Hot or Cold?

 

“The principles of living greatly include the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and trial with humility.” ~ Thomas S. Monson

Once upon a time, there was a king who held court outside, under the morning sun. One morning, as the king, his ministers and subjects were carrying on the day’s business, a man came and asked permission to come into court. Permission was granted and he approached the king. He came in and said, “My Lord, I am a sculptor and I have come here with a challenge. I have gone to many kingdoms with this challenge but up to this point, no one has been able to win. I would like your permission to present it.”

The king asked, “What kind of challenge?”

The sculptor replied, “I have prepared two statues. One is made of diamond and the other is made of glass. You have to identify which one is made of diamond. If anyone in your kingdom correctly identifies it, you will have won and I will leave the diamond statue here. But if you can’t identify it, you will have to give me money equal to the value of the diamond statue.”

The king accepted the challenge and the statues were presented in court. To their surprise, both statues looked exactly the same – same size, appearance, color, everything was the same.

The king and his ministers tried their best, looking from different angles, but could not identify which one was the One. Knowing that a wrong answer could cause the king to lose a significant amount of money, none of his subjects dared to come forth and try to give a guess. After waiting a while, the sculptor asked, “Is it my win?”

At that moment, an old man who had been present in the crowd, came forward and said to the king, “I want to take this challenge, will you allow me to try?” The king gave him permission.

The old man came forward, looked at both statues then touched them carefully. After a minute, he correctly identified the diamond statue. The sculptor admitted the win and handed over the statue to the king’s treasury. Everyone was happy and cheered the old man. However, the king was curious and asked the old man, “How did you identify the correct sculpture?”

The old man smiled and replied, “It is simple. We are all sitting in the sun and the sculptures too were displayed in the sun. I touched both of them and the statue made of diamond remained cold but the statue made of glass became hot. That was how I was able to tell them apart.”

Life all around is currently a scorching sun. Shortages, price hikes, inflation, job cuts and layoffs, diseases, deaths, riots, etc. And it may get hotter before it cools off. What material are you made of? Do you get hot as the heat source pumps up or do you remain cool and preserve your structure?

You can control your reaction to outside forces and you can maintain your cool under the heat. . .but you have to be made of diamonds, not glass. What material was used in your construction?

“I’ve always been a religious person, and I try to think that every disappointment might just be a blessing in disguise.” ~ Jermain Defoe