Four Seasons

There was a man who had four sons. He
wanted his sons to learn not to judge
things too quickly. So he sent them each
on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a
pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the winter, the
second in the spring, the third in summer,
and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back,
he called them together to describe what
they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly,
bent, and twisted.
The second son said no it was covered
with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he said it was
laden with blossoms that smelled so
sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the
most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them;
he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit,
full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that
they were all right, because each had
seen only one season in the tree's life.
He told them that you cannot judge a tree,
or a person, by only one season, and that
the essence of who they are and the
pleasure, joy, and love that come from that
life can only be measured at the end, when
all the seasons are up.

 

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss
the promise of your spring, the beauty of
your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

 

Moral:
Don't let the pain of one season destroy the
joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches
and better times are sure to come some
time or later.

When we  come to the edge of the light we
know, and are about to step off into the 
darkness of the unknown, of this we can
be sure... either God will provide something
solid to stand on or we will be taught to fly.