Bigger faith

Today’s Reading: John 7:17-18 (NIV)

17 If anyone chooses to do God’s will, he will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. 18 He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the One who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.

Good day!

When I was a little girl, I used to dream about the day I would grow up and be an adult. Now that I’ve been an adult type for a very long time, I find myself dreaming about being a child again. Is there some strange irony to these brief, fleeting thoughts? Just yesterday, I was reminiscing with a friend about my love of growing up in Missouri. We had four distinct seasons here. Springtime was glorious, with fresh air and blue skies and lots of baby birds chirping wildly from their safe nests tucked between the slats of a trellis amid the thorns of a climbing rose bush. We looked forward to Easter dresses and pretty white bonnets for Sunday morning worship. We hunted eggs in the back yard amid the blooming buttercup daffodils and tulips. Summer time was dreadfully hot, with brilliant blue skies and shade trees bursting forth with sweet fruit. Apples and plums would fall from its branches, just waiting to be consumed by the children who played in its shade. We would go swimming every afternoon, and the refreshing water transformed a hot summer’s day into a virtual festival of warmth and sunlight. The brilliant, bright colors of changing leaves made the fall a beautiful time of year, as they blanketed the virtual playground of our back yard. My grandfather would spend hours raking piles of sweet color for his grandbabies to jump in. The glory of fall was by far, my favorite season of the year. The blanket of white winter snow and the cold north wind made hot chocolate an enticing heavenly drink, especially after building snowmen in the front yard and making snow angels on the ground. The snows were deeper and lasted longer than they do today. Life was so much bigger when I was a little child.

As a parent of adult children who are now raising children of their own, I’m beginning to experience the gift of faith in a whole new way. When our babies were young, we were given an opportunity and responsibility to shape and mold their young hearts, by encouraging them to place their faith in the arms of the Savior. As they grew into young adults, our children began making their own life choices. Parental beliefs are not always popular with the kids. Some embrace faith while others run as far away from it as possible. Parents learn that while we are planting the seeds of faith, we do not have ultimate authority whether our sprouts will grow to their fullest potential in faith or somehow be choked out by the weeds surrounding them.

Christ came to offer new life to all people, knowing some would never accept His teaching or the authority in which He spoke. Because I love my children and want them to experience life with the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Savior, I am given a tiny taste into how our heavenly Father must feel as His children turn a deaf ear to the living Word.

It seems that adults have asked the same question over and over again since the days when our Lord lived in human flesh on earth: Is Jesus Christ the real deal? Is He the fully human yet fully divine Son of the living God? Truth takes on a whole new meaning when truth makes Himself known through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.

If we must become like little children again to experience the beauty of a bigger faith, then let it be so, dear Lord, this day.

Grace and peace,

Deb Spaulding

Faith UMC - St. Charles, MO

www.songofdeborah.com

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© Copyright 2008, Deb Spaulding

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