Self-Conflict
Managing our body and heart is a daily battle requiring constant self-control.
A friend once asked an aged man what caused him to complain so often at eventide of pain and weariness. “Alas,” replied he, “I have every day so much to do. I have two falcons to tame, two hares to keep from running away, two hawks to manage, a serpent to confine, a lion to chain and a sick man to tend and wait upon.”
“Well, well,” commented his friend, “you are busy, indeed! But I didn’t know that you had anything to do with a menagerie. How, then, do you make that out?”
“Why,” continued the old man, “listen. Two falcons are my eyes, which I must guard diligently; the two hares are my feet, which I must keep from walking in the ways of sin; the two hawks are my hands, which I must train to work, that I may provide for myself and those dependent on me as well as for a needy friend occasionally; the serpent is my tongue, which I must keep ever bridled lest it speak unseemly; the lion is my heart, with which I have a continual fight lest evil things come out of it, and the sick man is my whole body, which is always needing my watchfulness and care. All this daily wears out my strength.”--Du Quoin _Tribune_.