The Hobo

There is an insightful comment about happiness that goes something like this: "Only man ruins his own happiness with unnecessary worry, destroying what is, with thoughts of what may be."

I recently read a story about a hobo who traveled from town to town by stealing rides in railroad cars.
One night, the hobo slipped into an empty banana car. He lay down on a pile of straw and dropped off to sleep. Soon he was awakened by something crawling on his face and hands. He brushed it away, but the crawling continued. At last he sprang to his feet, more annoyed than afraid. The hobo fumbled in his pockets for a match, and found only one. He struck the match and held it aloft until it burned his fingers. He was too frightened to be aware of the pain because of what he saw: the straw was alive with tarantulas! When the match went out and the darkness fell upon him, the hobo sprang for the door, only to find it locked. He then frantically pounded on the door until his fists were bloody. But there was no response to his pounding.

When the door was opened the next morning, the hobo was out of his mind. His mental and emotional breakdown was not caused by physical pain, for not one spider had harmed him. He was driven mad by fear.

How Does This Apply to Our Lives?

Though it's hard to admit, like the hobo, fear has a profound impact on many of us. But our fear is not caused by spiders. Instead, it arises from things like difficulties at work, troubled relationships with others, and our own shortcomings. These things have consequences that we fear, so we worry about them.

You may not be like the hobo, who frantically pounded on a door until his hands dripped with blood. But if you allow things to eat at you inside, you too will experience severe mental and emotional damage. A Jewish proverb says that "Worms eat you when you're dead; worries eat you when you're alive."

Are worry, fear and other destructive feelings unnecessarily robbing you of daily happiness? Consider the message in this poem about a "conversation" in an orchard:

Said the Robin to the Sparrow,
"I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and hurry so."
Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
"Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me."

Don't bottle emotions up inside where they can consume you. Instead, follow the approach of the Robin and the Sparrow. Recognize that Someone cares for you. That Someone is God, the Creator and Sustainer of this universe. Care for yourself by looking to Him.

"To Thee I lift up my eyes, O Thou who art enthroned in the heavens!"
Psalm 132:1

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Contributed by Rich McLawhorn email:REM@mail01.scdps.state.sc.us