the parable of the stone

There once was a block of stone.  The block sat through many seasons of storms, rain, snow, and wind.  Nothing could diminish the block of stone, nor make it smaller, not destroy it in any way.  It was immutable.  One day a crack appeared in the stone, it was as if the stone had broken from the inside.  The crack went from the top of the stone to nearly the bottom, but there was a small piece of stone connecting the two halves.  The crack was approximately one inch at its largest width.

The one side of the stone said, "Let us push together so that the crack may be diminished."
But the other side was the wise side, he said "Rather we should break apart and go our separate ways".

So the two halves broke along the crack that had formed.  They went their separate ways and found to their great enjoyment that it were now possible to roll in the fields and go swimming in the streams, such had their weight previously inhibited them from doing.

Seasons passed and the two stones were again beset by storms, rain, wind, and snow, but this time they were too small to spare themselves from the forces around them.  The wind buffeted them, and made them smooth.  The snow froze them, and made them diminish.  The rain soaked them, and softened their corners.  After many seasons had passed, they no longer appeared as they once were, two halves of a block.

But the two stones each felt lonely for the other, and they sought each other out.  When they found one another, they discovered that all of the shaping they had done on their own had a miraculous effect.  As they approached each other and started to caress each other they discovered that all the bumps and protrusions and boles and rends that had shaped them since separating had an equal and opposite characteristic on the other, and that when they held themselves in just such a way, they formed a perfect, solid sphere.  So exact was the fit that no seam could be seen as to where the one side started and the other stopped.

They were as one again.

parable of the boy

One day a man came to town.
He brought with him many gifts and wonders which fit in the palm of your hand.
All the people flocked to him, to be delighted and enjoy the day.
But one boy did not come to see the man.
He stayed alone at the other end of town.
All day he stared up and watched the clouds,
    he listened to the birds,
    he felt the wind, and
    he was happy.
After the man had left with his pockets full,
The other boys came to ridicule the one boy who had not come to see the gifts,
    to enjoy the wonders the strange man had brought with him.
The other boys threw insults at the one boy.
They called him names and laughed and told him he was strange.
He responded,
"It is not strange to enjoy the wonders of the world, the blue sky, the white clouds, the distant mountains, the cool breeze.  It is only strange to consider only wonders that which you must pay for".