"Hey, kids have you ever tried raw beets?"
Six wide eyes, and three disapproving looks followed my hands as I set the small bowl of beet sticks on the table. One mouth howled for them all. "But we don't LIKE beets!" The others fell in, like a pack of coyotes when the moon rises.
"Oh. That's too bad," I said, and thought a moment. "But how do you know you don't like beets? Have you ever tried them?"
The howling stopped as they considered, then gave way to three nays.
"Well, then. You can't really say you don't like them, can you? How do you know that if you've never given them a chance?"
They pondered that a moment. One agreed they couldn't really know, but refused to take the risk. Another took a snip of a beet - and found it confirmed her instincts. But another opened his mouth, took a chunk, chewed a bit, then opened his eyes wide. "Nana, I guess I DO like beets!"
Thinking to make the humble vegetable more intriguing to my all-things-pink-and-princessy granddaughters, I said, "Girls, did you know that if you eat enough beets, your pee turns pink?"
Little sister, who had tried (licked) a piece of beet (about the size of a fingernail clipping) set her fork down and resumed howling. "But I don't WANT my pee to turn pink!" Big sister simply sat, shocked and alarmed.
The biggest bean, (who I should consider not writing about, now that he can read) perked up his ears and reached for a beet stick. "How many beets would I have to eat, Nana?"
All of them left happy - the girls because they DIDN'T have to eat the beets, and their brother because he DID.
"You shouldn't have told them that about their pee," the Preacher said later. I was still laughing too hard to feel apologetic. And I won't stop encouraging those girls to eat beets.
Sharing my faith reminds me of sharing those beets. Some people listen. Some howl like wolves after blood. "But we don't LIKE Jesus!" they protest. "Nor his religion." Some host anti-faith blogs. Others initiate law suits. Many cry rights violations. Most just shrug and turn away.
Granted - some beets are rotten or badly prepared. The same is true of the not-so-faithful.
Nevertheless - the question I asked the Beans applies: How do you know you don't like Jesus Christ, if you've never tried to know him? Never given genuine people of faith a chance?
Some do. And many of us are tickled pink for joy - because we did. of us are tickled pink for joy - because we did.
