Lessons From Winnie the Pooh - Part 1

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”
John 15:12-13

Spring time in the mid-west is storm season and on this particular day the blustery weather had a certain little tune floating about my mind. You perhaps would recognize it – in part it goes: “…and the rain, rain, rain came down, down, down…” It’s from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day by A. A. Milne. I do not deny that I am sometimes inspired by the amazing quotes that come from Mr. Milne’s well loved stories. I once adapted one of these quotes for a paper I had to write on spiritual disciples. A devotional version of that part of the paper – is in one of the books, although I at the moment I couldn’t say which one. Back to a Blustery Day – I was looking for quotes from the story, when I stumbled upon the mother-lode of Milne quotes. The one for this week’s devotion comes of course from Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.

It had been a rough couple of days for the inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood. Owl’s tree had been blown over by a big wind and the river had flooded leaving Pooh and Piglet in a precarious position. As is the case in all stories of this sort there is a happy ending and in this particular case Christopher Robin throws a Hero Party for Pooh and Piglet. As the view of the scene is pulled back the narrator says: “And so Pooh was a hero for saving Piglet, and Piglet was a hero for giving Owl his grand home in the beech tree.”

In this week’s passage Jesus is talking to his disciples about his fast approaching departure by way of a cross. He wants them to know that the best thing they can do is to lay down their lives for one another and for all those who lives they would touch – they way He was about to lay down His life for them and us. Realistically we probably won’t be called on to lay down our lives for someone else – although members of the armed forces around the world, do often times do just that. So what then are we called to lay down for our friends or for the people who need to see Christ living in us? We need to lay down our selfishness. In some cases, we need to lay down our ideas of what church is and how it’s done. Perhaps we will be called upon to lay down our personal comfort so someone else can be comfortable. Maybe we will have to lay down that place where we feel safe and secure in order to help insure someone else is safe and secure. What about laying down our prejudices so that we can love others the way Jesus loves them.

Pooh took a risk to save his friend Piglet. Piglet laid down his home for his friend Owl. What kind of friend will you be this week? What will you lay down to show that the love of Jesus reaches through the ages to change lives and make friends even today? There’s a hero’s party waiting for all of us when we get to eternity.

A Prayer
Father – Thank you that simple things, like a child’s story can inspire us to be our best selves for you. You know we human are not keen to make sacrifices especially for others and yet you set that example for us. Thank you for the men and women of the armed forces around the world who stand ready to make the ultimate sacrifice for their countries and comrades in arms. Help the rest of us to see what we need to lay down in our lives so that we can be a friend to someone who needs You as their friend. Grant us the courage we need to set aside ourselves for the sake of others. In the name of Jesus, who laid done His life for us and asks that we do the same in many different ways, we pray – Amen.