The Sorcerer's Apprentice Lesson

Last night while I was reading bedtime stories to my two boys, we read a version of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, by Sally Grindley.  As we read, I couldn't help but compare the story's lesson with life's lesson with God.

In the story the young apprentice is so eager to become a sorcerer. However, the master reminds the boy to be patient because it has taken him a lifetime to learn everything that he knows, and that the apprentice's time will come someday.

When the sorcerer leaves on a journey he asks the young man to fill up an enormous cauldron with water.  The apprentice finds the task too hard! Tired of waiting for the sorcerer to bestow all his knowledge and gifts on him, the apprentice decides to go ahead and use some magic on his own.

Of course, I think we all remember the awful mess the young apprentice makes for himself.  We also recall how the sorcerer is able to use his knowledge and gifts to help save the boy.  He chastises the apprentice for being "foolish to meddle with things [he doesn't] understand."

In this version, the apprentice pleads for another chance, and the sorcerer recognizes the eagerness in this boy.  He takes the apprentice under his direct tutelage right then and begins to teach him.

Lesson:

God is like the sorcerer and we are like the young apprentice.  God asks us to have patience, but we are so eager to move forward in our lives, not thinking of all we really need to learn to be successful, that at times we moved ahead recklessly.  God at times gives us hard tasks to test us, some which may last a lifetime.  We can either press forward through the task and learn the lesson, or try to find a shortcut that may wind up in disaster.  God delivers us from our foolishness, grants us forgiveness, and gives us another chance. Are we finally ready to learn from the master?