The Acorn and The
Tree
A children's sermon
by Dr. Joseph B.
Kennedy, Sr.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies... If anyone serves Me let him follow Me..."
John 12:24-25
I have been meditating and thinking about fasting, a subject new to many, and a practice that is new to most. It is not easy to consider any spiritual discipline. One thing we all must do, is learn that it in dying we live, in giving up and in surrender we receive.
Once in our front yard in North Carolina, my Father reached down and picked up an acorn. He said, "You know son, there is a tree in this acorn." He dug a hole and put the acorn carefully in and covered it up. "Now," he said, "You will see, that there is really a tree in that acorn." The next day, I came home from school, dug up the acorn, but did not see a tree. I felt kind of let down but put it back. A few days later I looked again...and to my surprise and dismay, there was no tree! I returned the acorn back, and buried the disappointment in my mind.
Then one day, I was running to catch the bus, and I saw a little green- brownish blade sticking up by the stick where my Dad had marked the planting of the acorn. I skidded to a stop, returned and sat down and stared at the little tree coming into this world. My brother said the bus driver blew his horn a long time before going on, but I never heard. I watched that tree grow and become a great oak, which stands tall in our yard to this day.
The lesson I learned has stayed with me. "Don't dig up the acorn." So many of us make good beginnings, good resolutions, and good decisions. Then we want the "quick fix" the "instant everything" and have little or no patience to wait for the growth that comes in ourselves and others, in God's own time. Spiritual Discipline requires us to fast and pray, if we are to grow.
© 1998 The Reverend Doctor Joseph B. Kennedy, Sr.; used with permission
Email crossroads@sage-usa.net
