... with you on your journey

Jewel in the Dust

A sparkling lesson in distinction.

A man and his wife having lived into their old age chose to leave behind their worldly possessions and follow the path of spirituality. They lived in the cleanliness of poverty filling their days with praying instead of preying.

As they had no home of their own, they walked the dirt roads with the same reverence as though these led to heaven itself.

One day during such a walk, the man who had moved several yards ahead of his wife saw a sparkling on the side of the road. As he moved closer to it, he realized that it was a beautiful jewel which had fallen from someone's necklace possibly. Afraid that his wife would be tempted to covet such a treasure, he casually walked to it and started trying to kick dirt over it, all the while looking back to make sure his wife didn't see what he was doing.

Well she did see the rather strange sight of her husband churning up a bit of a dust bowl at the side of the road ahead of her.

So she called out: "Husband, what is it you are doing?"
He replied: "Nothing at all, my wife, I am doing nothing."
She said: "But you are all covered with dirt from the road, why is that?"
He said between coughs: "Well I walked into a soft part of the road and ..."

By now, she had caught up with him and he had run out of creative explanations.

"What are you doing?", she demanded.

So he had to tell her: "Wife, I saw this jewel on the road and feared that you might be tempted into forsaking the spiritual path we have chosen to walk together. So that you would not see it, I was trying to hide the jewel with the dirt."

She looked him in the eye for a few moments with kindness. Then she smiled.

Then she asked gently: "My husband, how is it that you see a difference between the jewel and the dirt?"