MORAL STORIES

CONCEALED COINS

A king wanted to gather first-hand information about his people’s behaviour. One day, in the early morning, he rolled a stone into a road in a busy street and stayed nearby, disguised and watching the reactions of the people. The first person to come along the road cursed the man who placed the stone and went away. The second person cursed the king and his officers who did not remove it from the road. Some went away without considering the obstacle seriously. Others loudly complained that heavy taxes were collected regularly but nothing was spent for their benefit, again blaming the officials for not clearing the road. But none of them was willing to remove the stone from the road.

After a while, a poor and old farmer came walking. He noticed the obstacle and moved it to a side of the road with much effort. He saw a bag and a letter under the stone when it was pushed away. He opened the bag and found several gold coins. The letter read, “This gift of gold coins is for the good man who removes this stone and makes the road easy to walk through.”By that time, the king reached him and embraced him. He was honoured by the king in a public ceremony. People without social sense, who went away without trying to move the stone, were left ashamed.

God has concealed a gift of His grace under every misery, misfortune and moment of pain. He watches our reaction to the apparent obstacles in life. With God’s grace, we can overcome them and receive greater gifts from the merciful God.

“ God knows every step I take; if He tests me, he will find me pure” {Job 23:10}.

This is story No.140 in this site. Please click ‘older posts’ at bottom of page to read previous stories in this site.

By: Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science & Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India.