A Real Life Fable

The little boy was tired of waiting.
He was being very good.
He was just a bit fidgety.
His five-year-old body just could not stand still for long periods of time.

If he was outside, being fidgety would be perfectly fine.
However, inside, in a public place, with people watching, his fidgety-ness was more noticeable.
At least that is what his mother thought.
The fact that he was being fidgety was quite frustrating to her.

Stand over here, she said motioning him to come by her side.
He was infatuated with a water fountain at the moment she called to him.
Don’t drink from that! She said, startling her son, and me, and anyone else within earshot.
I said leave that alone! She said again a bit louder.

He came over to her looking over his shoulder at the water fountain.
The fountain with its promise of cool water seemed to be calling to him.
But so was his mother.
Her voice was louder than the fountain’s.

He stood next to her but he began to play with the sign that said, Line forms here.
He was not damaging it in any way.
He was simply running his sneaker along the metal base.
He liked the sound his sneaker made against the metal.

Stop that! It is annoying! His mother said for all of us to hear.
He looked up at her with pleading eyes.
His look seemed to say, What can I do here as I wait?
He noticed that the floor had a line in the tile; he began to walk the line like a tightrope.

Get back here! His mother said angrily.
He looked confused since he was only a few feet away.
He was not hurting himself or anyone else.
He was not touching anything that did not belong to him.

Over here! His mother said pointing emphatically.
Here! She said pointing and stomping her foot.
What did I say? She asked as if to make a point.
Her words were fired in rapid succession.

OK, that does it; we are not going to get the____that you wanted! She declared.
I looked at the little boy’s face since I was waiting in line as well.
I could see that he was used to this.
I saw a little boy who was just being a five-year-old little boy.

I have no idea what kind of morning they had together.
I have no idea what this very frazzled mother is dealing with in her life.
My observations were not meant to judge her.
My observations made me ponder the way we communicate with each other.

I never saw the resolution to what I witnessed.
The little boy did not get upset when the item he wanted seemed to be forbidden.
Was he used to that, too?
How often we all fall into the same trap.

Our conversation cycles down and we feel like we are sinking.
Calm speech does not seem to be heard.
Reasoning does not seem to be working.
The only thing left in our repertoire is annoyance, anger, and empty threats.

I thought of an Aesop’s fable that I read as a young girl and also read to my children.
A story that reels you in before you notice you are being reeled in.
A story that shows a contrast so beautifully.
A story that I have tumbled in my mind many times.

The North Wind and the Sun had a quarrel about which of them was the stronger. While they were disputing with much heat and bluster, a Traveler passed along the road wrapped in a cloak. “Let us agree,” said the Sun, “that he is the stronger who can strip that Traveler of his cloak.” “Very well,” growled the North Wind, and at once sent a cold, howling blast against the Traveler. With the first gust of wind, the ends of the cloak whipped about the Traveler’s body. But he immediately wrapped it closely around him, and the harder the Wind blew, the tighter he held it to him. The North Wind tore angrily at the cloak, but all his efforts were in vain. Then the Sun began to shine. At first his beams were gentle, and in the pleasant warmth after the bitter cold of the North Wind, the Traveler unfastened his cloak and let it hang loosely from his shoulders. The Sun’s rays grew warmer and warmer. The man took off his cap and mopped his brow. At last he became so heated that he pulled off his cloak, and to escape the blazing sunshine, threw himself down in the welcome shade of a tree by the roadside.
(The North Wind And The Sun)

Moral: Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail.

I thought of the way many of us handle things when we are tired and frustrated.
Things that would never bother us on a good day are exaggerated on a bad day.
We do not seem to have the ability to handle ourselves in a gentle manner.
We give in to our frustration and are on a runaway train that we cannot seem to stop.

A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverbs 15:1)

God knew that we would struggle with anger and frustration.
God knew that in those moments, gentleness is the last thing on our mind.
Aesop’s fable cleverly shares the same truth.
The wind whipped and blew in ferocity; only the gentle sun caused the man to remove his coat.

Gentleness does not come easy when we are tired, over committed, and behind schedule.
Gentleness does not come easy when we are frustrated and the listener is not listening.
I wonder how often we are that kind of listener to God?
And yet, though we deserve wrath, God gives us gentleness and grace.

We need to be intentional and set our default response to gentleness.
It is not easy.
Gentleness is not natural to us.
Only a changed heart and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives can help us be more gentle.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22,23)

Gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit.
It does not come naturally to us.
It does come to us when we surrender our lives to Christ and follow the Spirit’s leading.
Another moral of the fable: kindness effects more than severity.

Lord Jesus, help me to be gentle and show others the grace You have shown to me.