Three Beans and a Sponge

It was a hot day in June just outside a southern town, in a small southern state, near it’s southernmost border. The bright sun was unhindered by any clouds, the heat untouched by the wind.

At the hottest part of the day, just after the noon hour there sat three beans on a small rock by the pathway. One was a small black bean. One was a large red kidney bean. And one was a spotted pinto bean.

There were no other beans as far as the eye could see or the ears could hear. But of course, beans have no real eyes and no real ears, so they can’t hear much or see very far at all.

The little rock on which the beans sat was very hot. And the beans felt the heat of the day working its way into their innermost hearts.

“I’m soaking up heat like a sponge soaks up water.” said the little black bean.

“What’s a sponge?” asked the pinto bean.

“I know what you mean.” said the kidney bean. “If I get any hotter, I think I will pop right open!”

“So, uh… what’s a sponge, anyway?” asked the pinto bean.

“I don’t know if beans can really pop,” said the black bean, “but I feel like I will certainly die, if I have to endure this heat much longer.”

“Is it something like a worm or more like a tree?” asked the pinto bean.

No grass moved near the path. No dust was stirred. The air all around the beans on the rock just sat there, perfectly still in the midday heat. Not even a cricket made a sound. And the frogs in a nearby pond were all silent in the heat.

Just heat. That’s all there was. Intense heat and radiant heat and more heat. It was unbroken, unending and larger than anything else in the whole world. And it kept growing and increasing. Or so it seemed to the beans.

The heat bothered the pinto bean. But something else bothered him more. He kept trying to crack the mystery of the sponge. What could it be? All he knew was that it soaked up water.

The sun kept beating down, and the sky held in the heat, and the air refused to move any of the heat away. The rock got hotter, and the beans felt the heat grow larger and deeper and heavier — to the point of crushing out all life.

“That’s it,” said the black bean. “I’m dying. I know I’m dying. I just can’t take any more of this.”

“Whew! You and me both.” said the kidney bean. I think my heart is shriveling up inside.”

Out of the blue, the pinto bean asked, “Is a sponge very big, do you think? What color is it?”

And soon it was true. The very heart of the black bean died inside from the intense heat. It was just too much heat for him to take. And soon after that, the kidney bean also died. The pinto bean was so busy trying to guess what a sponge was that he didn’t notice that the other beans had stopped talking.

Another hour went by, and then another. Soon a small cloud drifted over. As it passed between sun and the ground, a sudden gust of wind hit the pinto bean, knocking him off the rock into the soft dirt between a few blades of grass nearby. And then another cloud drifted by overhead, and then more clouds gathered.

Soon it began to rain. Not a heavy rain, but a light afternoon rain. And a tiny puddle of water formed around the pinto bean on the ground. The water was so cooling, so soothing that the pinto bean soaked up some of it right away.

That night, more rain came, and the heavy drops splashing on the pinto bean, and all around him, soon covered him in mud. By the next day, he was buried under a thin layer of soil, safe from the glaring heat of the summer sun. And being so comfortable, tucked away in the dark as he was, he drifted off to sleep, still wondering what a sponge could be.

As for the kidney bean and the black bean, they quickly rotted away, having died in the heat of an afternoon. But it was not really the heat of a summer day that killed them at all. It was their own response to the heat. For some reason, they had allowed the idea of the terrible heat to overcome them. And they died because they convinced themselves that no bean could possibly endure such torment.

The pinto bean never did find out what a sponge was. But after a short while he popped open in the moist, dark soil and began to grow into a whole new plant. A curly stem pushed out and then up, and a couple of strong green leaves unfolded – leaves that were hungry for the sun’s hot rays. And the plant just kept growing and growing.

Before long, there were lots of tender young beans taking shape on the new plant. And they developed faster than anyone might think possible. And as they grew into intelligent little beans in their own right, they all seemed infected with the same tiny question: What on earth is a sponge, any way?

It isn’t always what happens that makes us weaker or stronger, wiser or bitter, but how we choose to respond.

Jesus said, “…so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain the righteous and on the unrighteous ." Matthew 5:45

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