Dairy Queen Parables

A little girl bought me a cotton candy flavored blizzard at Dairy Queen last week.

Now, I’ve been trying to avoid too much sugar, and I’ve never liked cotton candy. The pink ice cream had multi-colored nerds candy throughout it, and I don’t like those either.

But the girl had seen that I didn’t have ice cream. She had a five dollar bill in her pocket. She snuck away from the table while my attention was diverted and then, just as sneakily, set the cup of pink goodness in front of me.

It tasted like kindness. 

I asked myself if I had showed the Lord’s kindness at all during the week and to whom? The result of my pondering was to pronounce myself rather stingy in the kindness department.

Jesus always spoke to the masses in parables, and His followers asked Him why He made His teachings oblique.

He explained that His parables were a fulfilment of an old prophecy. Isaiah had said, “You will see but not perceive. You will hear but not understand, lest you should turn and be forgiven.”

This response electrified His disciples. Didn’t He want people to repent? Didn’t He want the masses to see and hear Him for Who He Really Was?!

Why would He bury His truths in stories?

He told them a story to illustrate. (See what He did there?)

He asked them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand?”

The ridiculousness of the question puzzled them. Of course no one would put a burning lamp under a basket or under a bed. It would defeat the purpose, and it would cause harm. 

He continued, “Nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Jesus didn’t hide truths in stories to keep them from people. He wanted us to train our ear and our eye to listen and to look for what it was He wanted us to know. He wanted us to seek Him.

Actually, at the beginning of the parable of the sower, one of His most famous stories, Jesus told the crowd: “Listen! Look!” 

His Holy Spirit still speaks like that. When I looked down into the cup of pink, multi-colored Dairy Queen goodness, He said, “Listen! Look!” It wasn’t what I would have chosen, but it was better. My kindness isn’t what people need. They need His kindness, just like I do.

When I looked back up into the smiling eyes of the little girl, I saw kindness that blooms into love. There was a story He was telling me about His loving-kindness that is better than anything I would have chosen for myself. 

He was telling me that His loving-kindness never runs out, never disappoints, and never fails, and He wasn’t hiding it from me. He was inviting me to listen to it and to watch for Him.