All right, who keeps messing with the world clock? I’m not talking about daylight saving time. It is just not right. Christmas comes every other month now, and the rest of the holidays are crunched in between. Easter is almost an afterthought. I remember as a child waiting years for January to pass before Valentine’s Day came. Now, it seems that Valentine's and Christmas are two weeks apart. Easter is crunched between one tiny fleeting thought about resolutions and new beginnings. I don’t know about you, but I need that time to reevaluate the scattered pieces of my brain and put them back together. In computer talk, I need to defrag my life.
The treadmill of life doesn’t afford the time to stop and think, let alone sort out the pieces and put them where they belong. We blindly go from one task to the next, seemingly without rhyme or reason. We finish one task and find 10 more screaming for our attention. We dream of the days when we will have all kinds of leisure time. But they're not true. We just find another treadmill.
Back in the old days, before the internet and the media, there was time to sit and watch the sunset on the porch swing. There was time to notice the budding of new flowers and the coming of spring. People could almost predict the weather because they knew the sky. Mariners used to say, “Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. Red sky at night, a sailor’s delight.” They knew the signs of the sky. Farmers knew it was going to freeze because of the feeling in the air. Nothing passed our gaze: the clouds, the rainbows and the moon’s progression in the sky. We noticed the changing color of the leaves and took pleasure in the falling snowflakes as they spread a sparkling blanket across the ground. Back then, we looked up to the velvety blackness of the sky splattered with trillions of stars and stood breathless at the greatness of the universe. Now with light pollution, a few stars blink in the gray horizon, if we see them at all.
We heard the twitter of birds and the chirp of crickets and listened to the rain on the roof and heard the whisper of the breeze in the pines. We even listened to the stillness that was so quiet it hurt your ears. Nowadays, we are plagued with self-imposed blindness and deafness. It is easy to understand the word of Jesus:
Therefore, speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand … hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. —Matthew 13:13-16 KJV
Jesus said he talked to the people in parables because they didn’t see or hear, and they could not understand. Parables are perfect instruments of education. The meaning is hidden in a simple story, and a person must take the time to sort it out to understand the significance.
Jesus teaches the same way today. Miracles and lessons of our lives are hidden from view unless we take time to think about our experiences and ask the questions, “What am I supposed to learn from this experience? What lessons are hidden messages in nature? What can I learn from listening in prayers?” How much do we miss because we have forgotten how to ask questions or don’t take time to ponder?
Nature is full of parables. Think of the seed growing into a plant. It grows and gives fruit; then it dies over the winter and is resurrected in the spring – like the resurrection we all wait for and the hope we have to see our loved ones who have passed on. Will they not wake up on resurrection morning just like the plant that seems dead but blooms again? Even the rising and setting of the sun is a symbolic representation of death and resurrection. The old day dies and is resurrected into a new dawn each day, reminding us that life is never ending and new beginnings are ever present. What about the pattern of night and day? The sun and the moon? Are we not like the moon – a reflection of God’s light? What about the light of the sun? We see so much better when we have light. The brighter the light, the more we see. Light can chase away darkness – not just physical darkness of the night but spiritual darkness of ignorance and shame. Jesus said: I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life (John 8:12 KJV).
Think of how water in a rolling stream is purified as it tumbles over rocks and makes its way to the sea. Like water being purified, our lives are full of adversity. We must be challenged and tried to become more pure and strong. We must bump and tumble against life to learn the lessons we need to learn to become like Christ. Charity is not an easy path. A baby must fall over and over before learning to crawl, to walk and finally to jump and run. Consider streams and rivers constantly flowing to the sea. Are they not like the righteous running daily to the fountain of God’s love through prayer? Think of the ground being watered and foliage being renewed by the service of the streams. Ponder on the living water that Christ talked about. How does it fit?
Even frozen water has its parables. Think of how the warmth of the sun striking frozen water begins to melt it gradually. Charity and the pure light of Christ melt frozen hearts and minds. Little deeds of kindness can make us feel the warmth and light of the Son of God.
Frozen water in the form of snowflakes falling from the sky can teach us, too. Each snowflake is unique and beautiful, yet they gather with other snowflakes to make a beautiful blanket of silver covering the Earth. How like in the Kingdom of God, each one of God’s children are different, but they come together with their unique talents to make something beautiful. Paul taught the same principle using the body as the example:
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body: is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body as it hath pleased him. —1 Corinthians 12:15-18 KJV
Parables and manifestations of God’s love are all around us, but we must not be heavy eyed and deaf. We must sincerely want to know. We must turn away from our devices and spend some time with nature and notice God’s creations. We must ask. It can’t be just a passive prayer or a grocery list of what we want or what we need. It must be a searching, questioning prayer with a heart turned to His will. We must take time to listen. Sometimes He will tell us in our mind in that very moment. Sometimes His answers come later in the day. Sometimes we wait a very long time to understand what He is trying to say to us. But He is there, and He listens to every heartfelt prayer. Surely, He tires of the jangle of vain repetition, but He will give us a parable to think about if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. It will be wonderful, one day, to hear Him say of us: Blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear (Matthew 13:16 KJV).
