Relax, Little Children

All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God . . . 

it is that very Spirit bearing witness of our spirit that we are children of God, 

and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ . . . 

~ Selected verses from Romans 8

God calls us Children of the Spirit, Children of the Light, Children of the One Most High, a lot.  It was counter-cultural to remind folks of Jesus’ era to love children, and that God loves us as his little children, his little flock, but oh, how it still resounds today!

I love the short story “Capital of the World”, where Ernest Hemingway tells about a Spanish father who wanted to be reconciled with his runaway son. The despairing father missed his son so much that he placed an advertisement in the local newspaper. The advertisement read simply, “Paco, meet me at the Hotel Montana at noon on Tuesday. All is forgiven! Love, Papa.” But Paco is a very common name in Spain—and when the father went to the hotel the next day, there were eight hundred young men named Paco waiting for their forgiving fathers!

You never know when a Paco is standing or sitting beside you.  Or maybe your name is Paco too, no matter what your gender, or what gender the parent is to their child with broken relationships between the two.  As a matter of fact, as a young friend said to me this past week, you never know when someone is going through a “freaking out” moment.  I suspect at any time, we all experience the brokenness—and it’s just a matter of when that will or has happened that makes the difference in all our lives.

The Good News is that whatever message we hear, or experience we have, God never withdraws God’s love.  God’s love is unconditional.  God doesn’t say, as humans often do, “If you are not a good person, Father won’t love you.”  God’s love for us is in no way lessened by our moral failures.  Even if we are angry with Godself or make ourselves God’s enemies, God’s love is steadfast. 

Leslie Weatherhead says “[God] will never do us an evil or let an evil which befalls us have the last word.  If [God] must not divert it or deliver us from it yet, [God] will make it serve us and serve [God’s] purpose in us and for us.  [God’s] omnipotence does not mean that everything that happens to us is [God’s] will, but it does mean that nothing can possibly defeat [God].”

That’s the kind of parent I want.  That’s the kind of parent I need.  God IS that kind of parent.  Wanting the very best for us, with pure Love.  Utterly loving, infinitely strong, resourceful and purposeful, not allowing us to be lost forever, coming to our rescue and protecting us from ultimate destruction.  

Breathe deep.  Be still.  Let God embrace you, even during the freak out.

That’s God’s promise to us, as children.  For God so loved the world, God gave himself to us in Jesus Christ, who in fully in human form, loved us to death.  Not to condemn us, but to rescue us from our fears, our angers, our “freak out” moments.  I trust that promise, because God doesn’t break promises.  Cross my heart.

Grace and joy,

Julie