Lessons of Stone Soup
I love the fable of the stone soup. It was first put in print in the early 18th century, but nobody really knows haw long it was an oral folktale before this time. Timing does not matter, because this fable and its moral are as relevant today as it was three hundred years ago.
The folktale tells of visitors who do not share; nor do the people of the village. Has anything truly changed? Let us face it, as humans we are greedy. We do not share; and, if we do, it is merely the scraps that fall from the dinner table, the sharing is meager, and we are miserly. We do not place our assets with those we share life with. Being greedy, we never have enough, or so we believe.
Although this story is told in other areas of the Gospels, I love the version John shares with us. In the search for food to feed the multitudes, a small boy steps up: “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” John 6: 9. This age-old parable reminds us that there is always enough to share; there is always enough to give to those in need.
Love, like the bread in the parable, keeps on giving. When we share Love, when we share ourselves and gifts, we live forever; they live forever. This is God’s way and promise. The stone soup spirituality invites us to invest our assets in other. Then all will prosper and live.
©Russell Kendall Carter
Meditating to Heal 
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