It’s Quite Simple, Really

  There’s a certain abandon about children, especially under a certain age.  There’s a span in a child’s life that shows off all the more their wild imaginations, their concept of fairness, their acceptance of others, their creativity and how incredibly simple their perspectives on life are.  This is not a new concept to me, but it’s been a while since I’ve let these realities sink in.

Last week, at Home of Joy, as I sat with the younger children in one of the bedrooms with 5 pairs of hands mangling my hair into some fabulous creation  and later, while I was outside kicking the ball around with the older kids, a wave washed over me.  It was a wave of realizing that, to them, it didn’t matter what I’d done that day, whether I laughed or cried, hurt or was hurt, seen a success or failure.  Even if they’d known what I’d walked through that day, in their eyes, none of it mattered.  In all of this, I found myself becoming a kid again, which, as most of you know is not too difficult for me.   I saw my cares washed away by their acceptance and genuine, unconditional love for me.

Over this last posture of CONTENDING, and throughout other parts of the year, we’ve talked quite a bit about “The Kingdom,” what it encompasses, how we see it, and how God desires us to jump into that ever-swinging jumprope (to make the image a little more complex, it’s Double Dutch  that is God’s Kingdom.  So often, we choose to take the stance of standing on the sidelines, living in our own world.  Sometimes we see ourselves wanting to jump into those swinging ropes with the others, but are sometimes too afraid of what it will look like to others, what if I mess up, what it will mean, how it will change me and the ever popular question, can I even do it?  So many conditions and too much reasoning.  Now having explained a little what some of our perspectives might be in this scenario, try looking at it through the eyes of an active, no inhibitions, curious and wondering 6 year-old.  Does it change how you might approach or accept God’s invitation to be apart of His ever-swinging Kingdom?:)  I would hope that it would. 

                                                                                          

Two boys that I have come to love very dearly at the Home of Joy are a 6 & 7 year-old incredibly wild and rarely sedate band of brothers who, to me, exemplify what it means to approach the Kingdom of God through the eyes of a child.  These two brothers, abandoned in a house fire until a neighbor came to their rescue, blow me away by their vivacious appetite to just want to be apart of everything around them and their spark for life astonishes me.  I am compelled to ask myself why?  Yes, they are young and have not had much of an encounter with the outside world that sometimes prematurely imprints a harsh, “dog-eat-dog world” frame of mind, but then, it hit me.   

                                                                                                          

Matthew 18:3
And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 19:14
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Matthew 21:16
“Do you hear what these children are saying?” they asked him. “Yes,” replied Jesus, “have you never read, ” ‘From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise’ ?”

I believe that sometimes, we get so caught up in the world and life of what it means to be an adult.  With certain images or reputations that we sometimes feel we have to uphold, people to impress, and a general perspective that sometimes says I’ve got a schedule to maintain and there’s no time for make believe.  It’s all about me and my time.  How often have we found ourselves in this place?  I know that I have, more often than I would like.  Stopping at this realization, I have to ask myself, what am I missing out on by allowing myself to be in this position of business, schedule and a general path that suggests I’ve got some rather large blinders on?        

These verses we’ve read and heard so many times, but as a simple reminder, read them again and let them soak in.  Without even realizing, these two boys and many of the other children I work with see life around them as readily available opportunities and rarely are questions asked or conditions made.  Their eyes and heart are the eyes and the heart of Christ.  The world they see from their eyes, is the Kingdom and they don’t hesitate to be apart of it.

From time to time, try to view the Kingdom from the perspective of a child and don’t hesitate to jump into the full swing of the ropes that appear to be flying every which way.  Yes, you may trip and fall and scrape your knee, and others may laugh at you, but that’s alright.  The Father that created the entire Universe is there to patch up the scratch on your knee.  HE DOES THIS FOR YOU, HIS BELOVED, HIS CHILD WHOM HE LOVES…   AND SENDS YOU BACK OUT TO PLAY.   :)