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A garden parable
No one planted the little vine. It just came up right by the front porch, quickly grew across the flower bed, and topped the shrub at the end. After we made it turn around, it wandered right back across and up the ironwork by the door. We called it the wonder vine, because we wondered what kind of vine it was.
After a while large yellow blooms appeared, and then pumpkins —two of them. They grew all summer—one on the ground and the other on a perch made for it on the ironwork. By fall they both became fine yellow pumpkins and smiling jack o'-lanterns.
We learned a lesson from the little vine: it was never bothered by anyone's wondering what it would be. It just kept on growing. All the while it contained within itself what it was to be—a pumpkin vine. Not a pine nor an oak nor a cucumber, but a pumpkin. That was all it could be—what came from within. Isn't the same true of you and of me?
Enjoy 1 free Sentinel article or audio program each month, including content from 1898 to today.
November 13, 1978 issue
View Issue-
Too difficult, you say?
BARBARA B. HOLLIDAY
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"Thy kingdom come"
ERIKA GLADHORN
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Thanksgiving every day
VIRGINIA T. GUFFIN
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Spotless being
CLARA STODDARD PATTERSON
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On the winning side
NELMAH M. BEAM
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A most gracious invitation
ESTELLE K. OFFNER
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Mind is not a battleground
ARTHUR DELAU
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Shifting obstacles with truth
Geoffrey J. Barratt
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Every child can heal
Naomi Price
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God's help for certain
Kendra C. Gates
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The desert dog
Rhoda Merle Ford
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A garden parable
Frances M. Gibson
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Sanctuary
Susan Morey
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A dentist had advised that our youngest son had two front...
Constance K. Potts
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Out of gratitude, I would like to relate a healing I had in February...
Annette Kreutziger with contributions from Dorette Kreutziger
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Two years ago, at a corporation awards ceremony, I received...
Harvey A. Burley with contributions from Troy Martin, Dena Martin, Cleo Martin
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One day while I was at a fantastic summer camp, I was working...
Alexandra Hunnewell Glover with contributions from Sydney L. H. Glover
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On Christmas morning 1971, as I was preparing a portion of...
Lynne Andrews Morgan