I am reading a book called, "When My World Was Very Small," written by Ruth Rakoff. It is her own story of battling breast cancer. She is a wonderful writer and her book as moved me and also made me smile.
She starts her book with a fictional story about King Solomon. I liked it so much I wanted to share it.
"King Solomon felt that his most trusted minister, Benaiah, was becoming too full of himself and needed to be humbled. Knowing that Benaiah could not possibly succeed, Solomon challenged him to find a magical ring that had the power to make a sad person happy and a happy person sad.
Benaiah set about searching far and wide for this magical ring to no avail. Just before he was about to admit defeat and return to his king empty handed, Benaiah came upon an old jeweler and asked the question he had asked so many times before.
"Have you by any chance heard of a magic ring that can make a happy person sad and a sad person happy?" The old man reached in his bag and handed Benaiah a plain gold ring with an inscription.
Delighted, he returned at long last to King Solomon and with great pride presented him with the ring. The king took the ring and reading the inscription realized that Benaiah had succeeded.
On the ring was written, "This Too Shall Pass."
Jewish Folk Tale
Everything is temporary here on earth. When things go wrong, I'm not too surprised and upset any more because I know whatever is happening will come to an end one day. I can hope for better times.
When things are wonderful, I realize it won't always be this way. Someone is bound to get sick or lose their girlfriend or lose their job. This is the way of life. But this too shall pass and there will be a new job, a new girlfriend and hopefully: healing.
