Our
church calendar has filled up quickly too: practice for concerts, cantatas, and
plays. There’s planning for get-togethers, meetings, trips and a multitude of
other stuff to get done. Honestly, when I see everything listed, it’s pretty
easy for me to get overwhelmed.
What I
long for, is to be a kid again. I want not to think so much about all the
things to do, but to simply look forward to the joy and fun of Christmas. Kids
don’t think of play practice as something they have “to do,” but as fun. They
don’t consider cruising through Wal-Mart looking for just the right present as
a chore, but as exciting. They don’t think of baking cookies as work, but as
pure joy! And they relish decorating...the tree, the house, the lawn, the dog…anything
at all.
Children
have a lot to teach me if I will stop long enough to consider their lessons. Children
are truly innocent and pure. They are eager to trust and to believe the good
over the bad. A child will love in spite of being hurt, dissed, or bullied.
They will take an insult…toss one back and go on playing together without
pouting or holding a grudge. Jesus said that the kingdom of God was made up of just
such hearts; pure, open, and full of love.
Jesus also said, “Let the little
ones come unto me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of
heaven” (Mat 19:13). What I think is that Jesus was trying to tell us something
in these words. Jesus was trying to teach
crusty, stodgy, jaded adults to notice the kind of goodness that helps a person
fit in with God’s plan for the Kingdom.
Just this week, one of Pisgah’s
little ones, smiling like an angel, said to me. “It’s okay, pastor Judy. She
didn’t have a piece of bubble gum. I had two, so I gave her my extra piece.” I
just have to tell you, the sweetness of that moment was enough to bring tears
to my eyes and cause me to pray. Lord,
give me a heart like hers!
