In the first century, a Jewish family lived in a small stone house. The time had come to move the wife's elderly parents in, but the husband was vexed. He went to his rabbi. "We will be too crowded. Our house is too small. What should I do, master?"
"You should do the right thing and take in your family," the rabbi advised. "And in helping in this way you will have abundant blessings. Do this and come back in one week."
The father promptly moved in his in-laws, and within a week everyone in the home was miserable. He hurried back to the rabbi. "I followed your advice, teacher, and now I have never known such misery! What have you done to us?"
"Patience, my son," the rabbi replied. "Do you have chickens?" The man nodded. "Do you have sheep?" The man again nodded yes. "And a donkey? Good. Now, you must move your chickens, sheep, and donkey into the house also. Come back to see me in two weeks."
The father was bewildered, but he went back and followed the rabbi's instructions. Two weeks later he returned with disheveled hair, dirty clothes, and a wild look on this face. "Oh teacher," he moaned, "I have followed your advice. I have done everything you said. Now my in-laws have no place to sleep because the chickens are laying eggs in their bed. The goats are baa-ing and butting their heads, and the sheep are breaking things. The animals have made my house a wreck, and it smells worse than a barn!"
The rabbi frowned. He closed his eyes and thought for a long time. Finally he said, “This is what you do. Take the sheep back to the barn. Take the chickens back to their coop, and put your donkey back in its pen. Come back in one month.”
The farmer ran home and did exactly as the rabbi had told him. A month later, he came back to see the rabbi, smiling from ear to ear.
"Oh master! Our home is the most spacious, peaceful, and comfortable in the land. Thank you for your wise advise -- our family is the happiest it has ever been!"
And the rabbi smiled.
With thanks to Rev. Steve Bolen
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