One of the things you’ll have to do the most of as a parent is explain the way the world works. Kid are curious. They want to know the why behind everything. And even if they don’t want to know how or why something is the way it is, we must explain it to them.

For example, a kid might be curious why we wear our best clothes to church. Something we are happy to explain.

But other times, we must explain why we have to keep our pants on at museums.

No matter the circumstance, explain stuff to kids is no easy matter.

I can’t help but wonder if Jesus thought it was easy to explain what the kingdom of heaven was like.

For centuries, there was the law of Moses. And in a matter of months, Christ was explaining something new, something surprising. It must have been an exciting, but confusing time for the people.

In Matthew 13, Christ says “the kingdom of heaven is like” seven times and illustrates it with seven unique parables or stories. He tried seven new explanations to help the people understand. He told stories to help them understand.

I can’t help but wonder if I as a dad would try seven times to explain something. Would I be patient enough? Do I have fun engaging stories to make my points clear?

Learn from the example of the master teacher. Let’s be more patient and more of a storyteller.