MY FRIEND, DON'T WRITE IT ON THE HARD ROCK... WRITE IT ON THE SOFT SAND









One of the lines –  I, often, find myself using in order to motivate others - is: “My friend, don’t write it on the hard rock... write in on the soft sand.”

Interestingly, that is the line I want it hear the most… Yes, in order to motivate myself!

“Don’t write it on the rock... but, write on the sand!” This wise counsel comes to us at different moments of our life –

The good that others do to us, we should write it on the rock; the bad that they do to us, we should write it on the sand…

The tough times that we go through, now – the hurts, the betrayal, the feeling of being let down, the financial crisis, the relationship-strains, the humiliation and misunderstandings etc - are these all permanent? Should they be written on the hard rocks? Is there no hope? Is it the end of the road? Is all over? Are we supposed to give up and go from this world, forever?

Whenever others come to me in their troubled times, I find myself encouraging them with the words, “Friend, there is no problem in life that is permanent… Everything passes. So, let’s not write our problems on the hard rocks… Let’s write them on the soft sand.”

The same wisdom comes to us wrapped in many pearls of wisdom. One of such pearls is the timeless phrase inscribed on the ring  King Solomon wore: ‘This too shall pass’!

How dearly I long to encourage and motivate myself with such pearls of wisdom!


The moments of distress and anxiety keep coming like waves of the sea… But, they come and they go… They come and they go!

The clouds in the sky, too, give us the same reminder: When they are dark and scary, we need to have faith in the Sun who is, for a while, hiding… Won’t he return? Won’t the sunshine and hope, come again?

If at all there is one powerful shield against all the despondency in life – yes, when our times are tough – it is: our ability to have faith in the Sun in hiding… and, our refusal to write our tough times on the hard rocks around the sea… When we have the option of writing it on the softness of the sand!


GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Jatinder Sondhi

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