Original Parable: Bear and Turtle stumble upon a Campfire

Once upon a time there were two good friends, a turtle and a bear.  They lived in the same section of the woods.  The bear was big and fun and everyone knew him.  He was very popular and well-spoken.  The other forest animals loved it whenever the bear came around.  The turtle was small, a little quite, but still pretty popular.  Most of the other animals liked the turtle too.  The two of them were very good friends.

On one of their regular walks through the woods the bear and the turtle stumbled along a campfire.  It was a good campfire.  They recognized some of the animals there and said “hi.”  Bear said it very loudly, which was his way.  Turtle said it gently, which was more his demeanor.  They sat down and talked with the other animals for a while.  It was a fun time.  The other animals told them that they meet together regularly and they invited Bear and Turtle to come back.  Bear and Turtle agreed that they would come back.

Bear and Turtle went back about their business.  Bear went back to Mrs. Bear and the cubs.  Turtle went back to Mrs. Turtle and the hatchlings.  They were getting so big, finally starting to grow into their shells.

A week passed and Bear came by to pick up Turtle for their routine walk through the forest.  They had decided that they will stop by the camp fire again.  They were really looking forward to seeing the other animals at the camp fire.

When they arrived they were greeted well and they had a wonderful time.  The meetings were very encouraging and Bear and Turtle always walked home feeling wonderful.  This went on for quite a while, week after week.  It had become a routine for them.  They really liked the meetings because one of the animals would read from their book and then they would all talk about what the story means.  Turtle loved hearing everyone’s opinions on the subjects.  Bear really loved the donuts and getting to talk to so many friends.  He loved expressing his opinions, but didn’t share too much when the other animals starting talking too much.

Over time, Turtle started to share with Mrs. Turtle all the things they were discussing at the campfires.  Mrs. Turtle wasn’t all that interested at first, but listened because she loved Mr. Turtle.  Mr. Turtle even started to retell some of the stories from the campfire to his hatchlings at home.  They loved the stories!  They loved spending time with their dad.

Turtle told Bear that he wanted to bring his whole family the next week to the campfire.  Bear thought that was weird.  Why would Turtle want to do that?  Will their be enough donuts for me?”  He wondered.  He told Turtle that that would be just fine with him.  Turtle asked if his family might come.  Bear told him that he didn’t think his family would want to sit through the boring discussions and, since the didn’t know anyone, wouldn’t want to go.  Bear just really enjoyed the company of so many nice animals.

The Turtle family really enjoyed the campfire.  The hatchlings were thrilled to get to hear the stories from the book.  Mrs. Turtle said that she would like to go back.  She had never heard people talk about life in the forest in such detail.  She wondered where that book came from.  She was happy that Mr. Turtle had seemed to become more interested in her day ever since he started going to those campfires.  Mr. Turtle and Mrs. Turtle were talking about things that they had never talked about.  You see, Turtles don’t really like to come out of their shells.

Bear quit coming to the campfire.  He had made all the new friends that he wanted.  He didn’t mind listening to the stories from the book.  He just didn’t understand why they spent so much time talking about them.  He went back to taking his normal walks in the forest.

“Don’t just listen to the words and assume that’s all you have to do, or that their isn’t something more or better, do what it says.”  James 1:22

If your participation with church on Sunday, or reading the Bible, doesn’t make it’s way into your home life than you are probably missing out on the “more” or “better.”