Life Has Kept Its Bargain

Life's challenges are never meant to devastate us. In fact, the challenges are placed before us for our enjoyment and to remind us that life has kept its side of the bargain to keep the game fun and entertaining.

Imagine if we were misinformed about the rules of football and we thought we were supposed to walk leisurely across the field with the ball while everyone else on the opposite team was supposed to keep a respectable distance from us. Suddenly, when people came from all directions, attacking us and stealing our ball, we would be horrified and furious.

Because we know the rules of football, we do not mind the attack. In fact, if the opposition force were not there, we would be dissapointed that we didn't get to show off our skills at the game. Life, too, gives us the opportunity to show off - by sending adversity our way.

For no other reason than the inborn desire to play, human beings participate in sports. The games may be artificial, but the struggle on the field or court is real. In the pursuit of fun, players are sometimes injured or even killed. However, the best players never lose sight of the reality that it is just a game, after all, and that they have chosen to play in it.

By the same token, we volunteer to play the game of being human in order to enjoy ourselves. However, the struggle becomes unbearable when we get caught up in the game, forget who and what we really are, and fall out of touch with our Divine nature.

Forgetting it is just a game; we wander about this earth convinced that we are the victims of creation.

The Rainmaker

There was a village that had been experiencing a drought for 5 consecutive years. Many famous Rainmakers had been called, but they all failed to make rain. In the villagers' last attempt, they called upon a renowned Rainmaker from afar.

When he arrived in the village, he set up his tent and dissapeared inside it for 4 days. On the 5th day, the rain started to fall and quenched the thirst of the parched earth. The people in the village asked the Rainmaker how he had accomplished such a miracle.

The Rainmaker replied, "I have done nothing."

Astounded at his explanation, the villagers said, "How can that be? After you came, 4 days later the rain started."

The Rainmaker explained, "When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was that everything in your village was out of harmony with heaven. So I spent 4 days putting myself into harmony with the Divine. Then the rain came."