Child-like Joy

Toddlers can be a handful.  I know on Sunday mornings (I help in the nursery for the church I attend), many of them don’t want their parents to leave and have a fit when they do.  Most of them settle down after a few minutes or with something to distract them. On the other hand there are some that come in the nursery with smiles on their faces.  They are ready to play and couldn’t care less if their parents left them there or not.

One of favorite parts of helping in the nursery is at the end.  Not because “I’m finally done” but because of the reactions of all the kids.  All the kids, regardless of whether or not they are happy when they arrive, have the same reaction when their parents come back at the end of the service.  They aren’t just happy.  They are more than happy; they are ecstatic.  The look on their faces is priceless.  When you say “(Insert name) look who’s here.”  They turn towards the door and you can see their entire face light up with a joy to great for words.

This is what we should expect though, isn’t it?  I’m not a parent yet (although I hope to be one day), but a bond between a parent and a child is one of the strongest bonds I know.  A mother and father feed, clothe, cradle, and love a baby.  They are with the child as he or she grows and learns to walk, to read, to sing.  If the child messes up, still they love him or her.  As the child faces hardships at school with friends or struggles with an assignment a parent supports them and shows them unconditional love.  Even after the child is no longer a child but grown up, married, and with children of their own, the parent-child bond lives on.

We expect this of our earthly parents, but do we expect this of our Heavenly Father?  If we did would we ever doubt Him?  I have problems with trust.  I think of myself as a trusting person but in reality, I’m not.  I don’t trust others in a group to do their share.  I don’t trust others to keep their word, because I’ve had too many people make a promise or set up a time to get together only to break it or cancel later on.  I question God’s plan for my life and try to take control of it myself.  Because if I’m in control then I can’t get hurt.  If I’m in control then no one else has the power to break that promise.  But if our earthly parents love us with such a complete love then how much more does God love us?  God keeps his promises.  He doesn’t want to see us hurting or broken, but He asks for trust.

Matthew 7:25-34 

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear… Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable then they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?  “And why do you worry about clothes?  See how the lilies of the filed grow.  They do not labor or spin…If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?...But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

The Bible is God’s love letter to us.  He is telling us that He will always love us wholeheartedly, unlimitedly.  God provides for us; He gives us food and clothes.  He cradles and comforts us when life gets too hard to bear.  When we mess up, because we all will, He will still be there holding out His hand and welcoming us back.  He loved us enough to send His son and watch him die.  I can’t even grasp this.  I would give my life for my (not yet existent) children, but the other way around?  Sacrifice my child for someone who has hurt me?  But this is exactly what God did.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

I don’t know what heaven will be like, but I do know that I’ll be with my Savior.  I don’t know how I’ll act or what I do when I see Jesus face to face, but I hope the expression on my face shows the same radiant expression that all the kids in the nursery have when they see their parents.  When I first see Jesus I want to be filled with a child-like joy that goes beyond words.