The earthworms were laughing as I looked down at them, “What’s with the laughter?” I asked.

“Where were you these past few days?”

“Out of town!” I said, intentionally not mentioning where I’d gone as I thought it was not earthworm business, “Why do you ask?”

“Because the birds you’ve been feeding every day, now have bruised beaks and have nearly fractured their pretty heads!” laughed a stout earthworm. “You feed them every morning, don’t you?”

“Every morning from my terrace garden, and through the day from my window,” I said a little uncomfortably, “And they’ve been quite happy being fed!”

“So happy,” said a small worm imitating a bird, “That they forgot how to catch the worm, and we’ve been seeing blood all over from their unpracticed efforts to grab us!”

“First of all, they got so used to your feeding time, they even forgot it’s the ‘early bird that catches the worm’!” laughed a sluggish looking earthworm, as the other worms laughed out loud.

The earthworms chuckled, and slowly slid away, and I was left wondering about this very imaginary conversation I’d had with them. I looked at the birdfeed I had next to me. It had made the birds lazy, and incompetent.

How often, I thought we were like that. We prayed to God for easy ways out of situations. ‘Please God help me pass my exams! Help me get a promotion! Solve this problem for me!”

And a knowing God, who was far wiser than I was, waited for me to develop my own muscle, and work out my own strategy, giving me nudging advise, and guidance but not performing miracles, so I would develop strength in doing something myself.

God, I realized, wanted a strong me, a hardworking me, not a weak creation. I looked down at the imaginary blood spilled by broken beaks and knew that God did not want me to reach that stage.

In the Old Testament, God reveals that he even left some enemies undefeated so that the youngsters of Israel, who had not fought for their ‘promised land’ would later sharpen their skills and learn to fight with these remaining enemies.

In 2 Thessalonians 3, it is mentioned, ‘If anyone doesn’t want to work, they shouldn’t eat.’

And in Proverbs 14:23, it is said, “There is profit in hard work, but mere talk leads to poverty.”

Psalm 128:2 says, “You will definitely enjoy what you’ve worked hard for — you’ll be happy; and things will go well for you.” Which means that God rewards those who work hard!

I looked down and saw the fat imaginary earthworm still laughing, till suddenly a bird swooped down and grabbed him, and I knew that there were birds who’d gained from my brief sojourn, had stopped asking for miracles, and learnt to win through hard work…!