Listen and Do

We heard Jesus say whoever listens to these words of mine and does them is wise. Pause for a moment and read Matthew 7:24. I was thinking about that, about what it means to both listen and do what Jesus says, when I heard this story and it helped me understand.

One day, as the legend goes, in Old Raven’s Forest there was a squirrel. That squirrel had been spending some time with a badger who called himself “Barty,” and that badger was always going on adventures. The squirrel decided maybe he was going to go adventuring, too. Barty agreed to teach him.

“Ok,” said the badger. “You’re new at this, so listen to what I tell you.” The squirrel shrugged. ‘How hard could it be?’ he thought.

The two trundled off into the woods. Well, Barty trundled. The squirrel… squirreled. They came to a river that they’d have to cross to continue on their adventure. The squirrel jumped onto a tree trunk to climb up it, but Barty said, “Wait! You’ve got to look up before you climb!” The squirrel wagged his head, (not quite a nod ‘yes’), but he did not look up, and just kept climbing until BUMP he climbed smack into a bird’s nest! The bird was so started that she dropped the worm she was about to eat right on the squirrel’s head. Yuck!

The squirrel got up the tree a little ways and climbed out on a branch. He was getting ready to jump from this tree, over the river, onto the branch of another tree to get to the other side. Barty yelled up, “Wait! Make sure the branch is strong enough to jump off of!” The squirrel heard what he said, looked down at Barty, and rolled his eyes. The squirrel did not check the branch. He pushed off as hard as he could and the branch broke right underneath him! SPLASH the squirrel tumbled into the river. 

Barty dove in after the squirrel and pulled him to safety on the other side. The soggy squirrel shook himself off. Barty said, “I know you can hear me. Why aren’t you listening?” The squirrel and said, “I didn’t think you knew what you were doing.”

Barty nodded and said, “Are you going to listen and also do what I say now?” The squirrel nodded. 

He saw a bush with berries a funny green color. He was kinda hungry, so the squirrel grabbed a berry. Barty yelled, “Wait!” And the squirrel, waited. Barty said, “That berry will make your tummy really hurt!” The squirrel dropped the berry and wiped his paws off, glad to have someone to listen to.

Well, that’s what the legend says, but I know one thing is true: When we have a teacher who knows, it’s good to both listen and do.