The Monk And The Scorpion

I once heard a story of a monk that was walking along a stream and looked down to see a scorpion struggling in the water. Without thinking, he reached down to pick the scorpion up and as he went to place the scorpion on a rock, it turned its tale and stung him. He dropped the scorpion onto the rock in pain. Moments later he looked back over, only to see that the scorpion had again fallen into the water. Like before, he reached down into the water to save it. Pulling it out of the water, the scorpion quickly stung him again. There was a boy nearby that witnessed what was happening and said to the monk, “Why do you keep saving it if you know its nature is to always sting you?” The monk responded, “It might be the scorpion's nature to sting, but it is my nature to save.”

There are so many lessons I take from this story but the first one that comes to mind is the question, what is my nature? To sting or to save? I gotta be honest, I want to quickly say my nature is to always save but I think the natural man in me, the parts I am still working on, come out and I tend to sting more than I would like. I don’t share this so you can shame yourself if you think your nature is more to sting. I share this to say that we can’t judge either one. You wouldn’t shame the scorpion for stinging when that is what it was made to do. Protect itself at any cost. You also couldn’t judge the monk for saving the scorpion, when that is what he was made to do. Think of others at any cost. There might be parts of you that are quick to sting and that is okay. We are humans with human brains that are wired to keep us out of dangers way. In situations where our brain tells us we are in danger, we might be quick to sting. Life is LEARNING to become more like the monk and be quick to save, but it is the journey of our lives.

If you are feeling like you are more like the scorpion right now, it’s okay. The last couple of weeks I have 100% felt more like the scorpion than the monk. I hate how I show up or feel and I am very quick to sting. Let’s give ourselves some grace and love. We are humans and part of being human is having a human brain that is wired to keep us out of situations that feel extremely dangerous. Acknowledge where you are with compassion and then find yourself becoming the monk as you save those parts of yourself that need saving. Give this a try this week! I love you tons and don’t forget, YOU GOT THIS!

XOXO

Sav