The simple reality is that there is a God who is there before us, who is with us and offers us wisdom through His Word and people He's put in our lives. I work with students, and man they are so awesome, and yet I'm amazed at how resilient some of them are. I mean, to go through what they have to go through and yet with child-like faith, they come out the other side. Maybe a little bruised and scratched, but out the other side never the less.
What happened to that when we got older? Why is it when things fall apart or go crazy our first order of business is to look everywhere else? Is it because we are wiser? Or have we just been influenced and conditioned by our American Dream?
As children, it seems that humans have faith in anything and everything. I know I did. I always believed that Earth was a great, exciting place to live, and that life would be awesome. When you believe that, it's easier to trust God. When you realize that life is not always going to be happy and the Earth is not just a playground, things begin to get difficult. We lose that childlike optimism, and gain the adultlike pessimism, I suppose. I guess it's easier to believe and trust in something good, specifically God, when everything seems fun, happy, and generally awesome when one is still a child.
ReplyDeleteJust theorizing....
i think i was flawed growing up...i never had that childlike-optimism you speak of. of course, a big part of that comes from growing up in a severely depressing household where everyone is extremely pessimistic and is constantly telling you that life sucks and it only gets worse...yeah, maybe that's it. maybe those are the people i can blame for the way i am today...
ReplyDeletei really like mike yacconelli's take on childlike faith. it's true that most of us get damaged and bruised along the way, and the callous that builds up pushes away from that innocence and wide-eyed belief. all we can do later on is recognize our own cynicism and ask God to peel back those layers that have built up. a little spiritual exfoliation, if you will.
ReplyDeleteremoving layers isn't usually a painless process, but that long buried self underneath is worth getting to...
one of the biggest obstacles to get over is that self-perception issue. figuring out how we see ourselves, and where that perception starts from. is it from God, or was it formed by our interaction with the world and the flesh?
once you've got that figured out, you can start working with God on digging deep and unearthing that new man (or woman) that He designed you to be in the first place.
I love Mike Yacconelli's straight forward approach to things, one thing is for sure, when we let go of ourselves and look at our reality in the light of God's reality, cool stuff happens.
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