A Teachable Moment - Yeah Right.

AA and I had Scouts tonight and it was the night of the Thanksgiving Feast!

In our Pack the boys earn "Scout Bucks" which they can spend in the Treasure Box in the monthly Pack meetings.

AA's leader normally keeps these for his group since the Tiger Cubs tend to let things slip away, but somehow AA had ended up bringing a small stack of Scout Bucks home. Recently I saw them sort of stuffed willy-nilly in his Scout Book so we straightened them out and stacked them all going in the same direction and put the in his book. And that was the last I saw of them except for one straggler that was left alone to tell the tale when I checked AA's book tonight.

Since his Scout Bucks were few, his choices were extremely limited.

He ended up with a plastic egg container for camping. It's probably one of those items that are made to sell rather than to actually use.

On the way home we talked a little about responsibility and I saw an opportunity to share one of those fatherly stories... you know, the kind Robert Young used to tell to "Bud" and "Princess" on Father Knows Best.

I love to tell those stories and there was a day that the kids would ask - cajole and sometimes even BEG - for me to tell them a story...

...that was before they got Nintendo DS and Dad crawled up onto the shelf with all the other forgotten toys of childhood.

AA will still listen sometimes - I think he feels sorry for me.

So I asked him if I could share a story and I gained his permission.

I told him about Jesus' parable of the ruler who issued talents to his servants ... only I put it in a twisted sort of modern day context.

The "ruler" became a "Boss" and instead of "talents" - he gave hundred-dollars... three, two and one, to his three servants respectively.

In my story, his last word of advice to each servant as he handed over the money was to "be fruitful - make it grow!".

When the Boss returned, I painted the scene as if he were walking home from the bus station carrying his bags.

The first servant met with the boss and gave account of his earnings... the $300.00 had grown to $600.00. The boss was very pleased because he had been responsible! He promoted him to Regional Chairman (it was the first title that popped into my head) and told him because he had been responsible with little he would now rule over much!

Enter servant number two... he too had doubled the boss's money and was congratulated and rewarded accordingly. Then he was promoted to Director of Operations (well, AA seemed to buy it).

Finally the servant that had only been given $100.00 stood sheepishly at the door - tapping timidly... he seemed proud that he had not put the boss's money at risk! After all, he was afraid of the boss and afraid to do anything with his money... so he buried it. Now he returned it to the boss, the same way the boss had left it - only slightly soiled.

The boss - in my account - asked the servant what advice he had shared just before he left on his trip. The servant couldn't or wouldn't remember... the boss reminded him: "Be fruitful - make it grow!"

The servant was summarily fired and his $100 was given to the one who had been most responsible with the boss's gift.

I asked AA if that made sense to him.

He said -"I thought if it was in the Bible they wouldn't have cars ..."