Ability
Once upon a time, the animals decided they should do something meaningful to meet
the problems of a changing world. So they organized a school.
They adopted an activity curriculum of running, climbing, swimming, and flying.
To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.
The duck was excellent in swimming; in fact, better than his instructor, but he made
only passing grades in flying, and was very poor in running. Since he was slow in
running, he had to drop swimming and stay after school to practice running. This
caused his webbed feet to be badly worn, so that he was only average in swimming
. But average was quite acceptable, so no body worried about that-except the duck.
The rabbit started at the top of his class in running, but developed a nervous twitch
in his leg muscles because of so much make up work in swimming.
The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but he encountered constant frustration in flying
class because his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the tree top
down. He developed charlie horses from overexertion, and so only got a C in climbing
and a D in running.
The eagle was a problem child and was severely disciplined for being a non-conformist.
In climbing classes he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his
own way to get there....
The obvious moral of the story is a simple one: Each creature has its own set of capabilities
in which it will naturally excel-unless it is expected or forced to fill a mold that doesn't fit.
What is true of creatures in the forest is true of Christians in the family. God has not made
us all the same. It's okay to be you...so relax. Enjoy your own capabilities, cultivate your
own style. Appreciate the members of your family or your fellowship for who they are, even
though their outlook or style may be miles different from yours. Rabbits don't fly. Eagles
don't swim. Ducks look funny trying to climb. Squirrels don't have feathers.
This story was taken from The Tale of The
Tardy Oxcart And 1,501 Other Stories by Charles R. Swindoll
