Category: Comparing

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Short Story: Distorted Views

window

Ava walked silently through the town, deep in thought. She’d had a hard day—or maybe I should say a hard month or even year. Nothing had gone the way she wanted. She’d sprained her arm—it was wrapped in a splint under her coat, effectively rendering it hard for her to do much at all. Except walk. She was hoping this walk would help clear her head and lift the fog from her heart.

She paused at the first home she passed, stealing a glance in the window as she did. She saw a little boy laughing and a mom pulling a plate of steaming hot cookies out of the oven. The scene looked so warm…so inviting.

There aren’t any cookies back at my house…and I can’t bake them with this arm, Ava thought to herself. She sighed and walked on.

The next home she passed looked strangely like one from her early childhood. Almost exactly like it, actually. She ventured a longer look inside this time and gasped at what she saw. There was a little girl who looked remarkably like she had, playing with her brother and sister, giggling and laughing. The scene brought back a rush of memories of the fun she used to have with her siblings—siblings that had long since grown up and moved out. If only she could go back in time…

“Ava, what are you doing?” The voice came, not from within the house or her head this time, but from next to her. Her friend Ella stood by her side.

“Just remembering,” Ava replied. “This window—it’s like a glimpse into my past.”

“A distorted glimpse,” Ella replied.

“What do you mean?” Ava inquired.

“Did no one warn you about the windows in this town?” Seeing Ava’s silence, Ella hastened to continue. “They’re coated with a special substance that distorts what you see. They only show the good, not any of the hard or the bad. Take this home, for instance. You see a scene that reminds you of happy moments from your childhood. But you don’t see all the times you and your siblings quarreled, or the hard days you had then too. Like the time you broke your back, remember?”

Ava remembered. She’d had to rest for weeks. The past hadn’t always been easy. “I wish my life could be more like that glimpse I saw in the house over there,” she muttered, pointing back to the home with the fresh cookies.

“You mean the distorted glimpse you saw,” Ella corrected. “If we could look through true glass into that home, we’d find it has struggles too. Is that the Jones’s house? I think the husband just lost his job. You can’t escape hardships, Ella. They come in different shapes and sizes, but we all have them.

“But here’s the deal. You can spend the rest of the day pining after distorted pictures through the windows, or you can head back home and see about making some beautiful memories yourself. Just because you can’t move your arm doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do.”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Ava asked. She still wasn’t 100% convinced.

“Like lose to me at a game of chess,” Eva replied with a laugh. “You don’t need two hands for that!”

“That’s true,” Ava replied with a laugh that a few minutes ago had felt impossible. She turned around from the town with the distorted windows back to her reality. She was glad she’d made the positive memories she had in her early childhood, and she wanted to go on making beautiful memories today in this new season, with life’s new challenges…and blessings.

Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19 (ESV)

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Story: Playing on the Job

hammer

Derick didn’t feel like working that morning. He wanted to be playing.

So instead of working hard, he played around on the job, trying to get everyone’s attention to get them to play too. He tried to get his coworkers to laugh at jokes. He tried to juggle his hammer as if it were a ball. He lined up the nails in a pattern instead of hammering them into the wood.

Derick’s plan to get attention worked, only not the way he expected. His boss came over and said words Derick never wanted to hear: “You’re fired.”

Derick pleaded and said he hadn’t meant any harm, but it was no use. He’d made choices, and those choices had consequences. With a heavy heart, Derick headed to his car. How would he feed his family with no job? How would he make money to go do fun things?

Derick learned a very important lesson that day—one that he wished he had learned long before. There’s a time to work, and a time to play. And when it’s time to work, we need to do it with all our heart, as if God Himself were our boss.

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1 (ESV)

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going.” Ecclesiastes 9:10 (ESV)

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The Rose That Wanted to Be a Lily

flowers

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful garden. The master gardener had carefully laid out every detail of the garden, interspersing different types of flowers and colors to create a magnificent, year-round display of breathtaking wonder that testified to his wisdom and care. The garden had roses and lilies and baby’s breath and daisies and so much more–too many flowers to name. And the gardener took care of each plant perfectly.

Now, the plants didn’t always like being taken care of. They didn’t like when the gardener pruned them. It hurt! They didn’t understand that they needed pruned in order to grow bigger and stronger.

...every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2 (ESV)

Petal was one flower in this garden–a rose to be exact. She’d grown strong and sturdy under the gardener’s wise care. She was planted where she had to endure the heat of the sunlight all day. Unbeknownst to her, that’s what made her grow so strong and bear such sweet flowers.

But one day, Petal noticed another flower that grew in the shade. Why do I have to endure all this heat while that flower doesn’t? she wondered. Petal didn’t understand that different flowers need different amounts of sunlight to grow, but the gardener knew all that. Rather than trusting him, though, Petal managed to pull up her roots and move herself to a different part of the garden where she could hide in the shade too. Ah, this is nice! she thought. Yet soon she began wilting, and her leaves turned yellow. She wasn’t designed for the shade. The gardener lovingly picked her up and put her back in a sunny spot.

“Ah, my dear Petal,” he said as he moved her. “I need you to bloom where I put you. Won’t you trust me? I know just the pruning and conditions each of my plants need.”

Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” John 21:22

Another time Petal noticed a small lily growing near her. Such beautiful flowers that lily has, she thought to herself. I wish my petals looked more like hers. And she doesn’t have any thorns…and she’s so dainty! I’m not dainty at all. Petal began trying to shrink her large branches to be more like the lily’s and started opening up her flowers earlier, hoping they’d look more like a lily’s.

Petal didn’t realize that her attempts to look more like a lily meant she was no longer filling the role in the garden she’d been planted to fill. The gardener had placed her in the garden to grow tall and strong and form an elegant backdrop for the smaller plants, but instead she was cowering and shedding her beautiful petals early.

“Ah, my dear Petal,” the gardener said as he straightened back up her branches. “Each flower is different and special for a reason. Won’t you trust me?”

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Romans 12:4-8 (ESV)
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Story: Comparing Gifts

gift

Susie felt perfectly happy with the Christmas gift she’d been given…until she saw what her sister had received. Mary had gotten a brand new wagon! Suddenly, her gift–a glittery apron, rolling pin, cookie cutters, and oven mitts–looked unimpressive.

All through Christmas dinner and afternoon play time, Susie pouted, missing out on enjoying the special food and fun time. Oh, how she wished she could have her sister’s special gift! She finally took the problem to her father.

“Why did Mary get that?” she whined. “I wish I could have that gift instead of this one.”

Susie’s father scooped his daughter up into his arms. “Susie, Dear, I gave each of my daughters just what she would need. Can’t you trust me?”

Susie sighed, not sure her father hadn’t made a mistake. But looking into his eyes, she knew she could trust him. She hopped down, comforted and with a new mission: to use the gift she’d been given.

Over the next few weeks, Susie began discovering the joy of baking. To her surprise, she could make delicious food. Equally to her surprise, a dear friend who lived down the street got sick. Susie began making meals for her…and Mary transported them over in her wagon. Truly, their father had given each one just what they’d need.

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” 1 Peter 4:10 (ESV)

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function,  so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.  Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;  if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching;  the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.” Romans 12: 4-8 (ESV)

 

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Story: Comparison Forest

Comparison Forest was a strange forest indeed.

The fact that it had a lot of different types of trees in it didn’t make it strange. What made Comparison Forest unique was how all the trees compared themselves with each other.

The maples all tried hard to stretch their branches higher, hoping to achieve the oak’s height. They wished they could produce the acorns the squirrels and other animals loved so well. Sometimes, one could even hear an audible sigh in the forest as the maples lamented not being oaks. The fact that they offered brilliant colors each fall and delicious syrup each spring (plus seeds the animals loved) didn’t seem very important to them.

On the flip side, the oaks could often be seen drooping their branches in an attempt to look like maples. They felt terrible about being so large and conspicuous. Why couldn’t they be maples?

Then there were the pine trees. They hated how sappy and prickly they were (and how soft their wood was) and wished they could have beautiful leaves and firmer wood like the maples and oaks. It didn’t occur to them what protection and beauty they provided during the winter months when the maples and oaks lost those leaves.

Each tree in the forest was too busy comparing to realize that each of them had a role to play and gift to give.

“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them:…” Romans 12:4-6 (ESV)