Sweat was dripping down her forehead and getting her ringlet curls damp and matted. Her breath was visible with every deep exhale due to the chilly evening air, and with ever swing of the axe her frustration grew. She was alone in a beautiful forest. Tall evergreens surrounded her and it was one of those evenings where if she held her breath the world was completely silent. There were heavy snow clouds looming overhead and little light was left in the day. She had been feverishly working for quite some time to chop a stump in half. The tree had fallen on its own some time ago and left a gap in the forest canopy. She took up her axe against the stump and made it her mission to the cut through it and watch in satisfaction as it breaks in half. The stump would not give. She had made a notch in the old stubborn wood deep enough to leave an axe mark, but, after hours of chopping, that was the entirety of her accomplishment. In pure frustration and defeat she decided to rest for the night. She swung the axe one last time into the center of the stump and left it there, sticking straight up out of the wood. Cold and exhausted she turned her back on the stump and axe and disappeared into the forest with the intention of completing her mission the following day.
That night a large snowstorm blew in and blanketed the forest with a thick layer of snow and ice. The wind moaned through the forest and froze life in its tracks. Come dawn the snow had lightened and was now falling listlessly through the silent trees. What a quiet and lovely world.
With utter determination the girl tromped hopefully and with a triumphant heart back into the clearing with the stump and placed her hands on the axe. Her actions were that of a person who recognizes when they are being called to a destiny by a force much greater than themselves. She felt nothing could stand in her way this day. Every fiber of her being sought to chop the stump in half.
She held tightly to the handle and the struggle began. Her first efforts to dislodge the axe from the stump were in vain. The ice covered the axe and stump and bound them together. Try as she might the girl simply did not have the strength to detach one form the other. The gray cold morning brought nothing more than defeat. If she couldn’t even get the axe out of the stump how on earth was she supposed to completely chop the large stump in half, she thought. Her demeanor changed. Her hands slid off the handle and she shoulders dropped. A silent exhale was followed by the stream of tears. She bowed her head and retreated to the fallen tree nearby where she sat and wept. The barrier of ice was too thick and slippery, the stump may as well have been made out of titanium, and she simply did not have the strength required to split it.
Then the clouds parted.
A bright ray of sun came down and shined directly on the axe and stump. Soon the axe was dislodged and fell to the ground. The snow and ice melted and dripped off the surface of the stump. The girl approached and looked upon the stump in wonder. It was completely cracked in half.
Often in life there are much bigger things at work than we realize.
She smiled, picked up her axe, and went home.
