In 1956 my father and older brothers were installing a new perimeter fence around the dry pasture at the southwest corner of our ranch. The line had been established, and several post holes had been dug. Each hole had soft fresh dirt piled up next to it. I immediately laid claim to one particular pile. My brothers and father were down the line some distance from me, so I figured that there was plenty of time to build a small road in the soft soil and maybe even make a bridge. The only problem with my plan was the interference of my 5-year-old sister who had laid claim to the same pile of dirt. Though I was 16 months younger there was no way I was going to let her have ‘my’ spot. As we tussled there in the dirt, our 81-year-old grandfather reached out with his cane to separate us and settled the dispute with words similar to these,
Quite often we get involved in the same type of territorial dispute over a process or a performance or an idea. Sadly, this is usually a very childish and crippling endeavor. May we overcome such tendencies by employing grandpa’s wisdom and look for the hillside full of opportunities in our lives.
Now that we know and understand, let’s go and teach.
