The Parable of the Farmer and his two Sons

Once there was a farmer who had two good looking sons. The farmer and his wife worked hard for several years on the farm and saved enough to send their sons to a very good school on top of the mountain behind the village. It was an expensive residential school but very well known for its excellent training and education. Students from far off lands came to study there.

When the two boys were nine and ten year old, the farmer and his wife admitted them to the school with the help of the Principal by the name of Lew who had become an acquaintance. Lew used to come down the mountain for walks on holidays, to visit the farms and for a picnic in the nearby Sherwood Forest.

The older boy did not like the hard discipline of school at all. He found study hours hard and physical training classes tiresome and complained about it endlessly. It was so much nicer with the freedom to play and do as one liked at home.

The younger boy, however, was grateful to his parents for having worked hard to make this education possible. He took interest in all of the programs at school and as he became good at them he began to enjoy the education.

After a few years, both boys graduated from school together and went on to find jobs in the city. The older boy had to spend an extra year at school because he had failed in one of the classes and was held back. As one can imagine, the younger boy did much better in his career later because of excellent training at Sherwood College but the older one did not do well at all and was often miserable.

Dear friends is this not how it with us? The Lord, our loving Father and Mother has sent us into this school of life. If we fail to be grateful for what we have, we remain miserable. But if we develop gratitude, we recognize the blessings and develop contentment; from this arises happiness and our time in the school of life is a happier one as is our hereafter.