by There is a story told that goes something like this:
There once was a young man who wanted to grow a garden for his sickly father who was bed ridden.
He asked his Father, “Father what would you like me to grow in your garden?”
The Father replied, “Please plant all the usual things like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and corn. But one thing – make sure you plant the old-fashioned green zucchini that I like. I would love some zucchini this year, son.”
The son happily went into their small backyard, tilled the ground, and planted the seeds his father had ask he plant. A couple weeks went by and one by one the seeds started to come up. The garden was not big. He only had room to plant a few seeds of each, but he knew his father would enjoy the few vegetables out of the garden this summer.
A couple of weeks passed by. He was glad he had put sticks to mark the various vegetables so he could remember where he planted each kind of seed. He looked over near the fence and thought to himself, “Oh good” as he saw the zucchini seeds starting to poke their sprouts out of the ground.
One day the son dashed back into the house to answer the ringing phone. After he got off the phone, he called a friend and made some arrangements with the friend to care for his father and water his garden. The son’s work had called him to leave the country for a couple months. With all the arrangements made – he left.
After he left, the neighbor, on the other side of the fence behind the vegetable garden, decided to play a joke on him. The neighbor was tired of the leaves and vines of the vegetable plants growing and winding their way into his beautifully manicured rose garden. So, early one morning before the sun was fully up, the neighbor went into the vegetable garden and changed the green zucchini sprouts for yellow crookneck squash.
Spring and summer came and went. Rains came and went. The friend came and went. The friend carefully tended to the father and watered the garden each day. As vegetables ripened the friend took them into the house for the father. Some he cooked and fixed for the sickly father of his dear friend who was gone away.
One day the friend picked up a big leaf and under it he saw the stick that read, “green zucchini.” He was confused because on the plants were yellow-crookneck squash. They were not fully ripe, so he ignored it and thought the wrong stick must have been put in this place. He went home that day and did not think twice about the garden.
After a few months of being gone, finally the son came home. The first thing he did was check on his sickly Father, then he called his friend to thank him, then he went into the garden. He was so excited going towards the green zucchini plants. He knew they should be ready for picking. He found the massive plants with big leaves hanging this way and that. He bent over and with his hands he moved the hefty leaves aside to reach in for the zucchini. To his horror there were no zucchini on the plants, but yellow crookneck squash instead. He searched under all the big leaves and the result was the same at all the plants. No green zucchini was to be found.
He was so upset because he knew this would greatly hurt his father that they had no green zucchini for the year. He picked one yellow crookneck squash and took it into his father.
The Father turned the smooth, yellow squash around in his hand and said, “Son it is a lovely yellow-crookneck squash, but it isn’t the green zucchini I was hoping for.”
Then he continued, “You see son, I wanted green zucchini for a special recipe your mom used to make for zucchini bread. It was such a lovely recipe and now that she is in heaven, I just thought it would be nice to make some of her zucchini bread to remind us of her baking and working in the kitchen. We cannot substitute this yellow squash; it won’t be the same. The recipe would not taste good. Sorry son.”
With sorrow on his face and a deep sadness in his heart, the son walked away from his sickly Father.
The next spring, the son planted a new garden and made sure to sow the green zucchini. The son prayed, watered, and tended to the garden every day. The garden grew and grew like never before. A few months went by and he harvested the green zucchini and he and his father made his Mom’s favorite recipe for zucchini bread. It was such a delight enjoying great memories of his dearly beloved Mother.
Since there was an abundance of zucchini this year, one day, the son made 3 extra zucchini breads. Late in the afternoon, he looked out the kitchen window and saw the neighbor in his rose garden. He wrapped up two loaves of the bread and took them to his kind neighbor.
He walked through all the leaves of the vegetable garden and leaned on the white picket fence. He spoke up and his neighbor stood up from pulling weeds. He handed the neighbor the two loaves of bread and said, “My father and I would like to give you and your family 2 loaves of my Mother’s famous zucchini bread. You see I had wanted to bring you some last year, but something happened, and I grew the wrong seeds and only grew yellow-crookneck squash instead. Since I could not substitute the yellow squash for the green zucchini in the recipe, I could not make the bread last year. So, this year I wanted to make sure you got some bread for all the inconvenience our leaves must cause you at times as they grow through the fence into your lovely rose garden.”
The neighbor politely took the bread and walked away feeling awful inside. The bread was delicious and a few weeks later he went to the son and explain that he was the one who substituted the zucchini seedlings for the yellow squash. The son forgave him and they both had a laugh and enjoyed some zucchini bread and tea together.
Two lessons learned in this story:
#1 Lesson learned – there is no substitution for what Jesus did on the cross for our sins. We cannot get to heaven because of doing good works, going to church, reading our Bibles, being born into a Christian family, etc. The Father will not accept a substitution for what his son did on the cross for our sins.
John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
#2 Lesson learned – forgiveness. There is so much mess in the world today, Christians need to get along better and forgive one another. Do not sweep things under the rug. Go to a friend, confess anything ill thoughts and issues and forgive one another. Christians need to encourage one another and not hold grudges. Christians should be encouraging and lifting one another up in these troubled times. Have a cup of tea and a piece of zucchini bread (or cookies) and be friends not foes.
Matthew 18:21-22 “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”
PS. Yes, God gave me this story. I wrote it in about 10 minutes a few months ago and used it in my Sunday School Class. I just haven’t gotten to posting it to my blog until today.
