The book “One-Minute Bedtime Stories” must have been written by a tired parent. As a mother of four and now a Nonnie of eleven, I can’t imagine a one-minute story satisfying too many three year olds. But then, I’m a sucker for “one more…please Nonnie,” even when it’s clearly a nighttime stall tactic.

The “one minute” idea caught on and soon all kinds of similar books hit the market.

• The One Minute Manager
• The One Minute Cure
• The One Minute Workout
• The One Minute Millionaire

Then the fad crossed over into Christian publishing and some titles made me cringe.

• One Minute Prayers for Busy People
• One Minute With God: Sixty Supernatural Seconds That Will Change Your Life

I’m not against one minute prayers — I pray them all day long — but I am not comfortable with relegating God to a one-minute time slot in my schedule. It takes more than sixty seconds a day to develop a vital, intimate relationship.

For the next ten weeks, my Bible Reading Plan is taking me to the Gospel of Matthew. I’ll be sitting down for “storytime” with Jesus, looking at several of His parables.

One thing I noticed as I perused the passages I’ll be reading —
Jesus told very short stories.

The Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-9) takes 47.24 seconds. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is one of the longest, clocking in at 2 minutes 32 seconds. Some of Jesus’ stories are only one or two sentences — easily less than one minute.

It seems Jesus didn’t have a problem telling one-minute stories.
But they have given us plenty to think about for millennia.

Would you like to join me? Next week we’ll look at Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.