A Parable Of Pipes

DEC. 21, 1981, 3:06 PM
OFFICE

You awoke this morning, o son, to the fact of no water in the house and pipes “aratlin’. As you made one of your trips down to the well you “heard” that there is a parable here… a lesson from the everyday event, unexpected and troublesome. It took you some time to get to this place, but I heard you pledge to listen this day, so let’s proceed.

Once there were some pipes, insignificant artifacts of the modern world whose task it is to deliver water to your Farm house. Your dependence upon them is evident but not conscious. Today they failed to deliver and they became not only a part of but a focus for your consciousness. What is the desirable attitude for one whose life pattern has been disrupted by the failure of an earthly pipe? You considered whether it was just a natural, chance happening or a lesson to be contemplated? Should effort go into repair, or will it right itself after it has provided a lesson?

You sensed that there is a lesson to be learned. But, of course, there are lessons to be learned in virtually all of life’s happenings. It is not practical or even desirable to try to learn from each happening each day, but as spiritual maturity increases you will be more and more open to learning rather than just reacting.

The first lesson is one already alluded to… much of life is taken for granted, particularly the “insignificant” artifacts such as pipes. Let this lead you to more recognition and appreciation of things that you normally take for granted. And let this then lead you to more appreciation for people whom you take for granted. You are short in words of praise and recognition. Give them the flowers now. Do not wait to recognize only when something untoward occurs.

Another lesson is that of the balance between seeking help and trying to achieve some desirable change with your own resources alone. To what extent do you seek spiritual growth through association with others and to what extent do you “walk this lonesome valley by yourself”? The lesson is… whenever you lean too far toward one truth, the other becomes more important. Likewise in the practical world… if you rush too quickly to the help of others you will need more to consider what you should do first. If you exhaust what you know to do then consider how others can help.

Another lesson… what are life’s necessities? You had no water in the pipes (at least that would come out and be usable), but there was water and ice in abundance in the immediate environment. Were you deprived this morning? When would the lack of water become a deprivation? You should be able to accept some deprivation for a time… to feel, if you can, how humans in the world with much less than you face and encounter life. No hair shirts and sitting in ashes, but do not pass up the experience of deprivation, for it can be a way of empathizing… and that is a spiritual capacity.