There was once a king who used to take advice and suggestion of his trustworthy minister whenever a crisis or issue occurred. And the minister had a habit of saying ‘everything happens for a reason’ if anything went wrong.
Once while the King was gone on hunting, accompanied by his minister, accidentally he cuts his finger and lets out a cry of pain. Involuntarily, everything happens for a reason, and for good, coming from the minister’s mouth infuriates king and he orders his soldiers to imprison him. Angry and irritated king reflected I have my finger chopped off, I am in deep pain, how it can be good?
Next time he goes for hunting without his advisor, accompanied by a bunch of soldiers. He wanders deep into the forest where he gets seized by a group of tribes who were looking for a customary human sacrifice to please their God. The head of the tribe examines the king properly and tells that the king is unfit for sacrifice as he lacks a finger and that they are looking for a complete sacrifice. Saying this they release king. Jubilant king realized how not having a finger saved his life today and justified all that minister had said.
He sprinted toward prison to meet the minister as soon as he reached his kingdom. He briefed him about everything that happened in the forest and decided to release the minister from imprisonment. But the king’s curious mind had a question so he asked him, having chopped off my finger, benefited me but how you were benefited by landing into the jail. The minister smiled and said, had I not been in jail, I would have accompanied you in the forest. The tribe released you but then they would have surely picked me for the sacrifice and my life would have been ended. The king was impressed by his wisdom and intelligence and felt gratified by the fact that the other belonged to his kingdom.
Everything good or bad that we go through has a lesson and learning for us. Every experience especially the negative ones increase our potential to be a better version of us and help us grow wiser and stronger. It is different at that moment all we see or feel is a twinge of pain and agony and anxiety that blinds our vision to see any good or blessings in it that we later realize after we pass that phase. When we can’t control the situation we should try to control our negative thoughts. It has been said rightly-
Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors.
African proverb