Advent 4 2015 01 Monday

Artist: Fred Mathews

<<I can guarantee this truth: Unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a child like this in my name welcomes me. These little ones believe in me. Don’t ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God’s kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you’ll never get in.>>

The older we get, the harder it is to think like a child, to act like a child, to experience life with open astonishment, to allow ourselves the freedom of simple trust. As children we had a sense of wonder. Our eyes were wide open and drinking in the fascinating gifts we beheld…Our thirsty souls could not have enough of the wonders of creation.

Then life takes over and rent has to be paid and just when you get ahead your tooth falls out or some somagun backs in to you or the coffee pot breaks and it’s not like there’s no time for dreaming, it’s just that anything we ever dreamed of hasn’t come true yet, so why should we expect any good dreams to come true in the future…we just become too weary to dream again and step away from the banquet of life.

The natural gift of wonder God gave us as children was meant to be kept alive.…Instead we let the world and all its cares anesthetize us in to walking through life numb, asleep, possibly to avoid feeling so pain is kept at bay, certainly to avoid disappointment from dreaming any more.
Have you ever been all excited about giving a gift to someone and having them receive it with a dull expression or, even worse, not recognizing the gift or not thanking you at all. It really turns you off from ever gifting them again. Think of how the Universe responds when we walk thankslessly through all the miracles we’re given each moment of our day.

Think too, how the sight of a newborn child, for some, is enough to turn the hardest heart in to mush, and an immediate reaction for many is to start to play with the child on its own level as the child begins to experience the miracles around its own field of perception. Our scriptures bid us over and again, to, Awake! To stay awake ! To keep watch! To Fear Not ! and to Arise and shine, for our light has come, and the glory of God rises upon us.

Let’s make sure we watch for the birth of the Child with the expectation of a small child assured of all the gifts Christmas morning will bring.