Punkin and Grandpa Jack

I would like to share a little story I wrote:

There is a woman. She is just about your age. She loves Fall. The color orange has long been a favorite with her. In fact, as a child she preferred to say her hair was orange rather than the common color of ‘red’. When ever the opportunity arose she would choose orange...suckers, crayons, popsicles, dresses and yes, her bedroom was painted orange. What a good mother she had.

Her name is Pamela. Some call her Pam. Mela was her little brothers favorite name for her. All these were fine but, nothing made her heart soar as when her beloved Grandpa Jack called her Punkin. Not only did Pamela love the color orange but she loved ANYTHING that was orange especially pumpkins and Grandpa was a Pumpkin Farmer!

Going to Grandpa Jack’s house was always a treat. He lived in such a magical place. The smells and sounds of a farm were treats to her eyes and nose.

Being a Pumpkin Farmer was serious business. Pamela understood this. Grandpa taught her that a pumpkin needs lots of sun, water and room to grow. They grow on prickly vines that can scratch your skin so she always wore long pants when she went to see Grandpa Jack in hopes that he would take her on a walk through the field. They made up games to play while they walked. In the spring they would search the sprawling vines trying to find the little pumpkins hiding under the big leaves. In the summer the challenge was to find the biggest pumpkin.

Sometimes, after they found the largest pumpkin she and Grandpa would sit on it and he would tell her stories. Even though she is as old as you are now she still remembers the most important story he ever told her. It was a warm day late in September. They had found one of the most beautiful huge pumpkins she had ever seen. They were sitting on it together sharing the sections of a juicy orange.

Grandpa Jack looked at his little Punkin with smiling eyes and asked her why she loved pumpkins so much. She told him they tasted good, they were orange and they reminded her of him. Grandpa smiled even bigger and gave her a hug. He asked her if she knew why he grew pumpkins.

“Because you make money?”

“Oh, I do make money. But that is not the reason.”

“Because they are food?”

“It is true they feed many people.

But that is not the reason.”

“Because they are beautiful?” She asked.

“They are beautiful. But that is not the reason.

Little Punkin, I could be a corn farmer to make money. I could be a potato farmer and feed people. I could grow flowers because they are beautiful. I grow Pumpkins for one reason...”

“Because they are orange?”

Grandpa chuckled and put his big strong arm around her. “We do love orange don’t we, Punkin?

I grow pumpkins because I love Jesus.”

Pamela looked at Grandpa Jack in surprise!

“Yes, honey. You know I love Jesus but today I want to tell you why. I am like a pumpkin.

When I was just a young man wondering what to do with my life and if I even mattered I prayed as my mother and father and Sunday School teachers had taught me. A wonderful thing happened to me. My prayer was answered. Some day I will tell you more about that but today I want you to know that it was as if God lifted me up. Just like I can this pumpkin. He washed off all the dirt. He opened me up and touched me deep inside. The yucky stuff- like the seeds of doubt, selfishness and despair were all scooped out of me. Then He carved a Big Smile and put His light inside me to shine.”

“God made you into a Jack O Lantern!?”

Chuckling. Grandpa said, “Yes, honey. I am Grandpa Jack O Lantern.”

Grandpa Jack looked out over his huge field now mostly orange with pumpkins, with a smile and explained, “Soon all of these pumpkins will be harvested. They will be chosen by little children whose mothers and fathers will help them make Jack O Lanterns. They will scoop out the yuck, carve a face and set a little light inside them. In the dark of night the Jack O Lanterns will shine and bring light to little Trick or Treaters.

The scriptures tell us that Jesus is the Life and Light of the world. His Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world.

When you allow His Light to shine through you by being nice and sharing with your little brother you are a Light to the World too. Just like the Jack O Lantern.”

Even though it was long ago that Pamela first heard the story of Grandpa Jack being like a Jack O Lantern she never can read these scriptures without thinking of him:

“Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 5: 14-16

Pamela never can smile without thinking that she too is a Jack O Lantern. She has had many opportunities to have the Carvers hand remove yuck from deep inside her but each time He does her smile gets brighter.

based on “A Christian Pumpkin Poem”, Anon