The Firefly and the Star
A newborn star took in its little light hands a firefly that was flying in the spacious garden of the night. “You are so tiny," she said, "and your light is so weak.”
The firefly stopped on the leaf of a plum tree, lowering her head so that her sister would not know of her sadness.
"You are so full of light," the firefly then said in a whisper, and added "and yet, my sister, so blind.” Does the size of things belong to the realm of space or to the realm of Essence? No matter how big you are, and how small I seem to be, what is important is that we are both bearers of light. You leave your gigantic footprints in the immeasurable sky; it is enough for me to illuminate the path of the little flying insects so that they are not caught by cobwebs and other dangers on their nightly journeys.
Each one helps according to the light he possesses; it does not matter how great or small the service is. What is important is that it is the product of the light that each one has in his heart. The source is the same.
The fertile field
A Master left one of his disciples a rice field to be looked after for three years. When the first year came to an end, the Master went to see the field and the harvest had been very good, as the disciple had provided the land with the water it needed. Another year passed, and it turned out that the harvest was more plentiful than the previous one, since the young man had fertilized the field properly. When the third year was over, the Master went to the rice field to see the results. But it turned out that the disciple, enthusiastic about what he had produced in the previous year, had over-fertilized the land, which yielded a lot of rice, but so small and fragile that it was useless for trade. In fact, it was a useless harvest, and the work he had done bore no fruit.
Then the Master said to his disciple "So it is with people. You strengthen someone when you help them a little. But if you help them too much, you weaken them."
Sources "Cuentos para el alma" de Ada Albrecht
Re-edition: www.caminosalser.com
