Left Behind?

As I sit in my pew on a Sunday afternoon I am thankful. There are many things I'm thankful for, of course, but this particular moment I'm thankful we're a small 'country' congregation. We're family and friends here at our particular group. If we're family, we're friendly family, and if we're friends, we're friendly friends.

I digress, however, because where I am thankful for our relationships here, it is brought on as I see on the floor toward the front of the building something, perhaps a coat or a sweater that some little person has left behind in their dash to their pew (or was it to the rest room?).

As apparently is true for most women one thought leads to another. I began to muse on the idea of age, time, life, and how many things we as human beings 'leave behind'. Step by step as we grow older we leave our younger self behind. Some of those things are better left behind.  In growing older  we learn to walk, run, dress ourselves, social behaviors, and so on until eventually we learn to be an adult. As adults we leave things behind, and not all of it is childish behavior and not all should be left behind. The scripture tells us two aspects of these things. This first one is becoming a responsible adult:

• "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11 ASV)

Childish behaviors are things we ought to put away. On the flip side, there are several aspects of little children we should retain. 

• Matthew 18:2 "And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, 3)  and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4)  Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." 

• Mark 10:14  "But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me; forbid them not: for to such belongeth the kingdom of God. 15)  Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein." 

• Luke 18:17  "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein." 

The aspect here is that children are teachable, receptive, and humble. As we become adults we often leave behind humility. Some other things we leave behind are: faith, trust, love and kindness. We lose our sense of wonder at the creations of God—the world in which we live, and the creatures that God formed and placed here. We lose the ability to ask how and why things work. Life settles in and we get set in our ways, but the saddest is when we lose our ability to dream. The ability to enjoy the small pleasures in our lives. We can't fully enjoy the larger things in our lives until we learn the lesson of enjoying the smaller things. The phrase 'carpe diem' means to seize the moment—Not to diminish the future, but to savor what we are blessed with at the moment.

It is easy to become sarcastic, to see life through cynical eyes—Eyes of doubt, distrust, and disbelief. We need to put that away. Leave that behind.

The story is told of a father checking on his young son one morning. He reached the hall just outside his son's bedroom as his son opened his eyes and sat up. The first word out of his mouth that morning was, "WOW" as he stared at the world around him. This struck a chord in the father's heart. When he retold the story he encouraged his audience to have a child's heart and a child's eyes. 

Hallelujah! What a Savior!