Once upon a time, in a small and peaceful village, there stood a carpenter’s workshop. Inside were many work tools: the saw, the plane, the hammer, the nails, the sandpaper, the file, the axe, and many others. Each had its own character, its own voice and its own way of working.

One day, while the carpenter was away, all the tools gathered together for a great meeting. It was a long assembly, filled with arguments and heated debate. Some spoke angrily, others loudly, insisting that those they considered unfit to live among them should be driven out.

The first declared sternly, “We must get rid of the Saw. It wounds too much, and its voice is unbearable. Its nature is far too harsh!”

Another replied, “And what about the Plane? It strips away the surface of everything it touches. Its character is rigid and bitter!”

A third raised his voice. “And Brother Hammer? He strikes everything with such force, as though he were always angry. We cannot live with him!”

Others added, “And what of the Nails, so sharp and piercing? And the File and the Scraper, forever rubbing and irritating? Not to mention the Sandpaper, which scratches and scrapes everything beside it. Let them all be driven away!”

The arguments became endless. Each tool could see only the faults of the others. Then what the African sages often say came true: “When the great trees quarrel, it is the leaves that suffer.”

Suddenly, the door slowly opened. The carpenter himself entered. At once, every tool fell silent.

The carpenter picked up a piece of wood. He cut it with the saw, smoothed it with the plane, used the axe, the file and the sandpaper. Then he reached for the nails and the hammer, putting every tool to work together. Using those very tools that had been quarrelling among themselves, he crafted a beautiful cradle for a baby—a delightful place to welcome a new life.

Only then did all the tools understand: each one had its own purpose. As the wisdom of the proverb teaches: “If you see sand, do not despise it, for it is with sand that a house is built.” Indeed, “It is rough iron that forges the finest hoe.”

So, it is with God. He looks at us with the eye of a carpenter. He does not see only our faults; He sees the beauty within us. And to understand even more clearly that even the smallest among us has value, the elders tell the story of a tiny ant.

There once lived a very small ant in a vegetable garden. Her name was Ali, and she felt sad because she was the smallest of all the ants in her region. Her heart was filled with doubt. “I am so tiny that I am of no use to anyone,” she kept saying to herself.

Such feelings often arise in families with many brothers and sisters, where parents struggle to give each child the individual care and attention they deserve.

One day, an arrogant billy goat entered the vegetable garden and began devouring the crops. The farmers tried to chase it away, and the other animals attempted to frighten it off, but none of them succeeded. Fear spread everywhere, and everyone was in tears.

Then Ali, the little ant, said in her heart, “I may not be great, but I can still do something small,” just as the proverb says: “Drop by drop, the bucket is filled.”

Slowly, very slowly, she approached the billy goat. She climbed all the way up to its ear and bit it at its most sensitive spot. The goat leapt into the air in pain and fled at full speed.

Joy returned, and everyone learned an important lesson: never despise those who are small. Ali herself came to understand that greatness is not measured by size. As the proverb says: “The small are not lacking in strength; what they lack is confidence in themselves.”

This is the other side of the carpenter’s story. Like the carpenter’s tools, each one of us is different. One is calm, another is quick, another is diligent. Yet every one of us has a place. God does not judge us by our greatness, but by the heart He has placed within us. The wise say: “The fingers of the hand are not alike, yet together they grasp the same thing.” Unity gives strength, division brings weakness, and no one should ever be looked down upon—not even someone as small as little Ali the ant.