“I assure you,” He said, “unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” -Matthew 18:3.
Flashback to last month:
This picture above is from India on one of our last days. We got to have lunch at a local church with the pastor and his family after visiting the Bay of Bengal (crazy amazing!!). They were in the middle of doing their children’s program in the evening, tutoring the kids in English. After dinner was wrapping up, I noticed the greenest field I had seen in dusty India! I wanted to simply go walk in the field but wasn’t sure we had the time for my little request. Sure enough, our translator made my request known to some of the kids, and they were all to happy to lead me out in them just for a walk.
The green, open space felt like paradise to me. The children running and laughing in the field reminded me of some familiar song lyrics…
“More than words, more than good ideas;
I’ve found your love in the open fields.”
This communion I’m in with the living God is so much more vibrant, alive, and colorful than I often consider. These children are content to explore and run and play in what God has created. He is more than words in a sacred book and theological, abstract ideas. He has rescued me from sin and death and separation from Him, and He is saving me from myself, my own selfish flesh. He speaks to me and leads me in relationship with Him and what it looks like to be bold and share His message of hope in Jesus! This is the Author of life itself we’re talking about! The reality that I am an adopted child in His family now through Jesus overwhelms me!!
How many times am I too busy and wrapped up in responsibility or trying to be a “put together” adult that I forget what it is to truly live? To take the time to notice exactly where I am–the situation, my surroundings, the community, my place in walking with the Lord. Oddly, on the race, I get used to my surroundings and the (tentative..) routine, that I have to remind myself how CRAZY it is that I’m living life in Nepal every day. These Indian children invited me into letting go of the pressure I put on myself of I am “supposed to be” and into a few moments of being a child myself, walking in lightness and joy.
I see I need to humble myself and be taught by them. To be led by example on how to simply BE a child, and a beloved, protected, provided-for child of God at that. To trust in my Father, that I am heard by him, that He wants the best for me and will provide that no matter what I do. As our brother in Christ in India said, children are the model Jesus provides for us in relating to God the Father. I’m a child of God, hopefully growing to maturity in the Gospel, and it’s okay to be needy, raw, and authentic. Determined to play and enjoy the life around me. Falling into my Father’s arms when I am at a loss for where I am or pain I have experienced. I pray He teaches us all more and more what it is to be His children, deeply loved and forever held.
(a sweet Nepali boy from the slum)
