The Walking Stick Story and A Lesson Well Learned!

An enlightening story for healers and those who think they constantly need to help others.

One day I was coming out of the door of the camper we were living in and I noticed a regular visitor, a walking stick. He had picked an awful place to rest, I thought, right there on my door, he could get hurt with us going in and out of that door. So I decided to help the walking stick. I moved him over to the picnic table where I thought he would be safe. Well the picnic table was very close to the bird feeder and before I realized that the picnic table might not be a good place to put him, a bird took off one of the walking sticks legs!

Well I ran over to help the walking stick once again. The poor thing now only had five legs, so I moved him over to our tent. Walking sticks seemed to like to crawl up the screening on the tent and I figured now that he had a leg missing it would be easy for him to maneuver there. Smiling and frowning at the same time because of the mishap and the good place I had thought of to put him, I left him alone.

I went back in the camper for while and then went outside again to check on my walking stick friend. As I looked over our tent, my eyes went to the top where all the poles fit into a pentagon shaped holder and there between all those poles was one of the biggest spider webs I had ever seen. My eyes began frantically searching the tent for the walking stick. I found myself focused about an inch away from where the web began and much to my dismay … there was my friend about to walk right into it! I couldn’t stop thinking about the spider’s sting if I didn’t get to him in time! I had to help him! Well the top of the tent was high and I couldn’t quite reach the walking stick but I was determined to rescue him. So I began jumping up and down and hitting the tent. Well the walking stick bounced off the tent and hit one of the poles on the way down and he lost another leg! Now he only had four legs and the legs he lost were the ones that kept him balanced.

I had to do something! In my great want to help I ran inside to my computer and searched the internet to find out what kind of food walking sticks ate so I could put him close to his food since he was having so much trouble walking. I found that they ate oak leaves. Well we had an oak tree right behind the camper. All I had to do was put him on one of the leaves. So I picked him up once again, walked over and got on top of our lawn mower that was sitting on a trailer but those darn leaves were too high to reach. Wobbling horribly and with my arm at full length and stretched out, I finally got the walking stick on a crooked hanging oak leaf. I did it! I had helped him get to his food source, and satisfied with that I left him to live out his life.

I went back inside the camper but after a while my curiosity got to me so I went out to check on my friend. He had fallen off that crooked oak leaf, he was missing another leg and was on the ground being eaten by ants! I couldn’t believe it. I picked him up and brushed all the ants off him. I then climbed on top of the lawn mower again and balancing the best I could with the poor walking stick in hand, I reached and pulled off the very leave he fell off of. I went into the camper and got a clear shallow dish to put him in. I crumbled up the oak leaf and placed it next to him and I put a little purified water in there too. I had to care for him from now on because he couldn’t make it on his own anymore. But where would I keep him? I couldn’t take him inside my camper in that dish because my kitty would eat him for sure. I had to think this out. So I put the dish containing my walking stick friend on the seat of an outside chair that was shaded from the sun by our awning … while I pondered what to do.

I was only in the camper a half hour trying to figure out what to do when I decided I should go out and check on him. Well, the sun had traveled across the sky and was shinning under the awning directly on that glass dish! There was the little walking stick fried and stuck to the dish.

So the next time you think you’re helping someone or something, you might want to think again … because that little walking stick was just fine where he was until I decided to help him, over and over and over!

Written by Unity, Counselor of the Heart, June 2007
Author of “Through the Eyes of the Heart”
http://www.counseloroftheheart.com/book.htm