1 John 3:1

(“Children of Light” by Anne Marie Oborn)

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are..."

This image stands in my mind of a Child looking up to his Father with shining and expectant eyes. "What's next, daddy, what's next!?"

"Patience my child." Father says, as He strokes the young one's cheek. "I am going to show you great and unsearchable things!"

In complete trust, and the peace of innocence, he lays his head down and rests in the Father's lap.

It is imprinted in my mind of this boy expecting something from his Father. Something Great. And marvelous. He is expecting a vision. Or a gift. Or an adventure.

This image has had a deep impression on me in the last few months. I've felt older, with more obligations and impending expectations of adult life. But amidst the buzz of life, I feel I've grown to an understanding of God as the Father, as he has been saying to me "Kalli, be my child."

When I got home from Oklahoma, I had a conversation with Bethany about my optimism. I had had several conversations with my mother about the World, and where it is going. We had been discussing along the lines of this verse in Habakkuk 2:

Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?

They troubled and stimulated me. In spite of these conversations, I maintained a perpetual hope. No matter how my nest was stirred, I felt confidence in the goodness of the Lord.

Reflecting on the possibilities of my future, I told her, "Bethany, life is so full and vibrant!"

She just smiled at me. And we continued to discuss the possibilities of maintaining such a pure and positive outlook.

It reminded me of one of my friends. One time we were having coffee, and I told her this exact same thing about feeling like I could be a child forever. "I'm so excited for life, to learn, to grow, and be challenged."

She sat back in her chair and started laughing hysterically.
"What!?" I asked... "Why are you laughing?"
She said, "That's so sad."

She was not the first one who had that reaction to my optimistic outlook.
It is almost hard for me to understand. She had been through a lot. In fact she used be like me, and she saw herself in me as we had coffee. She knew I would have to face the world eventually, and be beaten and wounded as she had. She saw me with this optimism, and couldn't help but laugh, perhaps to cover up the hurt.

I felt like a child would when you tell them that one day the sun is going to explode, and life and happiness will cease to exist. I asked: Is becoming jaded inevitable?

Honestly, I didn't know what to think. But in a strange way, this friend's reaction encouraged me.

I've been protected by angels of the Lord all my life. I experienced loss as a child without a mother, which in turn shaped my view of the Holy Spirit as distant at first, but since August 15 2006, there has been no loss in my heart in that area. Mother in God has been near, Father God, close. Jesus, my best friend. In ignorance of my family's woes, I maintained innocence. It was as if God protected me from knowing things in my early years... he carried all the burdens for me... and finally when he knew for sure I could bear the knowledge, he revealed the mysteries of my past. All in his timing.

I often puzzle at this working of the Lord, how it was really him who shaped me to have this outlook of life. I didn't choose my parents or the circumstances in which I was raised. He did. Though mysterious, it explains why I am the way I am.

This friend encouraged me in the way that I was assured that this childlikeness was a blessing of the Lord. That I have not maintained this by my own hand. A child is what I am, nothing I do will ever make me not His child. Though, one day I may wake up and everything I hold dear will be gone, knowing the Father is a God who gives, but also one who takes away. It might place me in a state of extreme poverty physically or spiritually, with a broken or hardened heart-- but I will always remain His child.

The everlasting God is a refuge, and underneath you are his eternal arms.
Deuteronomy 33:27

What does it mean, to be a child in practical living?

Life isn't always perfect, nor will I always live in blissful ignorance. My nest will be stirred and I will face the storms and tribulations. Childlikeness means remaining expectant only on the plans of the Lord and sitting at his feet in spite of the things going on around. Being a child is a matter of maintaining unutterable trust.

Do you remember the faith you had as a child? Do you remember your imagination, how you would believe nearly anything? Being a child is a matter of knowing what pleases your Father and doing it. Remain in His arms and in His love.

There will always be an element of mystery in Jesus' words "The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" but for those of us who remember what its like to sit in our father's lap, we can imagine. You can never be to big or too wise for Him to welcome you into his lap. As much as we ever try to be anything else, we will remain His child. Because we live by faith and not by works, we cannot do anything to become saints; the truth is that we are. Being a child is a matter of standing upon the truth that you simply are.

No matter how much knowledge of the world he gives us, we must surrender. No matter how much responsibility it seems that he is putting on us, we must have unutterable trust in Him. No matter how much of a wise and learned grownup you think He is making you, always retreat to His arms.

The Lord seems to delight in making wise the foolish of the world, and shining in the the paupers, and those who are looked down upon. It is his mysterious, but glorious way.

"I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure."