The Seasons of Life
We shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover and the same can be said for people. Too often, we see a person and without knowing their full story — their true story — we judge them. I wonder how many good people and potential new friends we have tossed away by doing this?
People, like nature, change. In essence, we go through seasons and those seasons can affect us all differently. The story of the wise father and the Pear tree is an excellent lesson on not judging a person by one season:
The Seasons of Life
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn to not judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.
The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.
When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said no — it was covered with green buds and full of promise.
The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but one season in the tree’s life.
He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are — and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life — can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons are up.
If you give up when it’s winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.
Don’t judge a life by one difficult season. Don’t let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
- Author unknown
“Don’t judge me until you know me, don’t underestimate me until you challenge me and don’t talk about me until you’ve talked to me.” — Unknown
