we went to Syria one day to see Abba Poemen, and we wanted to ask him about purity of hearts. But the old man did not know Greek, and no interpreter could be found. So seeing our embarrassment, the old man suddenly began to speak in Greek, saying the nature of water is soft and that of stone is hard. But if a bottle is hung above the stone, allowing the water to fall drop-by-drop, it wears away even the hardest stone.
So it is with the word of God. It is soft, and our heart is very hard. But the man who hears the word of God often opens his heart to the fear of the Lord.
