Friday, May 24, 2013

The Parable of the Mud Puddle

A few weeks ago in church, a speaker related a story that went something like this:

Think of ourselves as family members all living in a big, beautiful, clean, white house.  Our Father has given us the run of the grounds.  We are allowed to go anywhere we want, learn anything we want, do anything we want...except for one place.  There is a mud puddle just outside the front door.  Our only rule is that we are to avoid the mud puddle.

And of course, with all that is offered to us, we all choose to immediately dive head first into the mud puddle.  So, now, we are all covered in mud, having our fun and enjoying ourselves.

The big kicker is that Dad has provided our older brother for us.  He is standing outside the house at all times with a water hose, ready to hose any of us down whenever we decide we don't want to be muddy anymore.  If we want to be cleaned off, all we have to do is ask to be hosed down.  Any time.

I thought it was such a simple analogy for our lives.  We are offered so much peace and happiness, opportunities to learn, to serve, and to grow, if we live the commandments and try our best to be like Jesus.  Our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy and safe.  Yet with all my knowledge about the happiness I am offered, I make choices on a daily basis that stunt my spiritual growth.  I'm tired, so I skip reading the scriptures tonight.  I'm busy, so I don't do my visiting teaching.  I'm distracted, so I don't act on that prompting.  Etc.  I could go on all day about the things I don't do.

I see it with my own children every day.  We have rules set to keep them safe, yet they choose to test their limits, stretch their boundaries...see how far they can go before they break a rule, break something, hurt someone, or get hurt themselves.  It's infinitely frustrating for us as parents to know for a fact what is good for them, and to see them choose what will hurt them.  I can imagine how Heavenly Father feels watching us all blunder through our lives here on Earth.  How frustrating for Him!

Yet how loving and patient He is!  We do have our Savior available for us at all times, waiting with open arms to heal our wounds and help us be clean.  That is truly generous parenting.

And then, despite all of this, we all decide to jump right back into the mud puddle.

Gunner was sitting next to me, listening to every word.  Sometimes I forget that he pays attention.  His response to everyone diving into the mud puddle:
"Naughty little boys."

Cracked me up in the middle of sacrament meeting.

2 comments:

Madame Palmkey said...

The other thing I like about it is that the puddle is inevitable. You cannot leave the house without getting in it, but you have to leave the house. It isn't just that we're willful and disobedient for the sake of being naughty (though we do that too). It simply is not possible to be perfectly clean without the brother, so we don't need to beat ourselves up about every mud spatter. You were going to get muddy. Some days more than others, but muddy we will be.

Gunner is awesome.

Mindy said...

So true, Mhana! Thank you for adding this! I imagine the puddle to be right at the bottom of the front steps. Not really possible to go outside without stepping in it. That differentiation makes it seem so much more kind, that it's not all just in our bad choices, but that we are learning and growing and figuring out how to be better. Just like kids. We're not perfect one bit, and we need Jesus and that hose to help us.

And yes, Gunner Is awesome. And so you are you!