"One ought, everyday at least, to hear a little song, read a good poem, see a fine picture and speak a few reasonable words." --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Two Wolves

"The greatest battles of life are fought out daily in the silent chambers of the soul."
--David O. McKay


 I've been thinking of the following story for several days now. I love it for 2 reasons. One, because I have Cherokee ancestry; and two, because I have recently been feeling a battle within myself like the one mentioned in the story. It has helped me to remember which wolf to feed, so I thought I'd share.


Two Wolves

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a  
battle that goes on inside people.  He said, "My son,  
The battle is between two 'wolves' inside us all.  

One is Evil.  It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret,  
greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment  
Inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

  The other is Good.  It is joy, peace, love, hope,  
serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,  
empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."  

The grandson thought about it for a minute  
and then asked his grandfather,  
"Which wolf wins?"  

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

2 comments:

  1. Oh I wish I didn't feed the evil wolf so much! Alas, I keep just barely bringing the good wolf back from starvation. Maybe drinking copious amounts of "living water" will bolster my good wolf. What are you going to give your good wolf?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, I've learned one thing, at least: Kicking the bad wolf doesn't nourish the good. DANGIT! I suppose I should try something different like say: selfless service, forgiveness, scripture study, prayer, gratitude, remembering/keeping covenants, etc. All the standard Sunday School answers... ;)

    ReplyDelete