The beauty of books n parables

Books are an amazing gift to be blessed with, both the gift of the book itself, that another very talented writer has written and the ability to read it. 

I often only read non-fiction as when I was younger I use to read a lot of fiction books, a book a day nearly, and once I got so caught up and emotionally attached to characters when they died or something bad happened to them I felt like my world was altered, changed; having the fine line between reality and fiction been teased out.  You can get swept up into a whole other universe expressing the other character's feelings, memories, the pain or anger, confusion, sadness, happiness and I often forget everything that is around me at times….lets face it books can be an escape … yet what an amazing escape full of wisdom, insight, a lifetime of knowledge that can be easily obtained in a short amount of time. No greater feeling that on a grey day to be able in a second to jump into sunshine, where else can we do this… Sometimes when lost in the labyrinth of words its easy to be inside a book world!

Recently I was reading a book about Mary - Mother Mary  - (Mary, Shadow of Grace by Megan McKenna) Within the book was tales, legends - native american tales as the author labelled them. They are amazing stories that have a moral, hidden message and often not heavy religious. The book is well written connecting these tales to Mary and the Gospel. 

But it got me thinking about Jesus teaching…. what maybe the tale might have been like for someone describing how Jesus taught …. 

Once upon a time there, there was a young man who walked about the streets naked from the day he was born. He went by the name of Truth. Been naked resulted in no one letting him into their homes. Whenever people saw him they turned, closed their doors, went in the opposite direction. Truth was starting to become lonely, he walked about with no one talking or spending time with him. 

… Until… 

One day he came upon Parable. Parable looked at Truth and asked why he looked so sad, Truth replied that things were dark; he was old and no one wanted to acknowledge him nor wanted anything to do with him. He said that his glass was half empty. 

Parable gave Truth some wisdom ' People don't run away from you because your old…. I'll tell you a secret; Everyone likes things disguised and prettied up a little, like the glass half full! I will give you some of my clothes, you'll see that people who once pushed you aside will embrace you, invite you into their homes and be delighted with your company" 

Truth took Parable wisdom, placed on the borrow clothes and thought that he was now apart of Parable and Truth both together!

I recall sitting in a bible studies class a few years ago, when the tutor declared that parables where not truth or reality and went on to kindly inform me that Job was a parable. I LOVE Job, he has a very special place in my heart, the wisdom within the parable, the lessons, insight, message and to learn that he too was a parable… oh my ….. well that night I went home so frustrated and annoyed declaring never to return back to bible studies…. 

Then i came across Matthew 13:34-35. "Jesus used stories to tell all these things to the people, he always used stories to teach them. This is as the prophets said: I will speak using stories; I will tell things that have been secret since the world was made" 

This opened my eyes and gave me excitement - (enough to return to many more bible classes;o) ) 

Jesus told many truths with parables, one could say they are an important teaching vehicle to convey truth. We can see that as we read through the Gospels, he rarely began with scripture when he was among his people. It was only when he was in the synagogue, among the scholars that he did; this in itself teaches us the importance of what language we use in different situations. 

Jesus told stories about everyday things in order to bring his strong message in a way that would keep his listeners attention… no different today!!

Each person is different there is no universal recipe for how to share our faith. Books have a deep richness, however never forget the world beyond the pages….