The Critic in the Barn

In his book The Te of Piglet, Benjamin Hoff tells a story about three travelers: a Hindu, a rabbi, and a critic. Each was making his way through the countryside one afternoon when a terrific thunderstorm rolled in. All three ran for shelter at the same farmhouse.

“That storm will be raging for hours,” the farmer told them. “You ought to spend the night. The problem is, there’s only room for two in the house. One of you will have to sleep in the barn.”

“I’ll go,” said the Hindu. “A little hardship is nothing to me.” And off he went.

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door. It was the Hindu. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but there’s a cow in the barn. Cows are sacred to me. I cannot impose.”

“Don’t worry,” said the rabbi. “Make yourself comfortable. I’ll go.”

A few minutes later, another knock. It was the rabbi. “I hate to be a bother,” he said, “but there’s a pig in the barn. I wouldn’t feel right sleeping near a pig.”

“Oh, all right,” said the critic. “I’ll sleep in the barn.”

A few minutes later, there was a knock at the door.

It was the pig and the cow.

…

I once heard a pastor make a confession about himself. For years, he said, he’d been quick to become the critic, the one who saw what was wrong with everything and was first to point it out. He thought it made him one of the perceptive ones. “And there I was,” he said, “standing at the back of the room, throwing stones at everything.”

Then he said this: “It is so easy to find what is wrong. But it takes courage to believe… to hold out hope, and to choose to find God’s fingerprints everywhere.”

Prayer: God of love, there is so much darkness in the world, and it is so easy to see only that. Give us courage to believe. Open our eyes to the goodness right in front of us, and to your fingerprints in places we’ve stopped looking. Amen.

‍