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Archive for October 2009

Pelle’s Thoughts

16. October 2009 by Pastor Pamela.

When you are as great as I am, it’s hard to be humble!

No: I didn’t say that. That was Muhammad Ali. Although I think I am a great teddy bear: I am handsome, I am smart, I am loving, I am caring, I am the most qualified leader of a whole bunch of stuffed animals, I am very gifted in counseling, I am an outstanding writer, and I work hard. One should think that I deserve some benefits from that. But then I came across a parable that made me think:

A woman who wanted peace in the world and peace in her heart, was very frustrated. The world seemed to be falling apart. She would read the papers and get depressed.

One day she decided to go shopping, and she went into a mall and picked a store at random. She walked in and was surprised to see Jesus behind the counter. She knew it was Jesus because he looked just like the pictures she’d seen on holy cards and devotional pictures. She finally got up her nerve and asked, Excuse me, are you Jesus?

I am.

Do you work here?

No, I own the store.

Oh, what do you sell here?

Just about everything, Jesus said. Feel free to walk up and down the aisles, make a list, see what it is you want and then come back and we’ll see what we can do for you.

She did just that, walked up and down the aisles. There was peace on earth, no more war, no hunger or poverty, peace in families, no more drugs, harmony, clean air, careful use of resources. She wrote furiously. By the time she got back to the counter, she had a long list. Jesus took the list, skimmed through it, looked up at her and smiled. No problem. And then he bent down behind the counter and picked out all sorts of things, stood up and laid out the packets. She asked, What are these?

Seed packets, Jesus said. This is a catalog store.

She said, You mean I don’t get the finished product?

No, this is a place of dreams. You come and see what it looks like, and I give you the seeds. You plant the seeds. You go home and nurture them and help them to grow and someone else reaps the benefits.

Oh, she said. And she left the store without buying anything.

If I did things only if there were a reward in store for me, I wouldn’t get much done. Maybe it’s not the right thing to expect benefits for myself all the time. Maybe I should just do what I have to do – for God, for others, and not for myself.

Yours Pelle

(Source of the parable: Migan McKenna in Parables, cited in Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spiritual Literacy, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996, 359.)

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