Parable of the Hole

There was a man who had a hole. Not quite like a well, not a cave. But a big empty space that sat beside him. 

He spent his days pouring into this hole; his life, his affections, his energy, his finances, his desires, his life. 

Yet, no matter how much he poured into the hole, it would not be filled. It continued to seem as deep and as dark as it was at the beginning. 

He would spend his days working and toiling - striving to fill the hole with accomplishments and success.

At night he would throw his debauchery and desires into that same hole, always expecting it to rise to the top. Awakening each morning, he would find the whole empty and as cold and desolate as the day before.

He found love and threw it into the hole as well. With all the true intentions of someone who thought he found the answer. He poured his heart and his soul into the hole. He stood peering beside the hole with the person he thought would fill it and waited. 

The hole remained.

At one point, feeling broken and betrayed, he threw himself into the hole. Surely this sacrifice would fill the void. Lost in the darkness, he thought he would succumb and the hole would disappear with him.

It did not. 

And he did not. 

Lonely, tired and weary, he prayed.

How do I fill this hole?

A voice said, “you fill it with love. And you fill it with me.”

Soon after the man found others who had also sat beside a hole. He opened up his heart and instead of trying to fill the hole, he started to fill others. He gave and he tried to listen, he learned and he started to walk. Instead of focusing on the gaping hole beside him he focused on the world around him and others along the path.

Slowly, not noticing it from this new direction, his whole began to fill.

Not with self-seeking or anything he had done, but in finding hope.

Together now with others along the path, seeding love and patience where there had been loneliness and loss, his emptiness is filled.

~ Peace

The Burtle