Moral of the Crow

Most of us have read or at least know some of the old Aesop's Fables by heart. Aesop fables are a collection of stories credited to an Ethiopian slave that is believed to have lived in Ancient Greece. Most of this storyteller's fables have a very up front moral education laying between the lines of the well told short stories. Many of these popular, relate-able stories (The Tortoise and the Hare,The Boy Who Cried Wolf, and The Ant and the Grasshopper) are well know world wide. Aesop's Fables are often used to teach small children life lessons. My favorite of this collection is The Crow and The Pitcher.

THE CROW AND THE PITCHER
A Crow, half-dead with thirst, came upon a Pitcher which had once been full of water; but when the Crow put its beak into the mouth of the Pitcher he found that only very little water was left in it and that he could not reach far enough down to get at it. He tried and he tried, but at last had to give up in despair. Then a thought came to him and he took a pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. Then he took another pebble and dropped it into the Pitcher. At last, at last, he saw the water mount up near him and after casting in a few more pebbles, he was able to quench his thirst and save his life.

I imagine that the crow was very thankful to have found the water. He was also unwilling to give up on figuring out how to retrieve the water. So often, we give up too soon or shut down, because we think we can't figure out the solution. Too many times we allow 'degree of difficulty' to be the deciding factor in whether or not we attempt to overcome an obstacle. Even if we do give it a try and it proves to be difficult, we often walk away with only one or two attempts under our belt. The crow, however, was thirsty and I assume it had traveled a great distance before finding water. When the crow did find the water, it was unwilling to just give up with out a drink. Sticking with it, the crow found the solution. It was neither easy, nor instant, but little by little the crow managed to get a drink of that water in the end. There are always going to be problems surrounding us in the world. They pop up everywhere we turn. These problems arise in our careers, church, marriage, friendships, dreams, school, finances, and beliefs. Some of the problems may never get solved, but the question is how are you willing to approach those issues. Are you going to try once then give up and walk away or are you going to keep trying even if it's little by little? Just how badly do you want the water out of your pitcher!