The Story of a Woodcutter

Once there was a woodcutter who requested for a job with a merchant. Merchant gave him the job with a very good salary for which Wood cutter felt very happy. He decided that he will do his best in his job.

Merchant assigned his work area and the axe.

The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees. "Congratulations," the boss said. "Go on that way!"

Very motivated by the boss words, the woodcutter tried harder the next day, but he could only bring 15 trees. 

The third day he tried even harder, but he could only bring 10 trees. Day after day he was bringing less and less trees."I must be losing my strength", the woodcutter thought. He went to the boss and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on.

 "When was the last time you sharpened your axe?" the boss asked. 

"Sharpen? I had no time to sharpen my axe. I have been very busy trying to cut trees…"

Reflection: 

Our lives are like that. We sometimes get so busy that we don’t take time to sharpen the "axe". In today’s world, it seems that everyone is busier than ever, but less happy that ever.

We get so much engrossed in our daily "To Do" activities and tracking lists and we are more worried about activities than anything else and not even the outcome of the activities.  

Why is that? Could it be that we have forgotten how to stay "sharp"? There’s nothing wrong with activity and hard work. But we should not get so busy that we neglect the truly important things in life, like our personal life, hobbies,  giving time to family,  contribution to society , taking time to get close to our Creator etc.

We all need time to relax, to think and meditate, to learn and grow. If we don’t take the time to sharpen the "axe", we will become dull and lose our effectiveness.