The Parable Project

For the next 6 weeks the missionaries in our zone (all of the missionaries in the Nashville area) are focusing on parables found in the scriptures. I love that Christ taught in parables so the principles He shared would be understood only by those who were searching for truth. Remember when I wrote about ships and how I love the nautical stories in the Bible? Well I'd like to share another parable that I love!

This painting of the parable of the 10 virgins has always inspired me because it holds so much symbolism! One semester in college I took a course called Spirituality in Art where we analyzed symbols in paintings, sculpture, architecture, and music. Go click on that link to learn about the symbolism behind this great painting by Gayla Prince!

Have you read about the 10 virgins before? It is found in Matthew 25. At the time Christ told this parable it would have seemed to the Pharisees that he was just telling a story about some silly bridesmaids that didn't have light on their way to a wedding feast. What I love is that with further understanding and study we find that each one of us is one of those virgins on the path to the Savior. The oil in our lamps is our effort and preparedness. If there isn't enough oil in my lamp I'm not going to be prepared to meet the Savior at the end of my journey!

I'm going to do my best this week to apply the parable of the 10 virgins to my life so I will have oil in my lamp!



Who Steers the Ship? YOU DO!

Do you want to know what makes me super happy? When people leave me comments telling me that what I am writing is helping them in some way or when I find a blog post that mentions some little thing I may have said. It makes me feel like my time blogging is well spent.

My friend Felicia wrote a post about trying times and how she turns to God when she knows Satan is out to get her. Haven't we all been there? It's like Satan reads my diary sometimes and knows what exactly is killing me and he tries to drive me to the point of insanity. But I don't let him get to that point because I have control. I'm the one with the body here! I make the decisions! I learned this poem when I was about 10 years old and Fe I want to share it with you and with whoever else is out there reading.

All the water in the world,
However hard it tried,
Could never sink the smallest ship
Unless it gets inside.

And all the evil in the world,
The blackest kind of sin,
Can never hurt you the least bit
Unless you let it in.
  

I don't know who wrote this little poem but I know that it has helped me remember when I'm struggling that absolutely nothing can bring my spirit down if I choose to follow Christ.

*

Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me

I love most all things nautical. This love may have stemmed from my Dad's obsession with Popeye or from growing up playing in the ocean. My fear of sharks is unbelieveably ridiculous so not all pieces of this obsession really make sense.

Proof of the Popeye fanaticism. This is my first Halloween!

You may be wondering at this point ok, nice story, what does this have to do with anything? Lets try to make a connection here Sister McCall! Here it is!

I love studying parables in the scriptures because they are stories that teach principles of the gospel in a way that applied to the lives of those present. It wouldn't do much good to teach with an analogy they didn't understand! (You know I don't understand fishing metaphors!!! Name that movie?) 

During His ministry several of Christ's disicples were fishermen and he taught them how to spread the good news of the gospel by saying "come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men." Mark 1:16-17 

So this applies to me how? I'm not a fisherman. How do I come to understand these passages today? Well I do have that fascination of the ocean and I have really come to love these sea-faring scriptures through music. I posted a link to some Hymns last week and I suggested listening to the "Master the Tempest is Raging". I'm going to share that link again but this time listen to "Jesus, Savior, Pilot Me."

My thoughts are not always as organized as I'd like them to be and I have a few other thoughts about ocean/fishing/sailor things that I have come to love in the scriptures.  So hopefully this will become a little series of posts so I can share just one idea at a time.

Check out a new link in the "goodies" section of the blog to find the image that got me thinking about this topic!