MORE POTATO MASHER PARABLES

Matthew 11:28-30

You know the picture I used yesterday – well, there are a couple of other things that specific masher reminds me of: One – it reminds me of ‘jumping to conclusions’ – which is sometimes the only exercise I get. Two, it reminds me of people who are full of energy. My friend Mary Beth is one of those people. God gave her more energy than any one woman should ever have. She absolutely runs circles around me. And – my youngest granddaughter is another of those bouncy people with incredible energy – and she keeps us in stitches with the funny & clever things she comes up with. One of the most memorable recent ones was this:

My daughter had decided that they were going to have a new rule in their house that they would speak calmly and never raise their voices – but soon after that declaration, she was in the car with her girls, and the eldest one – who has perfected arguing to an art form – pushed one too many buttons and my daughter raised her voice. Immediately her 3-year-old piped up with, “Mommy, We could pray for you right now that Jesus would take that yucky sin away from you.”

One of Al’s favorites was when she was staying with us when she was 2. I had let her go play at her Auntie’s house for a while, and when I went to pick her up, I said she didn’t need to be seat-belted into her car seat because we were only going about 500 feet from Auntie’s house to our house. She was not accustomed to that freedom, and knowing she’d be safe, I thought she’d enjoy it. However, as I drove into the garage, Bryn exclaimed dramatically, with obvious relief, “Thank God. We made it.”

During the first 29 years of collecting I never imagined potato mashers being something God could use, but that just proves his resourcefulness. I’ve learned that God uses everything that’s ever happened to us for his good if we are willing to let him. He even redeems the bad things that happen and uses it to allow us help others for His glory.

God uses visuals to teach. Remember what God said to Moses, “What is that in your hand?” And then God used what Moses had – which was his walking stick – as an object lesson.

Jesus also used the mundane to teach. One of my favorites is in Matthew 11:28-30, where his invitation to his hearers was, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you will find rest for your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

His hearers would have understood immediately what he was offering, because they knew what a yoke was and the way it was used. They saw it as a visual before them in their everyday life. They knew that a stronger, older ox was always yoked with a younger, inexperienced one so the stronger one could bear the greater strain of the burden they pulled, and be a teacher to the inexperienced younger one. Isn’t it wonderful to know that once you have accepted Him as Savior, Jesus is right there in the yoke with you - bearing the greater part of the burden?

More than once someone has said to me, “God will not give you more than you can bear.” And I tell them, “Yes He has - - but He will never give me more than He can handle" – and I find peace in knowing that. Max Lucado says, “Sometimes He calms the storm. Sometimes He calms His child in the storm.” I know from experience that sometimes you just have to hold on for dear life and know He is there because His Word declares He is, though you can’t feel His presence at all. Our walk is a journey of faith, not of feeling, and that’s good, because feelings are very often unreliable. They can’t be trusted.

Over the years, in addition to those I’ve located, my collection has grown due to contributions from others. Those that were gifts remind me of the person and the gift of their friendship and love – and also of the Gift of love God gave us in His Son when Jesus came to earth to bring us salvation. They also remind me that WE are God’s Gift to Jesus – His inheritance. The cost he paid so dearly on the cross was for us, and we are his prize – his inheritance.

Those that are from friends remind me of the gift of lessons I’ve learned from my friends. One example is “The 5 year plan.” At one juncture when I was deliberating between two seemingly important events, my friend Cathie advised me to determine which I would do based on which one would still matter in 5 years. Too often, our lives are dictated by the urgent instead of the important, and that little lesson has helped me make the better choice a number of times.

In early December one year when I had to choose between going to choir practice or to my son-in-law’s 30th birthday party, I chose family. 5 years hence no one will remember if I was at choir that night or not – even though it was when we were practicing for our Christmas cantata, which definitely was important. But – my son-in-law will most likely remember – and my daughter certainly will – that I made the choice to prioritize him that December 2. And if they don’t, I do. On the other hand, I don’t have a clue what the songs were for that particular Christmas.