One day a farmer’s donkey fell into a well. The animal cried loudly for hours, while the farmer tried to figure out a way to rescue him.

After much consideration, the farmer decided that the donkey was old and the well was already dry and needed to be covered anyway. He decided that it really wasn’t worth pulling the donkey out of the well.

He invited all his neighbors to come help him. They each grabbed a shovel and began to throw dirt into the well.

The donkey realized what was happening and cried out even louder. Then, to everyone’s surprise, he quieted down after just a few shovelfuls of dirt were thrown onto him.

The farmer finally looked down into the well and was amazed at what he saw! With each shovelful of dirt, the donkey was doing something incredible: It was shaking off the dirt and stepping on top of it.

Very soon everyone was amazed to see the donkey reach the mouth of the well, climb over the edge and walk out.

Here’s the point: Life is going to throw all kinds of dirt at you! The trick to climbing out of a hole is to shake off the dirt and use it to step up. Each of our problems presents an opportunity. We can climb out of the deepest holes if we don’t give up. Use the dirt that life throws at you to get ahead!

Remember the 5 rules to be happy:

  1. Free your heart from hate.
  2. Free your Mind of distractions.
  3. Simplify your life.
  4. Give more and expect less.
  5. Love more and… shake the dirt, because in this life you have to be a solution, not the problem!

“More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:3-5 ESV)

– Anonymous