Important Possessions.

The above is a drawing of a wooden statue I have that sits beside my favourite chair. It was given to me by those who were members of my school trip to China. This little statue counts among what I consider my important possessions. I have no idea of its monitory value, though I do know it was purchased at an antique fair in China. 

Its price and cost are not important to me. 

I often find myself looking at this little statue, a figure that depicts the god of long life. 

It frequently sends me off on flights and dreams of thoughts.  As I sat drawing it the other day there I was thinking of a  little story with a simple, yet meaningful message. 

A wise woman was travelling along a mountain path when she looking into a mountain stream she spotted a precious stone. 

The next day she met a fellow traveller who was hungry. The woman opened her bag to share a mortal or two of food with the hungry man. The man saw the precious stone in her bag and asked her if she would give it to him. 

She did so without a single thought about the matter. He left with a heart full of joy. He realised that this precious stone could set him up for life.

A few days later he back tracked along the path he had been travelling to find again the woman who had given him the stone.

He told her he had spent the two or so days doing a great deal of thinking. "I know how precious this stone that you gave me is, but I want to return it to you in the hope that you can give me something else. Something even more precious."

The woman was puzzled but agreed to try and give him what he sought. 

"What can I give you she asked?"

" I want you to give me what it is you have within you that enabled you to, without a pause, give me this precious stone." 

What is precious in our lives is not always what we think it is. Sometimes it is more what we are than what we have that is important. 

Have a marvellous day.