A very poor newly wedded,
young couple lived in a
small farm. One day the husband
made the
following proposal to his wife:
Honey, I will leave the house: I
will travel faraway,
get a job and work hard in order
to come back
and give you the comfortable
life that you
deserve. I do not know how long
I will stay away,
I only ask one thing, please wait
for me, and while
I am away, you should be
faithful to me, because
I will be faithful to you. His wife
agreed, so the
young man left. He walked many
days until he
found a farmer who was in need
of someone to
help him. The young man
offered his services. He
was accepted. Therefore he
discussed the terms
with his boss:
Let me work for as long as I
want and when I
think I should go home, please
relieve me of my
duties. I do not want to receive
my salary. I ask
you to save it for me, until the
day I leave. The
day I decide to go, please give
me the money and
I will go my way. They agreed
on that. So, the
young man worked for twenty
years without
holiday and without rest. After
twenty years, he
came to his boss and said:
Boss, I want my money, because
I am returning to
my home. The boss replied:
All right, after all, I made a deal
with you and I
will stick to it. However, before
you go I want to
offer you something new: I will
give you all your
money and send you away; or I
will give you 3
pieces of advice and send you
away. If I give you
money, you lose the 3 pieces of
advice. If I give
you the 3 pieces of advice, you
lose the money.
Now, go to your room and think
about your
answer. He thought for two
days. Then he went
to the boss and told him:
I want the 3 pieces of advice.
The boss stressed
again, if I give you the 3 pieces
of advice, I will
not give you the money, and the
man replied:
I want the 3 pieces of advice.
The boss then told
him:
No. 1: Never take shortcuts in
your life, shorter
and unknown paths can cost
your life. No. 2:
Never be too curious, for
curiosity towards evil
can be deadly. No. 3: Never make
decisions in
moments of anger or pain,
because when you
repent, it could be too late. After
giving these 3
pieces of advice, the boss said to
him:
Here, you have 3 loaves of
bread, 2 are for you to
eat during the journey and the
last is for you to
eat with your wife when you get
home. So, the
man went his way, after twenty
years away from
home and from his wife, whom
he loved so much.
After the first day of travel, he
found a man who
greeted him and asked:
Where are you going? He replied:
To a distant place which is about
20 days away if
I continue walking. The man said
to him:
Ol' boy, this path is too long! I
know a shortcut
that is very safe and you will
arrive in 5 days
only. The man began to follow
the path
suggested until he remembered
the first piece of
advice. Then, he returned and
followed the long
path. Days later he learned that
the shortcut led
to an ambush.
After a few more days of travel,
he found an inn
by the roadside, where he could
rest. He paid for
a room and after taking a bath
he lay down to
sleep. During the night he woke
up as he heard a
terrifying scream. He rose to his
feet and went to
the door to check what
happened. As he was
opening the door, he
remembered the second
piece of advice. Therefore he
returned, lay down
again and slept. At dawn, after
breakfast, the
owner of the lodging asked him
if he had not
heard the scream at night. He
affirmed that he
heard. Then, the host said:
Were you not curious to see
what happened? And
he replied:
No, I was not. Then the host said:
You are the first guest to leave
this inn alive. My
neighbour is completely crazy.
He usually shouts
at night to call someone’s
attention. When some
of the guests come out, he kills
them and buries
their bodies in the backyard. The
man continued
his long journey, eager to arrive
soon.
After many days and nights
walking, he was very
tired, but he finally saw his
house far away. It
was night. He saw some light
coming out of the
window of his house and was
able to see the
silhouette of his wife. But he also
saw that she
was not alone. He came closer
and saw there
was a man with her. She softly
caressed his hair.
When he saw that scene, his
heart was filled with
hatred and bitterness. He
decided to rush at and
kill them both mercilessly.
However, he took a
deep breath and he remembered
the third piece of
advice. Then he stopped,
reflected and decided to
sleep outside that night. He slept
in the midst of
the bushes, determined to make
a decision the
next day. At dawn, he was
calmer and thought:
I will not kill my wife and her
lover. I am going
back to my boss to ask him to
take me back. But
before I go, I want to tell my
wife that I have
always been faithful to her.
He went to the front door and
knocked. When his
wife opened the door and
recognized him, she
cried and embraced him warmly.
He tried to push
her away, but he
was not able. Then, with tears in
his eyes he told
her:
I was faithful to you but you
betrayed me.
She was shocked, so she replied:
How did I betray you? I have
never betrayed you.
I waited patiently for you for
twenty good years.
Then he asked:
How about the man that you
were caressing
yesterday? And she said:
That man is your son. When you
left, I discovered
I was pregnant. Today he is
twenty years old.
Hearing that, the man asked her
forgiveness. He
met and hugged his son. Then he
told them all
the things he had experienced
while away.
Meanwhile, his wife prepared
some coffee for
them to eat together, the last
bread given by his
boss. After a prayer of
thanksgiving, he broke the
bread. When he looked at it, he
found all his
money inside. In fact, there was
even more than
the right payment for his twenty
years of
dedication and hard work.
Friends, our God is like this boss.
When he asks
us to make a sacrifice, he wants
to give us more
than what we give Him. He
wants us to have His
unique wisdom as well as the
material blessings.
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