The Call.2

"A man had two sons. He said to the elder: "Son, go and work today in my vineyard."

"I will not," the son replied; but later he experienced a change of heart, and went to the fields to work.

Then the father said to the younger son: "Go into the fields as well."

Immediately he answered: "I will." But he remained at home, and ignored his father's words. 

Which of these two sons fulfilled their father's request?"

--Jesus

"Are you the fairy that herds the bees?" he asked, going down to his knees on the green shore of the tulip-bed. 

 "I'm not a fairy," answered the little creature.

 "How do you know that?"

"It would become you better to ask how you are to know it."

"You've just told me." 

"Yes. But what's the use of knowing a thing only because you're told it?" 
(from The Back Of The North Wind, by George MacDonald)

On the way out to a meeting I asked one of my sons to pick up some tools I'd left from working on a vehicle.  I got home later that night...it wasn't until the morning that I discovered that half the tools were still laying outside.

I called the boy down to inquire why he'd only completed half the job.  "I spoke in simple English words, son, did you not understand what I wanted you to do?"  "Yes," he replied. "Then why are there still tools out?"  "I was angry that you wanted me to do it," he sheepishly confessed.

How much of our understanding of things has as much to do with our will as it does with our mental capacity?

How much of what God commands us to do has as much to do with accomplishing something as it has to do with teaching us His ways?

"Diamond learned to drive all the sooner that he had been accustomed to do what he was told, and could obey the smallest hint in a moment.  Nothing helps one to get on like that.  Some people don't know how to do what they are told; they have not been used to it, and they neither understand quickly nor are able to turn what they do understand into action quickly.  With an obedient mind one learns the rights of things fast enough; for it is the law of the universe, and to obey is to understand." (Ibid)

Health and Healing For Body & Soul.5

"Who among you, having ten pieces of silver and losing one piece, would not light a candle, and carefully sweep the house, searching diligently until it is found?
When the coin is found at last, do you not call your friends and neighbours, saying: “Good news! I found the money that was lost.”

 -- Jesus

sentient  (ˈsɛntɪənt)
— adj
1.	having the power of sense perception or sensation; conscious Just recently came across this word...in a word: I found it!  Don't know that the word cared that I found it, nor that it was even lost... In the parables of lost things, the Lord Jesus uses interesting devices to illustrate eternal truths.  Only the prodigal is certainly sentient, but his senses needed to be redirected to realize his lost-ness; the sheep could be remotely considered sentient, it could feel discomfort and fear, but not truly conscious of the implications of being lost.  And most certainly a coin, like a word, would NEVER KNOW IT WAS LOST! The focus of the parables, then, is not so much on the perceptions of the lost things but on the response of the finders. MacDonald's story, At The Back of The North Wind, paints a vivid picture of the impact of being found from the vantage of the finder.  Throughout the story Little Diamond has many adventures with North Wind that shape his character by giving him heartfelt wonder at the mystery of the unseen forces directing the affairs of people--always urging them towards goodness.  Midway in the story he is able to go to the land at the back of the North Wind.  This experience gives him a measure throughout the rest of his life on which he can discern the things that truly matter. The child-like heart of Jesus, filled with the wonder of the unseen work of His father, measured all things by His eternal home, not his temporary dwelling. Most of us sentient creatures have little idea how lost we truly are. Lost to the way and the influences that could make us more loving and lovable.  Listening to a conversation on the "disgusting habits" of a certain group of people, Amish neighbors of my kinfolk, I suggested that maybe that was their own pursuit of happiness and that we ought not be hasty to condemn fellow Americans in those pursuits--however disagreeable they seem to us.  I trust I didn't offer this perspective smugly superior in my own opinions, but from the hope of higher things.  After a pause and a quirky look the diatribe continued... Thankfully the Finder-of-lost things knew from where He came, where He was going, and, undeterred by the fickleness and folly of ignorance He will continue to rejoice when the lost are found!