The Obedient And Hard Working Woodcutter And His Axe

Once upon a time, there lived a very strong woodcutter who was looking for a job, and later got one from a timber merchant. When he disc...

Once upon a time, there lived a very strong woodcutter who was looking for a job, and later got one from a timber merchant. When he discovered that the pay was really good and also was the work condition.

For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best in order to impress his employer. His boss gave him an ax which he will use in cutting down the trees and also showed him the area where he supposed to work.

The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees and was happy he was able to cut down such a number of trees and promised himself to do better tomorrow.

“Congratulations,” the boss said. “ If you will go on this way, you will get more pay!”

The woodcutter was impressed by the motivating and encouraging words by the boss. He tried harder the next day, but to his greatest surprise, he could only bring 15 trees.

On the third day, he tried even harder, but he could only bring 10 trees. Instead of cutting many trees, Every day by day he was bringing less and fewer trees.

A day came as he was wondering what might have been the cause of why he is not cutting many trees. I must be losing my strength, he said to himself.

He went to the boss and apologized for his inability to cut more trees and keep to his promise, saying that he could not understand what was going on.



As he finished apologizing to his boss, when was the last time you sharpened your axe?” the boss asked. “Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe because I have been very busy trying to cut more trees.

And the master said to him, you are the cause of your problem because you refused to sharpen your axe, which is the source of your success.

Reflection:

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy with our daily activities that we don’t take time to sharpen the “axe”. In our world today it seems that everyone is busier than ever but less happy.

The question is, Why is it so? Could it be that we all have forgotten how to stay “sharp”? There’s nothing wrong with activity and hard work. 

But we should not get so busy that we forget and neglect the truly important things in life. Such like our personal life, having rest to avoid breakdown.

Taking time to get close to our Creator, giving more time for our family, taking time to read, etc. We all need time to relax and rest, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. 

If we fail to take time to sharpen our “axe”, we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.

And on the process of losing our effectiveness, it may lead to frustration, giving up hope, unproductive and Irrelevant in society.

Therefore in order to retain your activeness and never break down, and also become productive in your daily endeavor, always sharpen your "axe".