Sermon Central
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Leo Tolstoy Once Wrote A Story About A Successful ...
Contributed by Christian Cheong on Mar 9, 2010 (message contributor)
Leo Tolstoy once wrote a story about a successful peasant farmer who was not satisfied with his lot. He wanted more of everything. One day he received a novel offer. For $1000, he could buy all the land he could walk around in a day. The only catch in the deal was that he had to be back at his starting point by sundown.
Early the next morning he started out walking at a fast pace. By midday he was very tired, but he kept going, covering more and more ground. Well into the afternoon he realized that his greed had taken him far from the starting point.
He quickened his pace and as the sun began to sink low in the sky, he began to run knowing that if he did not make it back by sundown the opportunity to become a biggest landholder would be lost.
As the sun began to sink below the horizon he came within sight of the finish line. Gasping for breath, his heart pounding, he called upon every bit of strength left in his body and staggered across the line just before the sun disappeared. He immediately collapsed, blood streaming from his mouth. In a few minutes he was dead.
Afterwards, his servants dug a grave. It was not much over six feet (2m) long and three feet (1m) wide. The title of Tolstoy’s story was: How Much Land Does a Man Need?
[Bits and Pieces, November, 1991-http://www.bible.org/illus/g/g-83.htm]
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