It’s funny how a simple conversation with a child can make me
meditate most of the day on my lack of faith.
Lily and I volunteered to go to Peet’s this morning to get Marilyn a
cup of iced mocha (and of course to get Lily her iced chocolate milk). Before heading there though, I had to stop at
the local hardware store to get a part so I could repair the plug on an iron
that Marilyn asked me to fix. When Lily
and I walked into the store, it must have had some sort of odor Lily didn’t
like because she immediately plugged her nose.
Of course the guy who was helping me find my part noticed her pinching
her nose and asked her if something was wrong and she replied “It stinks in
here!” He gave a laugh and said “Oh? I don’t smell anything!” I didn’t either, but in retrospect I have to
admit that a hardware store does have a certain smell unlike any other
store. I guess it’s all of the different
materials, cleaners, and other sundries in such a small store that create a
unique odor. It’s not as unpleasant as
Lily was making it out to be, but she’s a sensitive girl. I’ll leave it at that.
After we left the hardware store, she started talking to me while
still holding her nose. She thought the
nasal sound was funny (so did I), so we started carrying on a conversation
while holding our noses and giggling at the absurdity of it all. Holding our noses led to Lily talking about
how to calm down when we’re anxious about something. She said that she learned
to breathe in through her nose and out through her mouth. When I told her that was a good idea, she
asked me how she could do it if her nose was plugged. I told her then she could just breathe in and
out just through her mouth, or if she was sleeping and her mouth was closed,
she could breathe just through her nose.
I told her the reason we have to
breathe is to get oxygen into our bodies because oxygen is what gives our heart
the strength it needs to keep pumping blood.
Hey, I was never good at biology or anatomy and she’s only 6 years old
anyway. It was a close enough answer to
satisfy her.
Anyway, out of the blue she says “If we stop breathing, we go to
Heaven.” What simple faith she has! At her age she doesn’t worry IF she’ll go to
Heaven, she simply has enough confidence in the love of God the Father for her
that she believes she will go to Heaven when she dies.
It’s made me think all day long about the gospel of Matthew 18, the
first couple of verses where Jesus pulls a child close to him and tells the
disciples that unless they become like children, they will not see the kingdom
of God. The child is held up as a model
for the disciples not because of any supposed innocence of children but because
of their complete dependence on, and trust in, their parents. So must the
disciples (we) be, in respect to God.
I know I have a lot of work ahead of me in this regard. I’m glad I have Lily to remind me to keep
trying.
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