Picked For A Purpose Two: Reasons For SeasonsSample

Seeds of Love

Oscar Wilde wrote "The Selfish Giant" not as a story for children but as a fable for adults. In bringing that story to my attention, God clearly had much to teach me. As he does all of us. I still use it to this day to demonstrate the craft of writing when speaking to school children or writers’ groups, and it continues to move me to tears. Even the ninety primary school children to whom I spoke recently recognise the theme of selfishness equating to winter of the soul, and the generosity of spirit to sunshine and flowers. The love that blossoms in the giant’s heart speaks volumes, as does his recognition of something, someone, beyond the norm. Someone awesome. And the small boy’s declaration of love – won not by power or might, but by the innocence of a child; by the pain of wounds inflicted upon him . . . Who could fail to respond?

To this day, I marvel! The giant’s deeds of generosity in knocking down the wall and opening his garden for the benefit of the children were matters of the heart and soul. No intellectual or physical pressure was brought to bear upon him. Nor did he have any idea that his action was overseen by the Lord of Creation, or that it would lead to reward: the reward of ending his days in Paradise. It was simply the seed of love being sown within him. The Son light being shone into his heart. The blossoming of faith within. And so, too, it is with us.