Monday mindfulness Minute: Sharpen Your Axe

Once upon a time, there was a blacksmith who spent his days sharpening axes in a small village. This blacksmith was fortunate because he not only sharpened axes for sale, but he also spent any extra time he had sharpening a special axe that had been passed down through his family. But the more he sharpened, the worse he felt. He reached a point where he hated sharpening axes.

So one day, after months of throwing the idea around, he decides to go off on his own with nothing but a few items and his sharpened axe.

After wandering for a few days, he happens upon a band of tree cutters who make their living harvesting trees. They ask if he wants to join in, and he says, “Sure, but I’ve never done anything like this.” So they say step right up and offer him an axe.

As he steps up, he starts to hear a few folks in the crowd murmuring that he has no shot at this. “How could he possibly cut a tree down if he’s never done it before?” they all say. Hearing their doubts, he second-guesses himself and says, “You’re right, I’ve never cut down a tree, so how could I possibly do it?”

Hearing this, and sensing his self-doubt, one of the elders of the group walks over and says, “Just give it a shot. What’s the worst that can happen? You aren’t able to cut it down? Once you know this, you’ll have crossed one more thing off your list on your way to discovering your purpose here.”

The blacksmith contemplates this for a second and feels a strange energy inside. The elder says, “Somebody get this man an axe,” but the man explains how he already has one. “So which tree am I cutting down?” the blacksmith asks. The elder points to a tree that appears to the man to be 30 feet tall and 10 feet around. Trying to control his nerves, the man steps up to the tree.

He lifts the axe, and with the first swing, the axe glides through the timber, and the tree falls. The sound of the tree hitting the earth isn’t loud enough to overcome the gasps from the crowd.

Amazed, the man slowly backs away into the waiting arms of the astonished crowd. “So how did you manage to do that?” one person shouts. Another shouts, “We’ve found the messiah! A true superhero right here on earth.” The man tries to tell him the story of the axe being passed down and his days of sharpening when no one was looking but the crowd excitedly ignored that part of the legend. They wanted to see another “miracle.”