大象传媒

Good morning.

In the fast pace of our lives, we鈥檙e attracted to neat and contained stories to help us interpret what is going on around us.聽 It鈥檚 a human dimension that is certainly not new.

Jesus taught his disciples in many different ways, but perhaps the most appealing and enduring way was by using parables. These short teaching-stories are memorable, accessible and surprisingly rich in meaning. It seems to me that there are as many ways of reading them as there are people willing to engage with them and I wonder if this is exactly what Jesus intended. They hold a mirror up for us to explore the hidden depths of our own hearts and minds.

Perhaps they can be like little portable puzzles for us to carry around with us through the day, turning them over in our minds, letting their images reveal new things about us and the world around us.

I would like to offer this one. Jesus said; 鈥樷�楨veryone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock.鈥�

What are the rocks on which we can rely when the storms come? What inner foundations give us stability and help us keep going? Can we find a place of inner strength that we can rely on when things get shaky?

O God, our rock and our refuge, may we always be grounded in your unending love for us and for all. When storms threaten us, reassure us of enduring love that is steady as a rock. Amen.