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Monday, November 06, 2006

My name is So, and I'm a Sower, and I work at a Button Factory...

AKA: Just Tell Me

There once was a button-maker, who made fine buttons. One day she was asked to make zippers. She was one who would help where she could, a lovely woman, so she aggreed. She was given the fabric necessary to make the zippers, and the little metal pieces to make the teeth, and was told to have five of them done in a week. Although she had made a zipper or two on occasion, it was not her specialty, and these ones seemed very complicated, but she was determined to her best, so she worked and worked. She was not going to finish the five zippers in time, so she accepted help from a zipper-maker friend who zipped through the remaining two in no time. When the button-maker gave the zipper-maker her zippers, they were found to be incorrectly constructed, and the zipper-maker had to take them apart and remake them. She refused, however, to tell the button-maker of the error. She thought it would hurt her feelings.

7 comments:

Erica said...

Good story, where is the rest I wondered. I actually had Aaron pray for me last night. God is showing me more and more how much I let "rather or not someone likes me" guide what I do. This can be of a great hinderance for the kingdom of God. I'm hoping God gets to the root of this and it won't hurt too bad. This story actually relates.

Rachel Pierson said...

I'll tell you what, Erica, I couldn't write a better ending to the story than what you did!

Erica's comment is ending version one: The Best.

Rachel Pierson said...

Ending version two: The secret.

Button-maker continued to make beautiful buttons, but no one ever again asked her to make a zipper. She sometimes wondered why.

Rachel Pierson said...

Ending version three:

Button-maker's friend, who also makes nice buttons, but not nearly as nice as Button-maker's; was the one who had asked her to make some. She found that she needed even more zippers, and was not able to make them all herself, so she again went to her friend and asked her if she would help. Button-maker kindlly agreed to help, and this time, her friend gave her more explicit instructions with the fabric and metal pieces. The zippers came out beautiful.

And they all lived happily ever after.

Kim said...

I keep coming back (at least 6th time to read this, I think) feeling that this is speaking to me. But, to be honest, I am lost. Perhaps that is why I keep coming back. I need more directions, like the zipper making button sewer...???

But, in the end, as I have learned, it is MUCH better to be honest IN LOVE, than to be careful in a mock humility... argh, that hurts to write. But, I know you know what I mean.

Keep praying for me.
Hugs, Kim
p.s. You could send an email and help me to figure this out???? Or, I will just keep coming back and rerading it and wondering....

Rachel Pierson said...

This Tale was not specifically about anyone. It is a story that I thought illustrates a general principle.

The moral of the story is: Wouldn't you rather want to know when you are doing something wrong, than to have someone fix it, and not tell you? You would never learn from your mistakes or failings. You would just go on and on, continually and blindly making a fool of yourself, and not knowing it, because no one would ever tell you. If ignorance is bliss, I guess you would be in ecstasy, but everyone around you would be pretty frustrated.

Or, you would never be asked again to do something that you messed up in ignorance, and you would always wonder why.

No, I would rather have oil on my head.

So, just tell me.

Rachel Pierson said...

Oh, BTW, I'm not sure what you meant by "mock humility," Kim. Maybe you should...

...just tell me.