Friday, February 18, 2011

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Joe:

Yesterday I had an errand to run. I thought it would just be a chore to complete, and then I’d come home. Little did I know that I’d get a special companion and a quiet message from God.

As I was letting my mom know where I was going, Oksana heard that I was going to drive somewhere in the car, and she excitedly asked my mom if she could go with me. When the answer was yes, she ecstatically hugged Mom, then hugged me. As we walked toward the garage, she put her hand in mine.

Okay, a little confession here: I stand a bit taller knowing my little sister wants to spend time with me that much! I enjoyed her company on the errand, and I think she liked the chance to see some of the rolling countryside.

During this episode I had a flash of inspiration. I’m sure it was a gentle message from God. The thought was this: Oksana was willing to go wherever I was headed, as long as she could go with me. I don’t have enough Russian and she doesn’t have enough English yet that she could have really understood the place I intended to go or what I was going to do there. She just had a simple trust that I would take care of her, and she wanted to be with me.

As I thought about our situation, I realized that God wants His children, to do what Oksana did. He wants us to long to spend time with Him. He wants us to trust Him so implicitly that we’re willing to go wherever He’s going and do whatever He’s doing. He wants us to be excited about being near Him.

Since Oksana so readily exhibited all of these behaviors toward her fallible, human brother, maybe this is what Jesus meant when He said that we needed to be converted and become like children (Matt 18:1-6). When compared to my often lukewarm walk of faith, this kind of trust in God puts a beautiful ring to one of the names He lets us call Him: Father (John 20:17).

1 comment:

MacMeister said...

That is so sweet! And it's a good analogy too. I'm with you: it makes me feel great when I know that my siblings want to spend time with me :-)