Wednesday's Story

This Wednesday's Story comes courtesy of Big Mister which he wrote for the church newsletter. I liked it so I thought I'd keep it here.

THERE is an old story told of a woodcutter who, cutting wood by the side of a deep river, lost his grip on his ax and it flew into the deep water. The woodcutter was very discouraged because he had lost his ax, and now would not be able to make a living and support his wife and children, poor enough existence that it was. You see, the woodcutter was very poor and did not have much in the way of worldly goods.

As the woodcutter sat lamenting about the situation that life had placed him in, a strange little man stuck his head out of the water and asked the Woodcutter what distressed him. The Woodcutter explained the problem and the little man said that he could help. He dove down and very quickly came back up with the Woodman’s own oaken-helved ax. "Is this yours?" he asked. "Yes, yes", replied the unfortunate. "Are you sure?" asked the little man. "I saw another ax down there made of silver."

The Woodcutter was a greedy sort, and he replied, "Oh, of course, the ax you saw of silver is mine. This old one belongs to someone else." "Very well", said the little man. He disappeared a second time, and when he came up he had in his hands an ax made of the purest silver. When the silver ax was laid beside the plain one, the little man asked the Woodcutter if he was sure that this was his ax, because, he said, "I noticed an ax made of solid gold on the bottom of the river."

"Oh, yes, yes", replied the greedy Woodcutter, "the sunlight glinting on the silver ax made me think that it was my own golden ax. Please, bring the other up to me." "Very well," said the diminutive swimmer, "I will indeed fetch it for you."

The little man was gone for several minutes, during which time the Woodcutter had greedy visions of all the things he would buy with his new golden ax. Strangely enough, none of his visions conjured any nice things for his wife or children, only things for himself.

This time when the little man returned to the surface, he held in his hands a magnificent solid gold ax that he placed next to the others at the feet of the Woodcutter. "Are you absolutely certain that this is your ax?" "I saw an ax encrusted with diamonds at the bottom, but was not sure if it was yours." The Woodcutter replied, "Oh yes, the diamond ax is mine. You see, it was the sunlight glinting off of this golden ax that made it sparkle so, that I thought it was my own diamond encrusted ax. Please, please, bring it up to me." "Very well," replied the little man. He scooped up the golden ax, the silver ax, and the oaken ax, and disappeared under the surface once more.

The Woodcutter could barely contain himself with his great good fortune, and how an important man he would be in the town. He waited for the little man to come up with the precious diamond studded ax, but the little man never reappeared, and that was the last the Woodcutter ever saw of him, the golden ax, the silver ax, and even his very own oak and iron ax.

His greed had cost him all.

There are many things we have that make life easier, or more comfortable, or more physically pleasurable. These are not the things that will be important or lasting. The adversary will continually try to get us to pursue the things that will sap our spiritual strength, things that will turn to dust in our hands, or even to our destruction. In our great rush to upgrade the things of this world, we sometimes can forget the eternal things that have the power to save us.

These things include our love for the Savior and his great Atoning Sacrifice, the Ordinances and Covenants that bless our lives through the power of the restored Priesthood, our testimonies of a living Prophet, the restored Gospel, our eternal families, indeed, our own eternal natures, our royal and divine heritage, and the limitless potential of our eternal selves.

These are the things we must not lose sight of, we must remain true to. When we let the things of the world get between us and the spiritual, we are completely at the mercy of the adversary. We will be like the Woodcutter on the bank of the river, unable to help ourselves, eternally waiting for someone else to give us the next greatest thing, never realizing that we have traded in that which was most precious.

Signed,

Big Mister