Parables

My friend Lauren posted on her blog tonight. Her nephews are going to shave their heads to raise money for their cousin who is in cancer treatment right now. From Lauren's blog I clicked on the link about Tali, the little cousin, and read some of the posts that her mom and dad have written. I was so impressed. One of my favorite posts was "least likely...." from February of this year.

The Dad (it actually sounds more like the mom writing but at the bottom it says posted by William) writes about an experience he had with 2 girls that came to sell something at his door. He couldn't let them in because they weren't letting anyone around Tali, so he talked to them on the porch. These were girls from a rough, inner city neighborhood that were traveling with a company selling magazines. The girls ended up giving him some of their money and told him they would pray for Tali and his family. He wrote on his blog,  (I hope it's okay to put it on here. I give him full credit and highly recommend a visit to Tali's blog)

"Oh, what good can be done in this world by the least likely people, in the least likely ways, and in the least likely places!
And don't we all fit that description?! Aren't we all the least likely? Don't we all fall victim from time to time to that unfortunate thought that there's nothing we can do to change this world for the better?"

 It is such a great story and so, so, so inspiring. It brought to my mind the "parable of the divers" from Stephen Robinson's book, Following Christ. The author tells about how when he was a child they had a diving competition. Some of the kids had all of the finesse and technique down perfect. Some other kids came and did trickier, more difficult dives but without as much polish. When the scores were given the divers with less finesse won. The fancy divers were frustrated and pointed out the flaws of the scrappy divers and asked why their scores were higher. The answer was, "degree of difficulty".

It is good to know that our ultimate judge will take into account "degree of difficulty". I think it is incredible that in the middle of a difficult time Talitha's parents are seeing miracles and helping others. It is equally amazing that these two girls were able to reach out with compassion despite the difficulty of their own circumstances. I have a tendency to slip into survival mode when things are tough. I forget to watch for, acknowledge or express gratitude for the tender mercies that abound.