Scripture: Is 11:1-10; Lk 10:21-24
"What is it in children that Jesus loved so much and commended His followers to emulate?"
It’s always amazing to listen to the stories of Jesus related to children. He could be such a stern and forceful man, but with children he was patient, kind, and welcoming. Children did not fear him, and he did not grow angry or stern at them. He loved them for their innocence and their ability to love and believe unconditionally. This is why Jesus wants us to be like children – so we can love and believe in him and his goodness unconditionally.
“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening your Christmas gifts and listen.”
I just love this quote. Love is in the silence just like God is in the silence. Christmas celebrates not only the birth of Jesus but the birth of love into the world. Jesus was the ultimate sign of God’s love for us – he was the beginning and the end and the ultimate sacrifice. Only through such sacrifice could God show us how truly much he loves us! We celebrate the beginning of the journey at Advent and Christmas and we celebrate the end of the earthly journey and beginning of the life-long journey at Lent and Easter.
T.S.Eliot said that information is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom. Jesus concurs: “I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from the learned and the clever and revealing them to little children.”
Just because we have all the information does not make us wise. Adults who have “been around, experienced the world, made life choices” in ways that children, youth, and young adults have not are not necessarily more wise than we are. They may be wiser in some ways, but they are not necessarily always right. They will be able to share the knowledge that their experiences gave them, and in that knowledge may be some wisdom and common sense, but it’s not always accurate. (Side note – don’t you think that often wisdom is just common sense explained and put into creative terms?) And it’s amazing that sometimes children can see the truth and the wisdom of things far easier and much more clearly than adults. Their lives are uncomplicated and they grow in love and simplicity all the time, so it’s easier for them to see and share. This is why God treasures little children.
‘Thou, God, seest me’ -- ‘Those words, they do not mean God is always watching you to see what you are doing wrong. They mean he loves you so much that he cannot take his eyes off you’.
God loves us and will never leave us. God watches out for us because: he is excited to share in our good choices, wants to comfort us in our bad choices, and cares enough to always stay with us even when we stray. God does not want to condemn us or tell us all the ways we’re failing. He wants us to be good people, succeed in life, etc. He loves us so much that he gives us the choice to make up our own journey and to follow our own heart and our own path. But he is like a parent – he also loves us enough to never let us leave his sight completely. As long as he can, he will keep an eye on us and be there to help in the blink of an eye if we ask.
May we grow in the wisdom that knows how much God loves us personally, without any conditions or strings attached. May this wisdom be a constant beacon for our journey. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment