I am sure that most of you know the
story of the three little pigs. But for those of you who don't, in
short it is about three little piggy brothers who still lived with
their mother. When it was time to leave the house she gave them
some advice, told them to build strong houses for themselves and
saw them on their way.
The first piggy was a bit lazy and took the easiest route. He
built himself a house of straw. He finished the house very quickly
and immediately started to live there. It was not long before the
wolf in the vicinity smelled the little pig and without any trouble
blew his house away in order to eat him. Luckily for the little
piggy he was quick enough to get away from the nasty wolf.
In the mean time the second little piggy made a little more
effort in building his house. He used sticks to build his house. He
took a bit longer than his brother did in building his house, but
soon enough he was finished and enjoying his finished product. Once
again it was not long before the wolf sniffed him out and with a
little more effort blew his house away as well. The wolf was very
hungry by now, but the little pig managed to escape amongst the
heaps of sticks lying around.
The third little pig was wiser than his brothers and decided to
build a proper house with bricks and cement. He took much longer
than his brothers did in building the house, but he made sure that
everything was hundred percent in place with a proper foundation to
support his structure. Eventually he finished his house. He was so
impressed with his handwork and enjoyed living there. The nasty
wolf was famished by now and smelled the piggy from afar. He
hurried over to his house and tried to blow the house down, but as
much as he tried he couldn't even make a dent in any part of the
house. He realized he had to make another plan, and before long he
realized that he can climb onto the roof and wriggle himself down
the chimney into the little piggy's house. He didn't waste any time
and immediately put his plan into action. But the piggy was one
ahead of him; he realized what the wolf was planning to do. So in
the meantime he put a big pot full of boiling water in the
fireplace and when the wolf came down the chimney, he gave a loud
yoooowwll as his tail touched the boiling water and rushed out of
the little piggy's house, never to return.
The two other piggy's heard the noise and rushed to see what
happened. Their brother was glad to see them and invited them to
come and live with him which they readily accepted. They all lived
happily ever after.
Now you may wonder why I am telling you this old story. Well, I
am going to talk in depth about the lessons that we can learn from
these three little piggys and the choices they made. But for now,
stop and think for a moment, is your house - in other words, your
life - made up of straw, sticks or bricks? Do you spend most of
your time on straw, sticks or bricks? Think about it, I will
discuss it in more detail over the next few weeks, but I am sure
you all inherently want to say your life is full of bricks, things
that will last even if the wolf comes and tries to take it away.
But is it really? Is that where you focus all your time and
attention?
Lord Jesus help us to work on the things in our lives with
eternal values. Help us to get away from the straw and the sticks
that are less important. Amen