Magic Beans

A boy was sent to town

to sell the family cow in order to buy

some desperately needed food and provisions.

Much to the disappointment of his mother,

he was tricked into giving up their precious cow

in exchange for a handful of Magic Beans.

As a result of his sincere belief,

the young man planted the beans

which grew far into the sky overnight.

The next morning, he ascended the beanstalk,

manipulatively acquired the goose

which produced a never-ending supply of golden eggs,

carried the goose down the beanstalk to his mother,

and they lived happily and wealthily ever after.

This is just a pretend story from a children’s picture book.

No grown up or mature person

would actually believe that

if they could be innovative enough,

and believe sincerely enough,

to reach high enough,

they would have access to everything they want… 

Could they?

Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 

And as people migrated from the east,

they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 

And they said to one another,

“Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.”

And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 

Then they said,

“Come, let us build ourselves a city

and a tower with its top in the heavens,

and let us make a name for ourselves,

lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 

~Genesis 11:1-4

But there is no goose

that produces golden eggs…

Is there?

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower,

which the children of man had built. 

And the Lord said,

“Behold, they are one people,

and they have all one language,

and this is only the beginning of what they will do.

And nothing that they propose to do

will now be impossible for them.

~ Genesis 11:5-6

Acknowledging the Creator and Sustainer of life,

Trusting in God’s Omnipotence,

Taking Him at His Word,

Abiding in His Loving Presence,

Waiting courageously for His Voice…

Most often, these are readily verbalized

amid tragic circumstances,

near death experiences,

or bouts of dire neediness.

Yet, in the face of promising opportunities,

endless accessibility of information,

smoothly paved paths of success,

recognition of the need for dependency upon God

may be illusive.

  

So the Lord dispersed them

from there over the face of all the earth,

and they left off building the city. 

Therefore its name was called Babel,

because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth.

And from there

the Lord dispersed them

over the face of all the earth.

~Genesis 11:8,9

Magic beans,
tower to the heavens,
self-sufficiency;
these temporary boosts are deceptive.

God’s loving discipline

is always administered for the purpose

of driving us back into His arms,

to come to the realization 
that only the truth stands firm.


Whether or not we understand it

or acknowledge it, the truth is this;
we are completely reliant 

upon God alone.

~ae