Author Darlene J. Conard

The donkey said to the tiger, “The grass is blue.”

“No, the grass is green.”  replied the tiger. The discussion became heated so they took the matter to the king of the jungle. The donkey shouts out to the lion, “Your highness, is it true the grass is blue?”

“True the grass is blue,” he replied to the donkey.

“The tiger disagrees with me and contradicts and annoys me. Please punish him.” The king then declared,” The tiger will be punished with five years of silence.” The donkey jumped cheerfully and went his way. The tiger accepted his punishment. Before leaving the tiger asked the Lion, “Why have you punished me? After all, the grass is green.”

“In Fact, the grass is green.” Replied the lion. “Then why are you punishing me?’

“That has nothing to do with the question of whether the grass is blue or green. The punishment is because it’s not possible for a brave and intelligent creature like you to waste time arguing with a donkey. On top of that you bother me with such a question.”

The moral of this story is, time is wasted arguing with a fool and fanatic that doesn’t care about truth or reality: only the victory of his beliefs and illusions.  

As soon as I read this the scripture came to me. “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.” (Matthew 7:6 KJV) So many individuals are deeply rooted in what they believe is truth, though it’s not even close to truth. Illusions are things created through distortion to draw one into believing what they see is true. It applies to spiritual sight as well.

“The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.”  (Proverbs 14:15 KJV)

“The simple inherit folly: but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.” (Proverbs 14:18 KJV)

I’ve learned such a hard lesson trying to convince others of things I didn’t say or do that I was supposed to have done. As this story teaches, there is a time to be silent.

God is our defender. If we are rooted deep in Christ, truth and the illusions and false beliefs will not prevail.

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