The Chizuk
I was down at work and a dear friend of mine sent me this Chizuk. Thanks.
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business and live a leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by.
The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career. When the carpenter finished his work the employer came to inspect the house. He handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you."
The carpenter was shocked! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would
have done it all so differently.
So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building, then with a shock we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over, we'd do it much differently. But we cannot go back.
You are the carpenter. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. "Life is a do-it-yourself project," someone has said. Your attitudes and the choices you make today, build the "house" you live in tomorrow.
Build wisely!
posted by EN at 6:15 PM
4 Comments:
I love that idea, but in some ways it is very sad. After all, I believe we have the capacity/ ability to return, to move forwards and change. The carpenter could reconstruct the house, or give a new, better one, to the man who had hired him. There is always man's creative ability...the ability to change and transform.
Chana- Thanks for commenting on my blog. You make a good point. I would continue the mashal by....
The carpenter had charatah that he built such a shody house. He pleaded with the contractor to give him another chance to rebuild the house. The kind contractor, being the benevolant person he was, agreed to fund the reconstruction. The carpenter sweated day in and day out to build a magnificient palace. The contractor, seeing how old and frail the carpenter was, decides to hire extra workers to assist the carpenter. The house was built in no time at all. The carpenter and his wife lived out their remaining years of retirement happily ever after. The carpenter became a big talmid chacham and they entered gan eden after 120 years.
How do you like that. :-)
If we work on it now, we will get that nice result.
That's a wonderful ending :)
*smile*
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