The Living Parables

parables, very short stories with a double meaning. In the biblical tradition, the terms translated from Hebrew, Aramaic, or Greek by the narrower term ‘parable’ should more accurately be translated by the wider term ‘metaphor.’ The basic distinction that the biblical tradition finds worthy of emphasis is that between literal and metaphorical language. – Harper’s Bible Dictionary

This morning I dropped my husband off at the mechanic’s shop. I sat on a street that, just a block or so down, was known for shootings, babies being shaken to death and massage parlors. I parked in the space closest to the sidewalk. I looked down at the sidewalk and saw a pentagram and the numbers 666 surrounding the name, Jason. How original.

I was reading Jeremiah.

Then I went to the vet to get Maggie checked out. She was seeping blood from a mass that had grown up almost overnight. I bathed her on Friday and I had not seen it. Then after my husband’s company party had been cleaned up, I saw blood on the bed. This morning, I did not beg God for courage but for patience as we waited 50 minutes for the doctor. Then the words…skin tumor.

The moment before those words and the moment after were the exact same for Maggie. I learn a lot from her. There is no reason to ask why.

The prodigal son tended swine. The workers who worked for one hour received the same pay as the rest. The widow gave a mite, and she was the most generous.

These juxtapositions are a part of who He is. He is the unexpected.

Our lives tell parables. They are the stories of those with the hope of salvation. If we are doing it right, then we don’t make sense in this world. We are the unusual, the unlikely, the double meaning.

I bet that you have them, too, the life that does not make sense against the backdrop, or the need to serve this dead carpenter because He set you free. These are the stories that we show to the lost world. Every day, I am made aware of how much the world needs Him. They need our life stories.

My thought from all of this: letting Jesus resolve the stories of our lives makes us a living parable.

Are you in the middle of a parable today?

Father, thank you for all the circumstances that make us more like you. Create in us the will to offer up the stories of our lives and let you finish them. Let our stories be a voice to the lost.