What’s Your Story?

I love that my daughter still wants me to read her bedtime stories. Some days its the only chance I get to escape into my imagination and create new worlds that mirror ours.

The important parts of a good story always have a thread of truth – no matter how creative or fictitious the story is. This is one of the factors that made Jesus’ parables so effective. He spoke in a story people could understand but put the truth in the story as well.

Take the parable of the sower as an example. At first glance it seems like a story about gardening. But once you dig deeper (put intended) into who Jesus is, the story takes on a whole new meaning.

The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil.6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!”