Thank you for joining us for our 7 day a week, 7 minutes of wisdom podcast. This is Day 155 of our Trek, and yesterday we looked at why life is like a bank account. Today and throughout this next week, we will be presenting a series of short wisdom stories. If you miss any days of our Wisdom-Trek, please go to Wisdom-Trek.com to listen to them and read the daily journal.
We are recording our podcast from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. This episode is being released on Monday as Paula and I are on our 7 day podcasting cruise. While we are out at sea this week, I will have a series of podcasts covering short stories about wisdom without a lot of additional commentary. Once we get back from the cruise, we will remain at camp for a few days as we dive back into the commentary on the book of Proverbs.
Today we will hike on two similar trails, both dealing with how we view our world.
Today’s story is…
One day a professor entered his classroom and asked his students to prepare for a surprise test. They all waited anxiously at their desks for the exam to begin.
The professor handed out the exams with the text facing down as usual. Once he handed them all out, he asked the students to turn over the papers.
To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions – just a black dot in the center of the paper. The professor, seeing the expression on everyone’s faces, told them the following, “I want you to write about what you see there.” The students, confused, got started on the inexplicable task.
At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams and started reading each one of them out loud in front of all the students.
All of them, with no exception, defined the black dot, trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet. After all had been read, the classroom silent, the professor started to explain…
“I’m not going to grade you on this. I just wanted to give you something to think about. No one wrote about the white part of the paper. Everyone focused on the black dot, and the same thing happens in our lives. However, we insist on focusing only on the black dot – the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated relationship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend…The dark spots are very small when compared to everything we have in our lives, but they are the ones that pollute our minds. Take your eyes away from the black dots in your lives. Enjoy each one of your blessings, each moment that life gives you. Be happy and live a life filled with love!”
