Once upon a time, there was a field of horses. The owner of the field had been growing and caring for his horses for many years, and he was proud of his work. However, one day he noticed that there were rats moving into the barn, sneaking into the feed, and generally causing trouble for his beloved horses.
Panicked, the owner went out into the field and asked his workers to get rid of the rats by any means necessary. He was willing to do whatever it took to protect his precious horses from these unwanted pests.
But as the days went by, the owner noticed something strange. Some of the horses were looking thin and sickly, while others were thriving and growing stronger each day. Confused, the owner went to one of his workers and asked what was going on.
The worker explained that while they had been trying to rid the barn of rats, some of the horses had accidentally ingested the poison meant for the rats. As a result, they were slowly dying, while the others who had avoided the poison were still healthy and strong.
It was then that the owner realized that in his panic to protect his horses from the rats, he had also inadvertently caused harm to some of them. He understood that he couldn’t simply eliminate every possible threat to his horses without also doing harm to some of them along the way.
Just like in the biblical parable of the weeds among good plants, the owner learned that in life there will always be rats and weeds – things we consider to be pests or threats. But if we focus too much on eliminating these undesirable things, we may also end up doing harm to the good things in our lives.
So the owner decided to take a different approach. Rather than trying to eradicate any potential threats, he would focus on building up the health and strength of his horses so that they could withstand whatever challenges came their way.
And the horses thrived, living strong and healthy lives even with the rats still scurrying around in the barn.
