Out in Colorado they tell of a little town nestled down at the foot of
some hills--a sleepy-hollow village. You remember the rainfall is very
slight out there, and they depend much upon irrigation. But some
enterprising citizens ran a pipe up the hills to a lake of clear, sweet
water. As a result the town enjoyed a bountiful supply of water the year
round without being dependent upon the doubtful rainfall. And the
population increased and the place had quite a western boom. One morning
the housewives turned the water spigots, but no water came. There was
some sputtering. There is apt to be noise when there is nothing else.
The men climbed the hill. There was the lake full as ever. They examined
around the pipes as well as possible, but could find no break. Try as
they might, they could find no cause for the stoppage. And as days grew
into weeks, people commenced moving away again, the grass grew in the
streets, and the prosperous town was going back to its old sleepy
condition when one day one of the town officials received a note. It was
poorly written, with bad spelling and grammar, but he never cared less
about writing or grammar than just then. It said in effect: "Ef you'll
jes pull the plug out of the pipe about eight inches from the top you'll
get all the water you want." Up they started for the top of the hill,
and examining the pipe, found the plug which some vicious tramp had
inserted. Not a very big plug--just big enough to fill the pipe. It is
surprising how large a reservoir of water can be held back by how small
a plug. Out came the plug; down came the water freely; by and by back
came prosperity again.
_Why_ is there such a lack of power in our lives? The reservoir up
yonder is full to overflowing, with clear, sweet, life-giving water. And
here all around us the earth is so dry, so thirsty, cracked open--huge
cracks like dumb mouths asking mutely for what we should give. And the
connecting pipes between the reservoir above and the parched plain below
are there. Why then do not the refreshing waters come rushing down? The
answer is very plain. You know why. _There is a plug in the pipe._
Something in us clogging up the channel and nothing can get through. How
shall we have power, abundant, life-giving, sweetening our own lives,
and changing those we touch? The answer is easy for me to give--it will
be much harder for us all to do--_pull out the plug_. Get out the thing
that you know is hindering.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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