Pumpkin Story

Pumpkin Story

Once upon a time, there was a farmer. He was old and wise, and he knew all about growing plants. One fine spring day, he took a long flat seed, and planted it in the soil.

Month after month, the seed grew. First it grew a small shoot, then leaves, then more shoots until it was a whole plant. The rain watered the plant, the sun gave it energy, and the roots grew deep into the soil. One day, a flower appeared, then a tiny fruit. The farmer watched and waited. The tiny fruit grew bigger and bigger, until one day, there was a fat round pumpkin. Then the farmer took his sharp knife, and cut the pumpkin and carried it inside.

Inside his house, the farmer looked at the pumpkin. It looked very beautiful. It was orange and shiny and round. The farmer sighed. He took his sharp knife, and cut a hole in the top. It hurt the pumpkin.

Inside, the pumpkin wasn’t so pretty. The pumpkin was full of gunky mess, and the farmer knew that if he left it there, it would cause the fruit to rot. So he took a spoon, and scraped out all the slimy insides. It was rather uncomfortable, and it took a long time. Some of the slime was easy to remove, but some was more difficult, and the farmer had to put his hand inside, and get yukky himself.

At last, all the slimy, horrible wet mess was removed. Now it couldn’t make the pumpkin turn rotten.

When the inside was clean, the farmer looked at the pumpkin. He picked up his sharp knife again, and began to carve. He carved a face into the pumpkin. Now the pumpkin wasn’t just a fruit, the pumpkin had a face.

Finally, the farmer took a tiny candle, and put it inside the pumpkin. Now the pumpkin didn’t just have a face, he had a purpose. The pumpkin was a lantern, and could guide people along the path when it was dark.

xxx

We are a little like the pumpkin (some of us even look a bit like pumpkins! But that isn’t what I mean.) We have gunky stuff inside, and God is like the farmer, and cleans it all out. Sometimes that is uncomfortable, and sometimes it takes a long time, but it is necessary to stop the rot.

Then God carves a face on us. We become something different, something special. This can be painful, and sometimes life, as the face is carved, is hurtful. But it’s necessary, and it changes us.

Finally, God will put his own light inside of us, so that we become part of his plan, we have a purpose, and we can shine out to show others the way to go. We have part of God, living right inside us, and nothing can take that away.

Anne E. Thompson

xxx

  Anne E. Thompson has written several novels and one non-fiction book.

You can follow her blog at:
anneethompson.com

Her books can be found in bookshops and on Amazon.