*HOT SOUP*.... an advice in a special public talk !

[Queen Esther]

~ I heard this illustration in a public talk many years ago ~     ( from  sister  Beth...)   THANK  YOU

HOT SOUP....
( Not the real title of the talk )
First the Brother warmly complimented us on all the happy noise we made greeting one another as we entered the Kingdom Hall. We had been talking, laughing, hugging & all that. Then he started talking about the congregation being like a bowl of soup. (That seemed such an odd thing to say that it caught my attention. I looked up with a puzzled expression & noticed others doing the same.)

Let me explain, he said with a wry smile. You have a bowl of soup you want to eat. And it's hot. But you know a little secret - the soup is cooler on the outer edges close to the brim of the bowl.

In the middle, the molecules are closer together, bumping into each other -more active. So the soup in the middle is HOT. But the molecules on the edges next to the brim are slowing down & the soup is cooler. That's where you can just scoop it right up. (He pretended to scoop a spoonful & sip it.)

Well, he said, the congregation is rather like that. All the activity, warmth & safety is in the middle of the congregation. If you hang around the edges & away from the spiritual activity of the congregation, you are vulnerable to Satan scooping up YOU. Just like the soup.

That's why you should stay in the middle of it all,  surrounded by the warmth & safety of the congregation