This week we will be celebrating Dr. Seuss in my classroom. It’s one of my favorite weeks of the year! I love reading the rhymes and teaching my students about the moral lessons intended for each story. My very favorite Dr. Seuss character is Horton the elephant. I think Horton seems to have it all figured out.
In the story Horton Hears a Who, Horton hears voices on the flower. Nobody else hears it and he begins to get ridiculed for believing it. By the end of the story, Horton has vowed to help the tiny voices and even putting his own life in danger. This can be applied to our Christian lives. Christians are often ridiculed for their beliefs and tempted to let go of what they know to be true. How many times have people who do not believe in Jesus said to us, the same thing that the kangaroo said to Horton: “If you can’t see, hear or feel something it doesn’t exist.” People who do not believe in Jesus don’t understand how we can feel and hear the Lord, even though we cannot see Him. Horton doesn’t believe the kangaroo because he knows what he feels and hears, and doesn’t need something tangible to reaffirm his faith. He stands firm, just as we have to do.
We have to have faith that Jesus was born, lived, and died so that we can be saved. We have to have faith that He lives in Heaven and wants a relationship with us. We have to have faith that we have the opportunity to live with Him in Heaven. Toward the end of Horton Hears a Who, it is said, “Their whole world was saved by the smallest of all!” Isn’t that so true?? Our whole world was saved when that little baby was born. He didn’t come as a big important ruler or king…he came as the smallest of all.
This story is one of faith, purpose, determination, perseverance, integrity, and forgiveness. Those are all qualities that the Lord expects of His children. Probably the most well-known part of the story is when Horton says, “I meant what I said and I said what I meant. An elephant’s faithful, one hundred percent!” That is how we have to be as Christians. We have to determine in our hearts that no matter what others might think of us…and yes, some might think we are crazy…but we have to resolve to be faithful to the Lord, one hundred percent!
“That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”
1 Corinthians 2:5 KJV
