Fables may be simple bed-time stories with morals for kids that feature animals and birds. But sometimes they carry important life lessons for grown-ups too. Here’s one such story to help us tide over the uncertain times that we are currently facing and kindle faith and resilience in us as we march on…..

There was a pregnant deer in a far-off forest looking for a decent place to give birth to her fawn. After looking high and low she finally saw a pile of dry grass that looked safe and warm on the bank of a river. As she settled onto the grass her initial labor pains began.

Just then clouds started to fill the sky and soon it was followed by bolts of lightning. One such bolt struck the ground and the dry tinder caught fire. The high winds caused the fire to spread rapidly blazing the forest. The deer’s pains were now intense.

Uncertain and scared, she looked around to see where she could go now. To her utter dismay she noticed a hunter to her right pointing an arrow at her ready to release it. To her left a lion was moving towards her ready to pounce any moment.

It was indeed a critical situation – a hunter to her right, ready to kill her; a hungry lion to her left, ready to devour her, a raging fire around her in the forest, a turbulent river ahead of her that was impossible to cross.

What can the deer do? Will she able to give birth to the fawn? If so, will she and the fawn survive? Or will she be a victim of the hunter? Or will the lion kill her? Or will she be drowned trying to cross the river?

Take a moment to step into the story and consider what your options and reactions would have been in the deer’s place. You can add anything else that you feel is necessary to evaluate the situation. And yes, do not forget to add panic to the factor which is natural in such a situation.

Read on to find out what happened…

The deer realized her dire situation. She fathomed that there was nowhere else she could go and nothing she could do to improve the situation. Finally, she decided to pray with deep faith…

“I am deer of God” she prayed with all intensity, “and nothing but Faith can touch me!”

She prayed with all the sincerity in her heart and to her surprise as she repeated these words, a strange calm filled her and she felt the warmth of courage.

She even smiled at the pun in her prayer! She ignored everything around her and just focused on giving birth to her little one, to make her little one’s entry into this world as smooth and comfortable as she could.

She chose to focus on life and ignore all the symptoms of death around her. She tried to settle down again. Just then, in a single instant, a lot of things happened…

A bolt of lightning struck the ground near the hunter making him jump. The surprised hunter lost his aim, released the arrow and ran away frightened by the lightning. The arrow zipped past the deer and struck the lion killing him instantly. The thunderstorms lashed down over the forest and doused the fire and the next moment, the deer gave birth to a healthy fawn.

This story has a profound lesson – It is never too late to have faith.

However desperate, critical or dire your situation may be, know that when there is nothing left to do, it is still a good time to begin to have faith. If there remains nothing to do in the outer physical world, one can turn inwards and pray. Pray in spite of the feelings of fear and panic because prayer in itself is the answer to the situation.

Above story is an extract from the book – Awaken the Power of Faith by Sirshree.