PIG

I love the way Mark Scandrette tells a story.  The following is from his hand and pen in the book, "Practicing the way of Jesus."  Very meaningful and powerful.  


A man once began a very long journey. Along the way, he happened upon a bag of gold. The bag was heavy so he hoisted it onto his shoulder and continued on his way, hunched to one side carrying the heavy sack.

Walking past a town, he spied a beautiful woman sitting on a rounded stone. They chatted for awhile and as they did, his heart skipped a beat, but after a time, she turned away. The stone she had sat on reminded him of her beauty and his longing for her, so he decided to take it with him. Bending forward with the heavy sack of gold on one shoulder, he began to roll the stone in front of him. Down the road he went, hunched over to one side with the bag of gold and stooping to roll the stone with his other arm.

At a desolate place in the road he saw a pig wander past, oinking. He always wanted to taste a juicy pig and since there was no one around to claim it, he claimed it for himself. The pig would not be led by leash so he tied the pig to his ankle and began dragging it with one leg down the road. There he went, hunched to one side with the heavy bag of gold, stooping to roll the stone with his other arm and dragging the pig tied to his ankle behind him.

One day, you too, my child, will take on the shape of your journey, by what you wish for and what you carry.

Walking past a field, he spied a blackberry bush. Famished from his travels, he greedily stopped to eat the berries, all the while scratching his face and hands on their thorns. Soon his teeth and mouth became stained purple and his hands became dark and sticky. Down the road he went, hunched over to one side with the bag of gold, stooping to roll the stone and dragging the pig behind him, his hands and face sticky with dark purple juice.

He continued on for many days - hunching, stooping, dragging and stained. One night he stopped to sleep but awoke to discover that all he had carried had been stolen - the gold, the stone and the pig. At daybreak he continued on his sad journey, but now empty-handed and free from his burdens -- but by force of habit, he continued to walk as if encumbered by the bag of gold, the stone and the pig, and still stained on face and hands by the blackberry juice.

A young boy watched as the man limped past, mesmerized by his peculiar gait and appearance. The boy turned to his grandmother and asked: "What makes that man look so odd and why does he walk so strangely?"

Looking at the man as he passed, the grandmother said: "The road is straight but the man is crooked, made so by all he tried to carry and the hunger he could never satisfy. One day, you too, my child, will take on the shape of your journey, by what you wish for and what you carry."

The invitation of the Master is to leave behind what can only make us weary and enter the rest of the Kingdom of love. We begin like the man, who though free from his burdens, continued with limp and stoop, scratched and stained.

We have been invited into a life with Christ to discover our identity as the Father's beloved, to find our security in the abundance God provides, to find freedom and peace beyond the limits of our understanding.

We are on a pilgrimage that will last until our final breaths. One day, our lives will have consisted of what we have wished for and what we have carried.

And be blessed.


(* My deepest thanks to the astute reader who caught the unintentional, yet egregious error in this post - and for notifying me and giving me the opportunity to correct it.  I am in your debt.)