God's Not So Boring After All

Wendy, are you there?

Yeh, I’m here. What’s going on?

My parents are insisting that I attend church on Sunday with them. I don’t want to go. Dad says that if I don’t, I can plan to spend the day in my bedroom. That’s just not fair.

May I ask why you don’t want to attend church?  

Sure. It is boring. Besides, I’m not sure that I believe in God.

Is it boring because there are other things that your mind is on and you would rather be doing?

Well, yes. Almost anything except sitting in church for an hour and a half.

What is so bad about the service?

The minister is talking to the adults, not to me. And, he’s speaking about people that supposedly lived two thousand years ago. How can I relate to them, when I can’t even relate to stories my own parents tell about twenty or thirty years ago?

Let me ask you this. Do you enjoy reading fiction books?

Depending upon who the author is and the subject matter, for the most part, I enjoy fiction. It has to keep moving along, without a lot of description, and have some mystery to it - you know, something stimulating me to guess what will occur next.

What if you listened to the church service like it was a fiction book that was being read to you? The bible readings, at least many of them, should have you curious about what will come next. 

I suppose that I could give it a try. That would mean actually listening to the entire presentation. It’ll take an effort on my part to change my habit of tuning-out the speaker.

Why not give it a try. I’ll check-in with you later on Sunday to hear about how it went for you.

Sounds perfect. Thank you, Larina.

Well, Wendy, how was today’s church service for you?

Larina, it took immense concentration to keep my attention focused. I am very proud to say, ‘I did it!’

The minister was talking about planting seeds, caring for them and watching them grow into produce like, lettuce, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, etc. Seeds had to be planted at just the right time for the ground to be ready - not frozen. The right amount of rain or water sprinkling is required as is the right amount of sun to ‘feed’ the seeds.  

Did you know that crops need Vitamin D, just like humans do? This was news to me. I already knew about photosynthesis from Science class. Some of the information was vaguely familiar from second and third grades, when we planted beans in a styrofoam cup filled with soil to take home, care for it and to watch it grow. How excited I was to witness the seeds sprouting and growing into beans that we could actually cook and eat.

What did you get out of the message besides how the seeds became food to cook and eat?

A bible story from Matthew 13 was read about seeds falling. Where they fell made a difference as to whether or not they grew. I remember part of the reading. It was something like:

Seed that fell in the gravel—is like the person who hears and eagerly responds but because there is no nourished soil, the seed won’t grow. It was compared to when ‘human emotions wear off and some difficulty arrives, there is nothing to show for it.’

Then there was seed that was tossed into the weeds, which is like the person, who hears the message but wants everything under the sun and nothing comes of it. 

Lastly, ‘The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.’

It made me realize that I have been like the seed cast in the weeds. I’d hear a message but not actually listen with my heart, so I didn’t get anything from it.

This actually made sense to me today. Thank you for encouraging me to listen and to report back to you. You gave me a reason to pay attention. I didn’t want to disappoint you. But, it also made me think how other times I’ve gone to church, I must have disappointed God, since I wasn’t listening, nor was I caring to learn about God and miracles He gives us that we don’t even appreciate - at least I didn’t until today. I got to thinking how I planted a lima bean as a young child. As I watched it spread open and sprout forming a new bean, it was fascinating. With great eagerness, I checked it each day to see its progress. When the new bean grew, it was like a miracle, but I didn’t know about the word ‘miracle’ back then like I do now. As I wrote that, it got me thinking how God must watch me with the same intent as I did that lima bean. What a disappointment I have been.

Wendy, I am very proud of you for giving it your all during that time with your family - both family of origin and church family. My family members sleep-in on Sunday morning. I can’t recall when I ever went to a church service. Do you think your parents would mind if I joined your family one weekend? We could have a sleep-over, so that I’d already by at your house?

I’d love that, Larina! There’s no doubt that my parents would too, as then they’d be sure that I would attend. Next week, the subject will be on the ‘Beatitudes,’ which is how we are supposed to treat others. 

Perfect. I’d be interested in that. 

Wendy, is there a bible in your home? I’m thinking that we could look for the section about the Beatitudes and read it to be somewhat familiar with the subject before the presentation. What is your opinion about that?

What a smart idea, Larina. Yes, we do have a bible. It is probably covered in dust, so I’ll clean it before you arrive Won’t my parents be surprised, if you and I begin talking about the subject before we even attend church! You, my friend, may be the miracle that my parents have prayed for. You are encouraging me to become interested in my religion. At the same time, you can now learn right along with me. Certainly, I’m leaning toward believing that there is a God, who developed the complexities of earth, the world, science, human anatomy, sunrises and sunsets, and ever so much more. Yes, we have much to learn, and doing it together make it clearly more interesting. God’s not so boring after all. Thank you.

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