...With Symbols of Christ

I'm a firm believer that everything points back to Christ. When I was about the age of fourteen I had a Sunday School teacher who challenged us to choose one thing that week and see how it pointed back to Christ. Her object was to show that everything we receive is to help us grow closer to Christ.

I remember wandering down the hallway at school looking at the lockers, the tiles, the backpacks, trying to understand how each item could relate back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I struggled to see how it was possible. How could everything  point to Christ? Then, as I was sitting on the swing at the park the challenge presented itself in my mind again. I looked at a tree and noticed how the branches pointed upward -- towards Christ. A tree grew up towards God! I understood. Excited, I began to ponder about the swing I sat on and how that pointed to Christ. I swung higher and higher -- towards the heavens! I understood.

Later in life I had a friend who had served a mission. He told me of a game he and his companions used to play as they walked: relate any object back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. He showed me some examples: the posts of a fence being those who support one another and keep that "fence" of the gospel up and a light pole being a beacon in the darkness like the gospel is for us through trying times.

Now, a missionary myself, I have fun playing the same sort of game. I love looking around me and seeing evidence that there is a God and that all things point to him. I love a challenge, so leave a comment; ask me to relate a particular object back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let's see Christ in everyone and in everything!

 

...With Babes in the Woods

I recently met a woman who had a lullaby she sang to her children each night. I was privileged enough to hear her song and her explanation of it's importance:

                        Oh, don't you remember, a long time ago,
                        There were two little babes, their names I don't know.
                        They strayed far away one bright summer's day,
                        And were lost in a wood, I've heard people say.

                        And when it was night so sad was their plight,
                        Oh the sun it went down and the stars gave no light.
                        They sobbed and they sighed, and they bitterly cried,
                        Then the two little babes, they laid down and died.

                        And when they were dead, the robins so red
                        Spread strawberry leaves all over their heads.
                        And all the day long  they sang their sweet song
                        Of the poor little babes who never did wrong!

It's an interesting old English song, with a surprisingly comforting tune, contrasting the story it tells. Yet, this experienced mother taught the message of what this song warns against: when the song was originally written, it was meant to keep young children from wandering in the woods. Today we don't have woods to wander through, but we do wander through danger each day. This song warns of wandering away from the light of what we know, and entering into a world of darkness through sin and denying God.

So, although the story may be simple enough, I hope, after looking at it again, we can heed it's warning and keep God's commandments, staying in the light.