There is a famous story about a Taoist farmer that goes like this:
This farmer had only one horse & one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to console him over his terrible loss. The farmer said, “What makes you think it is so terrible?”
A month later, the horse came home–this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer’s good fortune. Such lovely strong horses! The farmer said, “What makes you think this is good fortune?”
The farmer’s son was thrown from one of the wild horses & broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck! The farmer said, “What makes you think it is bad?”
A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted & sent into battle. Only the farmer’s son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer. “What makes you think this is good?” said the farmer.
The story reveals that instead of being swayed back & forth by the various appearances of so called good & bad fortune in this life, we can become more balanced & realize that everything is relative and we don’t ever really know what is good fortune & what is bad fortune.
The only good fortune is to allow God’s plans for us to unfold, and become an instrument for His will, and the only bad fortune is in not doing that.
