After the Disaster

I came across this cool little ‘morality tale’. [A morality play, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, was “an allegorical drama popular in Europe especially during the 15th and 16th centuries, in which the characters personify moral qualities (such as charity or vice) or abstractions (as death or youth) and in which moral lessons are taught”.]

So, … (read, digest, and locate yourself in the story!)

The only survivor of a shipwreck was washed up on a small, uninhabited island.  He prayed feverishly for God to rescue him, and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none seemed forthcoming.  Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a little hut out of driftwood to protect himself from the elements, and to store his few possessions.  But then one day, after scavenging for food, he arrived home to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up to the sky.  The worst had happened – everything was lost. He was stunned with grief and anger.  “God, how could you do this to me?” he cried, and in despair tried to sleep on the sand.

Early the next day, however, he was awakened by the sound of a ship that was approaching the island.  It had come to rescue him.  “How did you know I was here?” asked the weary man of his rescuers.  “We saw your smoke signal,” they replied. 

Next time your little hut is burning to the ground, it just may be a smoke signal that summons the grace of God.  Whilst lamenting the negative, keep an eye out for the positives that might result, and dwell on them.

Ken F