I wish I had the faith like a child. I wish I had the determination like a child.
My redheaded, freckled faced and blissfully adorable sister has that enviable faith.
She looks up at a stranger and asks in sweet innocence, “Are you a Christian?”
The answer most give, is an undecided and quizzical look. But she still looks to them for an answer.
In church, she snuggled up against me as she sat in my lap and listened. Her Bible tucked in her sweet little hand. She looked to me and said, “God loves all of us and God will always be with us,” she concluded with, “I love God.”
I smiled.
Nothing else could make me happier than to hear those words.
But something about her untainted, innocent, joyful faith, makes me smile. She knows God loves her—she doesn’t just think it—she knows it. Do we know and have pure confidence we have this beautiful, indelible Grace.
In our honesty, does our shallow flesh, truly hold onto the merciful gift of Grace?
She smiles, back at me, and settles down again, fingering the pages of her Jesus Bible.
Together we’ve read a couple of stories, acting them out as we go along, so she can remember them better.
Sometimes during school, she slips away and knocks on my door and asks if she can come in. Sometimes, she’ll ask if she can sit and read with me. Other times I’ll ask if she wants to read her Bible while I read mine and she quickly hops on my bed (destroying any possibility of a neat arrangement) and flips open her Jesus Bible. She doesn’t read full sentences yet, so she just makes up what she thinks the words say, but it has a lot of truth to it. She says things like, “God loves,” and, “Jesus is beautiful,” and, “Jesus heals people.”
I love to hear my parents read Bible stories to she and my sister--later on they tell us what their learning in Bible. It's really joyful.
She picks up so much.
Sometimes, during our dinner time devotions, she’ll raise her hand and answer a question, not always correct or relative, but she is still encouraged.
I love to hear she and my other sister belt out Bible songs through the house. I don’t care how many times I hear, He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands, and it still sounds beautiful to me.
Or the hymns that she and my sister sing together, trying to remember the complete words.
Their acts of faith and devotion—make me step back and look at mine. Do I have that devotion and perception of God? Do I see God as the beautiful and Almighty Creator, as they do? I strive to possess a grasp of the Cross.
Like they do.
Their prayers are so direct--so beautiful--so sweet.
No wonder Jesus asks us to compare ourselves to little children.
Let us take note of such beautiful and blissful faith and grace.
