There’s a poignant story that my dear friend and coach, Elizabeth told me that I find particularly inspiring. It was based on a parable first written by Emmett Fox many, many years ago.

There was a woman who was so irritated by the local donkey in her neighbor’s yard. He would bray all day, and get into her vegetable garden and destroy her wonderful plants and vegetables. One day she was watching TV and an animal ran through her living room and into the closet. She couldn’t take that darn donkey anymore, so she took her biggest broom, opened the closet door and started swatting it repeatedly, screaming “I can’t take it anymore. You’ve destroyed my garden, but you’re not destroying my home.” She hit it repeatedly, but because the closet was pitch black and she wasn’t known for her aim, she wasn’t sure she even reached him. All of a sudden, the local sheriff came in and asked what was wrong, and if she’d seen a lion, that recently escaped from the zoo. She looked at the officer, the broom and into the closet, and fainted. The sheriff went into the closet, and took out what looked like a totally traumatized baby lion and brought it back to the zoo.

Do you recognize yourself in the story? How many of us are fearless when we think it’s “a donkey” but when we find out it’s “a lion” we lose our confidence and forget who we have been all along – fearless courageous beings, able to face whatever challenges come our way.

What situation in your life right now, would it serve you to think of “as a donkey,” rather than a “lion,” that’s caught you dead in your tracks?

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