What Kind of Pumpkin Are You Anyway?

Working with children on a regular basis, I have to be quick on my feet as well as be able to translate thoughts and ideas into the language of preschoolers.
I greeted a few classes who came to our church's pumpkin patch this week. As I introduced them to several varieties of pumpkins and gourds, we noted that some were tall or short, dark or light, thin or plump, bumby or smooth. Just like us.

God made us all so very different and special.

That's the preschool version.

Not surprisingly, not a lot of high school classes (zero, specifically) visit our patch of pumpkins. But if they were to come, here's the life lesson from the pumpkins they'd receive:

You see, we're all like these pumpkins. Some of you look really nice on the
outside, all hairsprayed up and using fancy things like jewelry, fleece jackets
and deodorant, but inside you're just as seedy and slimy as the next guy. See
that rotted one over there? That's like those of you tinkering with crystal
meth. You'll just end up with moldy soft spots on your sides and you'll start
seeping orange goo. Actually, I don't know the specifics of the side effects
from meth use, but that's probably pretty close.

So, as you can tell, it's probably good that I've stopped using that lesson with the preschoolers after the first class and decided to save it for older kids.

Welcome to the Pumpkin Patch!

(P.S. If you're interested in our patch and want to do your own as a fundraiser, email me and I'll hook you up with our pumpkin people.)