Plan for the future

Sometimes in life, it does seem as if there is an impossibly difficult situation from which there is no exit. Often, however, our fears are exaggerated.

When we face a problem that seems incapable of being solved, we first need to think rationally and calmly. We must analyse and work out a plan to solve the problem, Suki Sivam said in a discourse.

There was once a kingdom, where they had a strange rule. No one could be king for more than a year. At the end of the year, the king would be taken to a forest and left there.

The forest had man-eating tigers, and the poor former royal would be killed and eaten. So there were few who wished to become king.

There was one brave man who willingly accepted the crown. At the end of the year, he stepped down from the throne, showing no signs of agitation at the fate that awaited him. A boat was to ferry him to the forest, and he was to be left there.

The boatman, who had ferried many former kings, was curious about this man’s joy and lack of worry. He asked him how he could be so happy when death awaited him. All the previous kings whom he had taken to the forest had gone weeping.

The former king replied that he had no cause for worry, for he was going to continue to be a king.

He explained that during the one year that he had been king, he had not been idle. He had sent out people to survey the land near the forest and discovered some fertile land there. He had already sent some farmers to cultivate the land. He had sent builders to build a palace for him there. So now he was not travelling towards death, but towards the certainty that he would be king of a new territory!

While we may not have to tackle such unusual problems, even little changes in our life upset us. God has blessed us with the ability to think and plan. So instead of blaming Him for every little thing that goes wrong in our lives, we should use our mental faculties to plan for the future.

A little forethought and a little planning is all it takes to surmount what seem to be insurmountable problems.