Sunday 11

 

Parents often get bored with telling fairy tales to children at night. Some have a  great sense of humour and often s ad-libs parts of the stories just for fun. I found this out when I was a Chaplain to St Albans School and the morning story time with the kids was very enlightening! One day a child was sitting in his first grade class as the teacher was reading the story of the Three Little Pigs. She came to the part of the story where the first pig was trying to gather building materials for his home.

 

She said "...And so the pig went up to the man with a wheel barrow full of straw and said 'Pardon me sir, but might I have some of that straw to build my house with?'"

 

Then the teacher asked the class "And what do you think that man said?"

 

This little boy raised his hand and said "I know! I know! he said, 'Holy smokes! A talking pig!'" The teacher was unable to teach for the next ten minutes.

 

 We may not be able to predict what our kids are going to say, but there's one thing for certain, it'll usually be something unexpected. Hopefully they won't repeat something we've said, that maybe we shouldn't and embarrass us. And the other thing we know for sure is our children are like sponges, they soak up everything we say and everything we do.

 

What we say to them and about them makes a huge difference in who they become.

 

What we say and what we do are like seeds planted in the hearts and minds and spirits of our children. Jesus makes it very clear that often times it's the smallest things which make the biggest difference in our faith. The same can be said about parenting. Watch this.

 

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Our children will not only imitate us, but in many ways, they will grow up to be like us simply because we're their parents. Surveys show that parents still have more influence than peer pressure, even though the kids might rebel.

 

So, you might say that parenting is kind of like farming or gardening. You see, I learned something about vegetable gardening, We Harvest What We Plant. If we plant carrots, we can't expect to get corn. If we plant potatoes you can't expect to get tomatoes. We Harvest What We Plant. The same is true in parenting. And in my opinion, the best way to make sure we reap the best harvest is to plant the best seed possible.

 

And that means we have to go back to primary school for a little bit. Primary school is where we learned all the basics for everything else we would learn.

 

Years ago, I was a YMCA camp director, I had a leader who said said ", only 17% of Adelaide Uni graduates figured out this riddle, but 80% of kindergarteners knew the answer." And then he left! I could have strangled him! But here' the riddle:

 

 

 

"What is stronger than God,

 

more evil than the devil,

 

poor people have it,

 

rich people don't need it,

 

and if you eat it, you'll die?"

 

(Repeat)

 

The answer is: "Nothing." I knew I should have gone to Adelaide!

 

Literally, the word parable means "a riddle." They are stories that leave the listener with the responsibility of figuring out just what they mean. Jesus told more than 40 parables during his ministry, and he only explained one of them to his disciples, so that left the disciples with a lot of figuring out to do. And then Jesus took the answers with him when he ascended into heaven. So here we are, some 2000 years later, still pondering what Jesus must have meant when he told the story of The Wedding Feast, or The Dishonest Steward, or The Good Samaritan.  That’s why we need to go back to basics and  Listen for the Word of God and listen to what God is saying to you today as we read from Mark's gospel 4:26-34. The message is there for us each to find.]