Our faith can be as weak as straw or as strong as bricks and mortar.
Yesterday at the elementary school where I work, our first graders had a fairy tale ball. They had just finished their unit on fairy tales and to cap it off, they were told to dress as any fairy tale character of their choosing. Not surprisingly, there were lots of princesses, but there were also quite a few pigs from the, “Three Little Pigs,” and some wolves, and even the grandmother from “Little Red Riding Hood.” The “Wizard of Oz,” was also well represented.
Their creativity, was as always, inspiring. The possibilities and perspectives of the very young always inspire me. Later in the day, one of our teachers asked me if I remembered what her son wore the year before for his fairy tale ball. I didn’t, so she shared her pictures.
He had come as the houses in the, “Three Little Pigs.” In his mind, the most important character in the story, wasn’t a character at all. It was what the characters built, that spoke to him. Each house was represented on a side of a box that he wore.
I was fascinated and I thought about those pictures and his perspective long after the fairy tale ball was over.
As humans, it seems that what we tend to focus on is other humans, whether they are good or bad, or are for us or against us. But, the truth about all humanity is that it’s not permanent. We are only here for a short time before we move on to eternity, but the things we build can last a lot longer than we do, and the love and faith we pass down to the generations who come after us, can last indefinitely.
And when I think about it, “The Three Little Pigs,” has some deep lessons to teach us spiritually. When we are building our faith lives, it’s important to take time and care like the little pig who used the bricks, because we too, have a wolf character who comes after us from time to time, just because we are children of God.
It’s not a matter of if, but of when. If we haphazardly build our faith, like the little pig did with the straw and his house, it will easily collapse when an attack comes. But, if we take the time and pray, and read the Bible and spend time with other people of faith and build a brick house faith, it can withstand any kind of attack, just like the little pig with the brick house did and we can help shelter others too, just like the little pig did with his brothers.
The fairy tale ball reminded me of the importance of what we build while we are here. Perhaps you needed reminding too.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂