The Devil's Yard Sale

"Morris, you know I love you. I have shown you this. You know I will always be right here with you. I have shown you this. You know I will take care of you and never leave you, I have shown you this as well. You know God’s Will be done and God’s plan for you will be done. Why do you need to know what’s next and why are you fretting so much? "

I don't know if I have an answer to this, but I have considered this myself during times in my life when I was under a great deal of stress, and worry would just paralyze me. I found that if I reminded myself where worry, discouragement and fretting comes from, it was much easier for me to let go of it. Here is a story that someone sent to me years ago that may explain what I mean:

It was advertised that the devil was going to put his tools up for sale. On the date of the sale, the tools were put out for public inspection. Each tool was marked with its own sale price.

They were a treacherous lot of implements... Hatred, Jealousy, Envy, Lying, Deceit, Pride, Unforgiveness, and so on.

Laid apart from the others was a harmless looking tool, well worn, but priced very high.

Pointing to it, one of the shoppers asked, "What is the name of this tool?"

The devil tersely replied, "That is Discouragement."

The shopper asked, "Why have you priced it so high?"

The devil replied, "Because it is more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a person's heart with it when I cannot get near them with my other tools. Once I get inside, then I can make them do what I choose. It is so badly worn because I use it on almost everyone, since very few people know that it belongs to me."

Email from Wendy Blount, DVM