A Thought for Today
by Bob Fisher
Sour Grapes
La Fontaine tells of a wily little fox who was very hungry. As he sashayed
through the tall grass, he saw over the farmers gate a beautiful cluster
of purple grapes. There was nothing he liked better than grapes, he thought.
He looked around for signs of the farmer and seeing none, he carefully
approached the open gate. He stood up on his hind legs and stretched his
body to the last inch of its height, but the grapes were out of his reach.
He took a little run and jumped with all of his might, but he missed the
appetizing prize. Again and again he tried with the same result. Finally,
Mr. Fox sat down on the ground and whined. Those grapes are undoubtedly
sour. I don't want sour grapes, and so he lost himself in the tall grass
again still hungry.
To bring this fable home to me, I thought of a statement made by Hugh
B. Brown, "When we rationalize, we bring our ideals down to our actions,
but when we repent we bring our actions up to our ideals.
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