

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Let me tell you an old Portuguese story that has been used by various writers*

An old man lived in a tiny village and owned a beautiful white horse. Everyone,

including the king were jealous of that horse, and offered him large sums to buy him.

And even though the old man was poor, he never accepted the money, for the horse

was dear to him, like a friend.

Then one day, the old man got up and found the horse was gone. The townspeople

ridiculed him saying, "If you'd sold that horse, you'd have lived off the money

quite comfortably. But now, he has been stolen and you will never get him back."

The old man replied, "Don't say he is stolen, but that he is merely missing. We

do not know all the details and should not make an assumption."

All the same, the people shook their heads and called him a fool.

Then two weeks later, the horse returned, bringing with him twelve wild horses

from the woods. The people clapped the old man on the back and said, "You have

been blessed indeed. You can train the horses and sell them for a pretty penny."

But the old man said, "We do not yet know if this is a blessing

or a curse, but that the horse came back with twelve others."

The next week, the older man's only son was training one of the wild stallions and fell off, breaking both legs. The townspeople, having not learned their lesson, said, "Indeed, you were

right. Those horses were a curse. Now your only son is laid up and unable to work."

"We do not know if his ailment is a curse or a blessing, but that he fell and broke his legs."

The people called him a fool.

The next week, the government raided the town, drafting everyone for a war. The

enemy was fierce and the townspeople feared that their sons would never return.

Because the old man's son was laid up with broken legs, he was not demanded to go.

The people proclaimed, "Indeed your son's accident was a blessing in disguise."

But the old man replied, "Why do you always draw conclusions? No one knows.

Say only this: Your sons went to war, and mine did not. No one is wise enough

to know if it is a blessing or a curse. Only God knows."

*Adapted from Linda Dillow's Calm my Anxious Heart and Max Lucado's In the Eye of the Storm