Removing a stone

Alittle boy was spending his saturday morning playing in his sandbox.He had with him a box of cars and trucks,a plastic bag,and a shiny,red plastic shovel.In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand,he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.

The boy dug around the rock,managing to dig it out from the dirt.With a little bit of struggle,he pushed the rock across the sandbox by using his feet.When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox,however,he found that he couldn't roll it up and over the little wall.

Determined,the little boy pushed and pushed,but every time he thought he had made some progress the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox.The little boy grunted,struggled,pushed,and shoved;but his only reward was to have the rock roll back,moving against his chubby fingers.

Finally he burst into tears of frustration.All this time the boy's father watched from his living room window.At the moment the tears fell,a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox.It was the boy's father.Gently but firmly he said,“Son,why didn't you use all the strength that you had available?”Defeated,the boy sobbed back,“But I did,Daddy,I did!I used all the strength that I had! ” “No,son,” corrected the father kindly. “You didn't use all the strength you had.You didn't ask me.”With that the father reached down,picked up the rock and removed it from the sandbox.

Do you have “rocks” in your life that need to be removed?Are you discovering that you don't have what it takes to lift them?There is one who is always available to us and willing to give us the strength we need.Isn't it funny how we try so hard to do things ourselves?

在一个周六的早上，一个小男孩在他的沙箱里玩耍，还带了一盒子的玩具车、一个塑料袋和一把闪闪发亮的塑料小红铲。在柔软的沙中堆砌道路和隧道的过程中，他在沙箱的中央发现了一块大石头。

小男孩在石头的周围挖呀挖，试图把它从泥沙中挖出来。经过不断努力，他用脚把石头往沙箱上推。当他把石头推到沙箱的边缘时，却发现自己没办法使石头滚过沙箱那堵矮小的墙。

小男孩下定决心要把石头移走，他推了又推，但每次自以为取得了一些成果时，那石头又滚了下来掉回了沙箱中。小男孩咕哝着，使尽全力去推。但最终的结果就是石头滚了回来，向着他胖胖的手指冲过来。

最后，小男孩沮丧地大哭起来。小男孩的父亲一直在客厅的窗户旁注视着这一幕。当小男孩开始掉眼泪的时候，一个大大的身影落在小男孩和他的沙箱上。那是父亲的影子。他温和而坚定地问：“儿子，为什么你没有用尽你所有的力量？”小男孩很受挫，呜咽地回答道：“我用了，爸爸，我用了！我用尽了我全身的力量。”“不，儿子，”父亲温柔地纠正他说：“你没有用尽你所有的力量。你没有叫我来帮你。”父亲边说边弯下腰，捡起那块石头丢出了沙箱。

在你的生命中，你也遇到过需要移开的“石头”吗？你有没有发现你缺少挪动它的力量？但无论如何，总会有某人在我们需要帮助的时候愿意向我们伸出援手。我们单靠自己的力量来办事不是很傻吗？