That's what Em asked me tonight as I was tucking her into bed. I nearly cracked up as she drew her "squiggly 8" in the air for me. I said, "That's a lot like the figure 8 we made with those train tracks." She replied, "Some people call it a figure 8, but to me it's a squiggly 8!" And that's how it is for 5 year olds, I guess. To see the world through their eyes is fascinating, because I can see why she calls it squiggly, even though to me, now that I'm "older" it just looks like an ordinary 8!
Tonight we went to our neighbor's house to welcome our newest addition to the neighborhood family, a 14 year old adorable foster daughter. It was a fun party, meeting her and getting together with our neighbors who we love! One neighbor in particular cornered me. A delightful and sometimes tiring woman from Panama. She had many things to talk to me about, but she was most interested in finding out whether or not I believe in "signs". Now, most of the time I am caught off guard by my neighbors, so I don't always give the best answer. This time I simply said, "Yes, I do!" Of course, I didn't bother to ask what kind of signs.....
Later on, after she had finished talking to several other neighbors and finished her third or fourth cup of wine, she found me again to fill me in on the signs she has received that began when she was born. Without sharing too much personal information, all I will say is that all of these "signs" are centered around her religion and chance happenings, although some of them may have been a direct result of prayers. Her conclusion was that she feels that God is speaking to her, telling her to leave her suburban church home (which happens to be next to our new church building!) and go to a more beautiful, yet older and poorer church where she really feels that God will use her to help the church there.
I really didn't know what to say after listening for 45 minutes to her story. I wanted to say to her, "Maybe God wants to change YOU in that poor church!" but I can see that she sees things differently than I do. She sees signs directing her to do things, not directing her towards God. She sees signs as a means to getting something for herself as opposed to finding something to give to God. I see signs very differently. When she was finished, she wanted to know what I thought and I simply said, "I think God is trying to direct you towards something - I think you should go!" I am thinking now, "You see squiggly signs and I see an ordinary signs."
There are two problems in this story. First, that she does not have a relationship with Christ that allows her to see the signs as His desire to connect with her. It's a small problem given the fact that He is desperate for her and will continue to pursue her, I have no doubt. Second, that I am so old in my faith that I think I may be missing signs because they look so ordinary to me. It's a big problem because Christ desires for me to come to Him and I lazily am misguided by my selfish ambitions. I am so glad I listened tonight and realized that I need to be more aware of squiggly signs!
Tonight we went to our neighbor's house to welcome our newest addition to the neighborhood family, a 14 year old adorable foster daughter. It was a fun party, meeting her and getting together with our neighbors who we love! One neighbor in particular cornered me. A delightful and sometimes tiring woman from Panama. She had many things to talk to me about, but she was most interested in finding out whether or not I believe in "signs". Now, most of the time I am caught off guard by my neighbors, so I don't always give the best answer. This time I simply said, "Yes, I do!" Of course, I didn't bother to ask what kind of signs.....
Later on, after she had finished talking to several other neighbors and finished her third or fourth cup of wine, she found me again to fill me in on the signs she has received that began when she was born. Without sharing too much personal information, all I will say is that all of these "signs" are centered around her religion and chance happenings, although some of them may have been a direct result of prayers. Her conclusion was that she feels that God is speaking to her, telling her to leave her suburban church home (which happens to be next to our new church building!) and go to a more beautiful, yet older and poorer church where she really feels that God will use her to help the church there.
I really didn't know what to say after listening for 45 minutes to her story. I wanted to say to her, "Maybe God wants to change YOU in that poor church!" but I can see that she sees things differently than I do. She sees signs directing her to do things, not directing her towards God. She sees signs as a means to getting something for herself as opposed to finding something to give to God. I see signs very differently. When she was finished, she wanted to know what I thought and I simply said, "I think God is trying to direct you towards something - I think you should go!" I am thinking now, "You see squiggly signs and I see an ordinary signs."
There are two problems in this story. First, that she does not have a relationship with Christ that allows her to see the signs as His desire to connect with her. It's a small problem given the fact that He is desperate for her and will continue to pursue her, I have no doubt. Second, that I am so old in my faith that I think I may be missing signs because they look so ordinary to me. It's a big problem because Christ desires for me to come to Him and I lazily am misguided by my selfish ambitions. I am so glad I listened tonight and realized that I need to be more aware of squiggly signs!
2 comments:
Wisdom from a five year old. Mirecles happen all around us - just not always the way we think they should be.
Yes - and we are believers in signs, wonders and miracles!
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