The Spirit Moves In Wondrous Ways

Accompanying a family into the NICU, they had asked for prayer for their newborn preemie with congenital issues, the 5-year-old brother peering into the incubator for a closer look at his baby sister flashed a big smile and said, “She’s perfect.”  As a Chaplain we are taught that it’s ok to cry with family, just not louder or longer; thank goodness.

Allow me to share something that I have struggled with understanding over the years.  Recently, I’ve written several posts that speak about trust as central to faith and a key to letting go of attachments that are not conducive to achieving our ultimate concerns.  However, I have never perceived trust or faith as being blind; as reasoning creatures we should use our gift of insight to help discern and guide our decisions, actions, and beliefs.  Decisions based on internet trends, number of likes, or what we hear from our favorite news source do not qualify as using reason.  So where is my struggle, you ask?  As rational, reasoning beings, how am I to understand Jesus’ message in the Gospels about having the faith, humility, and trust of a child?   

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

 - Matthew 18:3-4

As with the NICU example above, where I witnessed childlike trust abound was working as the Chaplain in a children’s hospital.  It was there that I met numerous children who were wise beyond their years; children who were pillars of courage and strength when parents, grandparents, and others around them were crumbling in the wake of terrible news regarding the child’s prognosis.  With those children, their trust, their faith, was neither reasoned nor blind – how then to explain and understand it? 

Then recently, I experienced a God moment while exploring my daily devotional reading:

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

 - Proverbs 3:5-6

If not the answer, this was an answer to my query; letting go of our insights/reason and trusting with all our heart is by no means blind faith.  Being childlike, it seems, is all about connecting mind with heart. Having the heart of a child means putting aside religious inhibitions so that the spiritual depths of our humanity can be brought into the light, exposed, and explored uninhibited.  For an adult, it may seem easier said than done.  But have you watched a child play lately?  When my grandsons get out their little dinosaurs or super-hero action figures they create and enter the world of imagination; it’s really quite beautiful to watch. Employing an active imagination and detaching inhibitions can be liberating, thereby removing any obstacles getting in the way of trusting God with all our heart. 

A few days before my mother passed away, she told us she had a dream; it was a vision of brightly lit gates and beyond those gates were beautiful gardens.  In those gardens were dozens of children, playing, running, laughing; she could hear their laughter.  What joy, to think, to know, to trust, that she is with those children now; how blessed, and how fitting for a loving mother and grandmother such as she.

And I say that if a man had climbed to the stars

And found the secrets of the angels,

The best thing and the most useful thing he could do

Would be to come back and romp with children.

 - G.K. Chesterton (excerpt from his poem North Berwick)

Next, in Part II, we explore more deeply the Gospel phrase, “whoever humbles himself like a child.”

Reflection questions:

1. When Jesus says we must “become like children,” what does that mean to you?  What helps you achieve that disposition?  How do you balance this with adult responsibilities?
2. Check out this article from the C.S. Lewis Institute on The Importance of Childlike Faith in the Workplace.  The article addresses “Exhibiting the attributes of a childlike faith can not only lead to effectiveness in the workplace, but also serve as an effective witness to our faith.” Can you imagine a workplace, let alone a world, where that was the accepted norm? 
3. https://www.cslewisinstitute.org/resources/the-importance-of-childlike-faith-in-the-workplace/#:~:text=Childlike%20Faith%20Asks%20Questions&text=They%20have%20no%20worry%20about,and%20to%20learn%20the%20truth.

Scripture References

Matthew 18:3-4     Proverbs 3:5-6