Context, Perspective and a Joke

A man goes to his rabbi and complains that his house is too small for himself, his wife and his children.  

The rabbi asks him, "Do you have a cow?"  

"Of course," the man replies, "we have a fine dairy cow."  

The rabbi tells him to bring the cow into the house with the family.

The man goes home and brings the cow into the house.  

The next week, the man returns to see the rabbi again.

"I have brought our cow into the house as you advised," he tells the rabbi, "but now the house feels even smaller and more crowded!  What should I do?"

The rabbi asks him, "Do you have a goat?"  

"Well..." the man replies slowly, "yes, we do have a goat."  

The rabbi tells him to bring the goat into the house.  

The man goes home and brings the goat into the house with his family and the cow.  

The next week, the man returns to see the rabbi again.

"I have brought the goat into the house as you advised," he tells the rabbi, "but now things are even worse!  Please, tell me, what should I do?"

The rabbi asks him, "Do you have any chickens?"  

"Ummm..." the man replies reluctantly, "Well, we might have some chickens..."  

The rabbi tells him to bring the chickens into the house.  

The man goes home and brings the chickens into the house with his family and the cow and the goat.  

The next week, the man returns to see the rabbi again.

"I have brought the chickens into the house as you advised," he tells the rabbit, "and I have to be honest.  Your advice isn't helping at all.  The situation in the house is desperate!  We can barely breathe, never mind move around.  Please, tell me, what should I do?"

The rabbi pauses and thinks carefully.  

Finally, he replies, "Go home and put the cow, the goat and the chickens out of the house."

The man goes home and puts all of the animals out of the house.   

The next week, the man returns to see the rabbi.

"It's a miracle!" he exclaims, "it's as if we have a new house!  There is plenty of room in the house for all of us!"  

===========================

When our house picked up a foster teen after 30 years of dynamic-duo-ing it with my husband, it suddenly seemed crowded and I found myself weighed down by the responsibility.  

Then, my mother-in-law came to visit, with her two great-granddaughters, for a week.  

Don't get me wrong - I love them all dearly and treasure my time with them - especially my sewing time with the girls!  

But I can't lie - when they left, all of a sudden, three didn't seem so many in this house and the one additional didn't seem like such a huge responsibility...  ;)

And a block of 30 unscheduled minutes went from "barely enough time to breathe before my next marathon of running around" to "hey, I could probably get my next sewing project cut out and ready to go..."  

It's all about context and perspective...  ;)