Working Together
Pentecost is a very important day. You can read about it in Acts 2:1-21. It’s the day that we celebrate the Holy Spirit coming down into our hearts. I was wondering what that means for you and me, and my friend Barty Badger told me this story, which helped me to understand.
One day in Old Raven’s Forest, as the legend goes, Maynard the Mouse was having an awful day. He started out playing with is friend in the forest, but they got separated. Maynard was lost and all alone until this squirrel found him. Maynard felt a lot better when Esquilo the Squirrel just sat next to him and promised that help was coming.
Well, the two waited for a long while, but no help came. Esquilo started to wonder if maybe they should get up and go looking for Maynard’s friend, but no. He remembered that if you get lost, you should stay where you are. He noticed Maynard, sitting on the ground, his hands busy with sticks and twigs and rocks. He was building a super complicated tiny tower, but it didn’t seem like Maynard knew what he was doing. “That is a cool trick!” thought Esquilo.
The squirrel jumped up. All of a sudden, Esquilo could see the solution! He knew what to do! “Maynard,” he said, “we need to bring your friend to us!”
Maynard wasn’t sure. “But he hasn’t found me yet,” he squeaked, “how do we bring him here?”
Esquilo had figured this part out. “Every animal in Old Raven’s Forest can smell really well. You just need to make a Smell Boosting Machine! It’ll send a smell all over the forest, and your friend will sniff it and find us.”
Maynard shook his head. In a very small voice he said, “but I don’t know how to make a Smell Booster.”
Esquilo knelt down. “Look at that tower you made.” Maynard noticed it for the first time. “You didn’t even know you were doing it. Who knows what awesome things you can make when we work together.”
The mouse looked around the forest. “Huh,” he said. “I wonder if those branches could be the base. Maybe that vine could connect there…” Esquilo jumped in. “That vine is just right to link over here…” The two started scurrying around, Maynard holding branches in just the right spot, Esquilo standing back to help see the whole thing. After just a few minutes, and a lot of squeaks, the Smell Booster was done!
… but nothing happened. They waited and waited and then waited some more. No mice came sprinting through the forest underbrush to look for Maynard. Esquilo sniffed the air, but it just smelled like the forest. All the Smell Booster was doing was boosting the smell of the forest! Something was missing.
Esquilo thought. Maynard thought. Esquilo asked, “Maynard, what kind of animal is your friend? What do they like?”
“Oh,” said Maynard, “My friend is Willie the Wildebeest.”
Esquilo jumped up. He packed for this! He actually did have just the right thing for this situation, but it never would have worked on its own. He ran over to his backpack and pulled out a giant cone of cotton candy. All wildebeests love cotton candy. He put it into the Smell Booster.
They held their breath and then heard what sounded like a wildebeest stampeding through the underbrush and then a wildebeest stampeded through the underbrush into the clearing. “MAYNARD!” Willie yelled. The two friends were reunited and so glad to be back together.
Well, that’s what the legend says, but I know one thing is true: the best adventures are when we all work together.
