Sunday, March 15, 2009

The Little Red Hen

If a man will not work, he shall not eat.
2 Thessalonians 3:10

(Iva's Note: The following story is an updated version of The Little Red Hen from my pastor last Sunday, verbatim. I took creative liberty in adding punctuation - being the English nerd that I am - in order to improve readability.

On a side note, lately, my pastor's messages have really rocked me to the core. I suppose Preacher Man isn't doing his job if he's not convicting his congregation. I plan on doing a Sunday series on the really good sermons. Stay tuned. His message to the congregation is worth sharing with all of you.)



THE LITTLE RED HEN

Now, there's a modern little red hen and I want to tell you about that little red hen that is living during the days of the Obama Presidency.

Once upon a time there was a little red hen who scratched about in the barnyard until she discovered some grains of wheat. She called her neighbors and said, "If we plant this wheat we shall have bread to eat. Who will help me plant it?"
Not I," said the cow.
"Not I," said the duck,
"Not I," said the pig,
"Not I," said the goose,
"Then I will plant it myself", said the little red hen, and she did.

The wheat grew tall and ripened into golden grain.
"Who will help me reap my wheat?" asked the little red hen?
"Not I," said the duck, "out of my classification."
"Against the labor union rules," said the pig.
"I'd lose my seniority," said the cow.
"I'd lose my unemployment compensation," said the goose.
"Then I will reap it myself," said the little red hen, and she did.

At last came time to bake the bread,
"Who will help me to bake the bread?" asked the little red hen.
"Oh, that would be overtime for me," said the cow.
"I'd lose my welfare benefits," said the duck.
"I'm a dropout and never learned how, " said the pig.
"If I'm to be the only helper, that's discrimination." said the goose.
"Then I will," said the little red hen.

She baked five loaves and held them up for her neighbors to see.
They all wanted some and in fact, demanded a share, but the little red hen said no, I can eat the five loaves myself.

"Excess profits!" cried the cow.
"Capitalistic leech!" screamed the duck.
"I demand equal rights!" yelled the Goose
And the pig just grunted. They painted unfair picket signs and marched round and round the little red hen shouting obscenities.

When the government agent came he said to the little red hen, "You must not be greedy."
"But I earned the bread!" said the little red hen.
"Exactly," said the agent, "that's the wonderful free enterprise system,
anybody in the barnyard can have as much as he wants, but under our modern government regulations,
the productive workers must divide their product with the idle."
They continued to live including the little red hen who smiled and continued on,
but her neighbors wondered why she never baked any more bread.

Something is happening in America that is very un-American.

Six days shalt thou labor and the Bible says that a man who will not work is not worthy and if he will not work neither should he eat.

(Iva's Post Note: To my knowledge, ours is one of the few countries that rewards laziness and punishes those who work hard. I am not rich, but I do not believe that the answer to our country's problem is over-taxing the rich.)


Until next time...

4 comments:

  1. Very good lesson and sermon. Hubby and I sure do agree. I don't know what it's going to take to bring people back to our American values.
    Have a great day. :o) ♥ ∞

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm not sure. We were talking today in my Sunday School class about it. And I can just say that the younger generation (6th-8th) -- they are a generation of thinkers. Don't ever let them tell you differently.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well, I am going to disagree. I do not think that people who are lazy and unproductive should get a share. I think that everyone needs to do their part. And I think that the rich need to be taxed just like everyone else. And right now they are not. They have all kinds of ways to hide their money and loopholes to get out of paying their equal share of the taxes. I also think we need to take care of those who are unable to work (and I do know that you weren't saying anything contrary to that Iva). We need to promote education, health care, and helping people to achieve the American dream. There is a bigger gap than ever between the rich and the poor in this country. And if taking some more money away from the rich will pay for better education, make it so everyone can go and see a doctor and have necessary health needs met, then I am all for it.

    I think this article sums it up quite nicely:

    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/money/tax/article1996735.ece

    Our system right now is failing so many people. We need to rethink the tax laws in my opinion.

    Julie

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hey Julie. I'm on my way out the door this morning, but I'll be sure to come back to your comment - I think the over all picture we do agree on: we need to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves...but those that can should stop counting on everyone else to take care of them...

    Have a good one - I pray you are feeling better.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for taking the time to comment. I know how precious your time is and I appreciate you spending a few seconds with me.