Step Up or Stay Down

A mule once fell into the well. The farmer who owned the mule heard the mule 'braying' -- or whatever mules do when they fall into wells. After carefully assessing the situation, the farmer felt sorry for the mule, but decided that neither the mule nor the well was worth saving. Instead, he called his neighbors together and told them what had happened and asked them to help haul dirt to bury the old mule in the well and put him out of his misery.

Initially, the old mule was hysterical! But as the farmer and his neighbors continued shoveling and the dirt hit his back, a thought struck him. It suddenly dawned on him that every time a shovel load of dirt landed on his back: he should shake it off and step up! This is what the old mule did, blow after blow. "Shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up... shake it off and step up!" he repeated to encourage himself.

No matter how painful the blows, or distressing the situation seemed, the old mule fought "panic" and just kept right on shaking it off and stepping up! You guessed it! It wasn't long before the old mule, battered and exhausted, stepped triumphantly over the wall of that well!

Sometimes in life too, we need to “step up” and move on. In the story above what seemed like it would bury the mule, actually ended up in a blessing for him. All because of the manner in which he handled his adversity.

Do we remain calm in the stormy situations of our life or do we panic and let the events take better of us. If we can do what the mule did, just step up and make that conscious effort every time the dirt hits our back, we will always emerge triumphant in every situation of our life.