Sometimes It Takes Two To Accomplish What One Man Cannot Do
I grew up on a sixty-acre farm. My chores were to feed the chickens, geese, and ducks. Besides those chores, I had to milk our Guernsey cow twice a day for a quarter of a pail of rich milk, and one experience taught me the benefit of two people working together
Looking back, I was fifteen years old that summer. It was almost noon on a hot July day. I was trying to get a large, old wooden post out of the hard, gravelly ground. The post had held our mailbox for years, but my Father had purchased a new post and a new mailbox. He wanted me to put a new post in to replace the old cracked post.
I had already dug down a couple of feet around the old post with a shovel and a posthole digger. The post stood proudly along the edge of the blacktop road that ran past our little farm. I had already tried to move the post back and forth by pulling and pushing it, but it would not let go. I was sweating, and my shirt was soaked.
Things gradually became personal. I was a strong, muscular fellow, but the post refused to come out of the hard ground. I even put my shoulder to the post and pushed hard on it from every side, but I still could not lift it out of the ground. Little by little, I became frustrated and angry.
Finally, I began to call the post names and then began to swear at it while I continued to struggle with it. I heard a car approach and stop, but I was overcome with the effort to win.
Suddenly, my father, the judge, was standing next to me in his slacks and white dress shirt. He put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Let me help you, son; it doesn’t pay to get angry at the old post.”
Then he added, “Let’s see what the two of us can do.”
With that, he rolled up his sleeves, and together, as we faced each other on opposite sides of the post, we grabbed hold of it. Now we pushed and pulled the post back and forth from every angle. Little by little, the post loosened from its moorings.
Finally, we wrapped our arms around the post and together gave it a mighty tug! The earth gradually gave way, and the old mailbox post seemed to groan as it was forcibly lifted out of the ground by the two of us. About two feet from the bottom of the old post was a large knob that had allowed it to rock in place, but resisted my strongest efforts to overcome its earthy grip.
Together we laughed as we tossed the post into the ditch, got into my father’s car, and headed up our long driveway home for lunch. Many times, two heads are better than one. In this case, the strength of two men was better than the strength of one. It was a lesson I never forgot.
In life, there often comes a time to talk or work with another person whose experience or strength or wisdom can help us when we are tired or frustrated or angry or sad or ready to give up.
Teamwork makes the Dreamwork
People often ask God for help, sometimes even a miracle. But God gives us the Grace-Love, the spiritual strength to seek help or assistance, or the willingness to talk with another person. At times, we need a professional: a doctor, a dentist, a mechanic, an attorney, an accountant, a counselor, a pastor, a chaplain, or a writer like me.
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