The Parable of The Spoons
author unknown
A holy man was having a conversation with the Lord one day and said, “Lord, I would like to know what Heaven and Hell are like.”
The Lord led the holy man to two doors. He opened one of the doors and the holy man looked in.
In the middle of the room was a large round table. In the middle of the table was a large pot of stew which smelled delicious and made the holy man’s mouth water.
The people sitting around the table were thin and sickly. They appeared to be famished. They were holding spoons with very long handles and each found it possible to reach into the pot of stew and take a spoonful, but because the handle was longer than their arms, they could not get the spoons back into their mouths.
The holy man shuddered at the sight of their misery and suffering. The Lord said, “You have seen Hell.”
They went to the next room and opened the door. It was exactly the same as the first one. There was the large round table with the large pot of stew which made the holy man’s mouth water.
The people were equipped with the same long-handled spoons, but here the people were well nourished and plump, laughing and talking. The holy man said, “I don’t understand.”
It is simple” said the Lord, “it requires but one skill. You see, they have learned to feed each other.”
Pearls of Wisdom “For as low as you can go… Ask God to take you that high.”~ Tyler Perry
Inside the mind of cree 
:o) Nice Blog entry… After reading this, the first thing that came to my mind was:
Unselfish vs. Selfish
Dim-Witted vs. Wise
My understanding of your blog entry is quite different than what I’ve always used the term ‘feed her/him w/a long handled spoon.’ It could be for anyone that you cross on your path of life & it is explained best here by Jan Silvious;
“When you have someone in your life to whom you have responsibilities, but they continually try to invade your boundaries and cause problems in your life, learn to feed them with a long handled spoon. Remove yourself emotionally from their sphere. Put some distance between you and them, whether it be geographical distance, mental distance or emotional distance.”
Your blog entry & the quote by Jan Silvious are both great messages. My understanding of both is, feeding someone with a long handled spoon is something wise to remember. So, I guess it would be two lists of people. The ones you should separate yourself from & The ones you feed or feed off of you.
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I’d have to say that was truly thought provoking and I appreciate you sharing this with us.
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Yeah, I totally got the point reading both situations. You’re correct… Silly stuff will make one or the other suffer. And in a room like that the both would suffer if they’re not in the room where the people learnt to feed each other and let the petty, dim-witted, selfish stuff go. Yeah, I totally understand that.
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The people in both rooms were both equipped with the same tools. Round table, pot of stew, and spoons in each hand. But they were so into treating each other with a long handle spoon that they suffered. They were skinny, and famish. They didn’t think enough to NOT treat people with a long wooden spoon, so there they where sitting there Hungary.
But the people in the second room knew it was time out for that SILLY IMMATURE MESS of what THEY call “feeding a person with a long handle spoon.” They realize the only way to eat was to feed each other. And that’s why they were well nourished plumped, laughing and talking.
Sometimes its time out for silly stuff, because in the end you will suffer just like those people in that FIRST room did.
As for me…………..I laugh
Lacrease
Pearls of Wisdom
Where works of the flesh exists, there is NO joy
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