Devotion Oct 3, 2018
03/10/18 21:12
Greetings!
I love spending time with people and I particularly enjoy spending time with people over a meal - especially lunch. So if you ever want to go to lunch and I don’t have a myriad of other responsibilities that happen to be happening during that lunch time which is unfortunately often the case…. anyway I enjoy a nice lunch with a person or persons and I really am not overly picky as to what that lunch may be or where it may be….
So the other day I was going out to lunch. I was looking forward to the lunch and made sure I worked out my schedule so that I could spend some fun time over a table of food!
Seemed like the events of the day cooperated and I gathered what I needed and grabbed the car keys and into the car and off I went.
It wasn’t far to go and it was a fairly popular lunch location for many in the area but I found a parking spot (which when you go to here on Sundays after church is not always a possibility), pulled in and parked and proceeded to walk across the lot.
I was the first one there and fortunately in front of the door to the eating establishment was a nice bench just asking for someone to come and sit. So being there before my lunch companion, I did.
It was a nice bench, pretty comfortable and a great place to do some ‘just sitting’ and relaxing. I actually overcame the temptation to pull out the cell phone and peruse Facebook or emails or even play a game because I thought what a nice opportunity just to sit and relax and gaze off.
Several other people were gathering around the entrance to the restaurant apparently waiting for others to come join them and a small girl, probably about 4, came and sat down beside me because she was tired of complaining to her mother that she didn’t want to stand and wait any longer. Thought it was just like a child to be willing to come and sit down beside someone and not worry about all those social conventions of joining another person you do not know on a pretty small bench.
Now I realize all of the wariness of today’s society especially when it comes to children and strangers and I am not disrespecting this necessary aspect of our world today when it comes to being careful with our little ones. I assume that this little girl’s mother felt the ‘older woman’ on the bench looked pretty safe and after all Mom was standing right there and there really wasn’t an escape route had I chosen to do what we worry people might do.
I of course never wasting an opportunity to talk to a child because I love little children in my grandmotherly sort of way, I told the little one she was welcome to sit with me and I saw her mother look questioningly but not say anything…. The wee one proceeded to tell me all about how she was meeting her mother’s friend here and her mother’s friend was bringing her (the little girl’s) friend and how she was looking forward to having a grilled cheese sandwich with some of those really good chips that tasted like cheese and she really like cheese which is why she was getting a grilled cheese sandwich and some chips that tasted like cheese and yes she talked just like that with nary a breath…. It made me want to breathe for her!
I told her I was really glad she was going to get her favorite cheese and get to see her friend and she began to talk once again non stop until finally the Mom friend and the little girl friend showed up and Mom said ‘Come on, it’s time to go in and eat’ and I smiled at Mom who did not smile back as she held out her hand towards her daughter and proceeded into the restaurant.
This whole encounter reminded me of Jesus’ words when he said, “Let the little children come to me because their’s is the kingdom of heaven”. We wonder what that means and how that applies to us mature adults who think we have it all together because we are old and children have a lot to learn because they are young yet as Jesus so often does, he flips us around and says that we mature, supposedly knowledgeable adults need to become like children…..
It has a lot to do with the willingness to be vulnerable around people we do not know in order to be like Christ around them - open and willing to share our lives, share our faith or just tell someone we like grilled cheese sandwiches and be amenable to allowing God to guide the conversation to places that only God knows one of us sharing that talking time need to be.
And maybe we as adults need to relax a little and remember we are children of God…..
Amen!
I love spending time with people and I particularly enjoy spending time with people over a meal - especially lunch. So if you ever want to go to lunch and I don’t have a myriad of other responsibilities that happen to be happening during that lunch time which is unfortunately often the case…. anyway I enjoy a nice lunch with a person or persons and I really am not overly picky as to what that lunch may be or where it may be….
So the other day I was going out to lunch. I was looking forward to the lunch and made sure I worked out my schedule so that I could spend some fun time over a table of food!
Seemed like the events of the day cooperated and I gathered what I needed and grabbed the car keys and into the car and off I went.
It wasn’t far to go and it was a fairly popular lunch location for many in the area but I found a parking spot (which when you go to here on Sundays after church is not always a possibility), pulled in and parked and proceeded to walk across the lot.
I was the first one there and fortunately in front of the door to the eating establishment was a nice bench just asking for someone to come and sit. So being there before my lunch companion, I did.
It was a nice bench, pretty comfortable and a great place to do some ‘just sitting’ and relaxing. I actually overcame the temptation to pull out the cell phone and peruse Facebook or emails or even play a game because I thought what a nice opportunity just to sit and relax and gaze off.
Several other people were gathering around the entrance to the restaurant apparently waiting for others to come join them and a small girl, probably about 4, came and sat down beside me because she was tired of complaining to her mother that she didn’t want to stand and wait any longer. Thought it was just like a child to be willing to come and sit down beside someone and not worry about all those social conventions of joining another person you do not know on a pretty small bench.
Now I realize all of the wariness of today’s society especially when it comes to children and strangers and I am not disrespecting this necessary aspect of our world today when it comes to being careful with our little ones. I assume that this little girl’s mother felt the ‘older woman’ on the bench looked pretty safe and after all Mom was standing right there and there really wasn’t an escape route had I chosen to do what we worry people might do.
I of course never wasting an opportunity to talk to a child because I love little children in my grandmotherly sort of way, I told the little one she was welcome to sit with me and I saw her mother look questioningly but not say anything…. The wee one proceeded to tell me all about how she was meeting her mother’s friend here and her mother’s friend was bringing her (the little girl’s) friend and how she was looking forward to having a grilled cheese sandwich with some of those really good chips that tasted like cheese and she really like cheese which is why she was getting a grilled cheese sandwich and some chips that tasted like cheese and yes she talked just like that with nary a breath…. It made me want to breathe for her!
I told her I was really glad she was going to get her favorite cheese and get to see her friend and she began to talk once again non stop until finally the Mom friend and the little girl friend showed up and Mom said ‘Come on, it’s time to go in and eat’ and I smiled at Mom who did not smile back as she held out her hand towards her daughter and proceeded into the restaurant.
This whole encounter reminded me of Jesus’ words when he said, “Let the little children come to me because their’s is the kingdom of heaven”. We wonder what that means and how that applies to us mature adults who think we have it all together because we are old and children have a lot to learn because they are young yet as Jesus so often does, he flips us around and says that we mature, supposedly knowledgeable adults need to become like children…..
It has a lot to do with the willingness to be vulnerable around people we do not know in order to be like Christ around them - open and willing to share our lives, share our faith or just tell someone we like grilled cheese sandwiches and be amenable to allowing God to guide the conversation to places that only God knows one of us sharing that talking time need to be.
And maybe we as adults need to relax a little and remember we are children of God…..
Amen!