Once upon a time…

Christmas time and I’m watching the assortment of movies that BBC and the other channels put on every year. It got me thinking about my childhood and how much I enjoyed watching these movies. Do remember as a young child when you were told stories by your teachers/parents/grandparents and every story they told had some kind of hidden message; a moral to each story. Those messages were meant to teach you a lesson and hopefully you would go onto remember them in the future. Man, I haven’t heard one of those stories in such a long time and I miss it. I miss being a kid, simpler times :)

Well what with it being Christmas and all, I recently overheard an elderly gentleman tell his grandchildren a similar story. The children were actually interested in what was being said; then again they were only 5 or 6 years of age. The story went something like this…

There was a little boy called Jack who was visiting his grandparents on their farm, along with his sister Susie. Jack was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods. He

practiced in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged one day, he headed back for dinner a little sad.

As he was walking back he saw to the house, he saw Grandma's pet duck. Just out of impulse, Jack let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head and killed it by accident. He was shocked and grieved! In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to turn around and find his sister standing behind him.

Susie had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, “Susie, please could you help me wash the dishes?” Susie replied with, “Grandma, Jack told me he wanted to help in the kitchen.” Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck?” So Jack did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, “I'm sorry but I need Susie to help me make supper.” Susie just smiled and said, “Well, that's all right because Jack told me he wanted to help.” She whispered again, “Remember the duck?” So Susie went fishing with Grandpa and Jack stayed at home to help Grandma.

After several days of Jack doing both his chores and Susie’s, he finally couldn't stand it any longer. Jack went to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said, “Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing. But because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you would let Susie make a slave of you.”

The elderly gentleman was actually much more animated with his story telling complete with actions, different voices, sound effects etc. What a cool granddad! Lol. At the end of the story, he turned to his grandchildren and asked them what they thought the story was trying to telling us. So I ask you the same question, what do you think the moral of the story was?

Message of the story:
Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done that the devil keeps throwing it up in your face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.). Whatever it may be, you need to know that God was standing at the window.

He saw the whole thing and he has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that he loves you and that you are forgiven. He was just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you. The great thing about God is that when you ask for forgiveness, he not only forgives you, but he forgets. It is by God’s grace and mercy that we are saved.

So yea a bit of religious message, but I liked it and just wanted to share it you guys :)