THE CROW AND THE SWAN

My father told me a story, when I was a child, about a crow and a swan. The crow was jealous of the swan, and began to compare itself to the swan. One fine day, the crow challenged the swan out of envy, that it was better than the swan, and demanded a race to prove it. They agreed, and the race was on. Naturally the crow utterly lost it. It lost simply because, the crow was not geared for long distance flying. Since then, crow never opened its mouth.

The lessons we can learn from the story are these…
– Know your strengths.
– Know even more, your limitations. 
– Know your weaknesses. 

– Compete if you must, but against yourself, only to improve yourself. 
– Never compete against another person. We may not know their story.

– A fool compares and competes with others, and thinks great about it.
– A wiseman compliments others.
– A wiseman considers the possibility, that others could be better than himself, and is comfortable with such a fact and reality.
– A wiseman recognises his limitations.
– A wiseman always challenges himself to improve himself.
– A wiseman uses his time, talents and opportunities to make a difference, and not be part of a rat race.

King Saul, is a fine example of such a wasted person, all out of his insecurities, and paranoid fears. May the LORD help us to be a blessing to others, and not while away our time, talents and opportunities on comparing ourselves out of insecurity, and try to prove that we are better others. It is a futile exercise. May the LORD help us to excel at what we are good at, and do it well and consistently.