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Small Bad Deeds..!

By Robert Clements. Dated: 5/22/2018 3:08:21 PM

So often I see people getting away with small lies; it might be cheating in a friendly game, or crossing a red signal: We bribed for our ration card, bribed the cop after he caught us crossing the red signal, hush moneyed school admissions, hoodwinked examiners:
Small misdeeds right? Nothing to worry about compared to the big ones others do, right?
Two men once visited a holy man to ask his advice. "We have done wrong actions," they said "and our consciences are troubled. Can you tell us what we must do so that we may be forgiven and feel clear of our guilt?"
"Tell me of your wrong doings, my sons," said the old man.
The first man said, "I have committed a great and grievous sin sire."
"What about you?" the holy man asked the second.
"Oh," said he, "I have done quite a number of wrong things, but they are all quite small, and not at all important."
The holy man considered for a while. "This is what you must do," he said at last. "Each of you must go and bring me a stone for each of your misdeeds."
Off went the men and presently the first came back staggering with an enormous boulder, so heavy that he could hardly lift it, and with a groan he let it fall at the feet of the holy man. Then along came the second, cheerfully carrying a bag of small pebbles. This he also laid at the feet of the saint.
"Now," said the holy man, "take all those stones and put them back where you found them."
The first man shouldered his rock again, and staggered back to the place from which he had brought it. But the second man could only remember where a few of his pebbles had lain. After some time, he came back, and said that the task was too difficult.
"You must know, my son," said the old man, "that bad deeds are like these little stones. If a man has committed a great sin, it lies like a heavy stone on his conscience. But if a man is constantly doing small things that are wrong, he soon forgets what they are, and does not feel any load of guilt; so he is not sorry, and soon they will stop troubling his conscience. So, you see, my son, it is as important to avoid little sins as much as big ones."
Its time to look inward at all the small deeds we are overlooking that are finally make us hang our heads in shame shouldn't we?
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