childlike faith

Tonight, I went to see one of my Young Life girl's play at CDO high school. It was, "All I Really Need to Know I Learned In Kindergarten." It was such a cute play and I feel like I actually learned a lot. It really made me think, it was grounding. It is so true that we learn so many valuable things at that age that carry us through life, or should at least. It is sad that we lose sight of how we lived life back when we were 5. Everything was so wonderful back then, so pure, so simple. The play made me miss being 5. Made me miss dressing up, playing house, learning so many new things, being friends with anyone and everyone, and just loving life. I don't know about you, but it's been a while since I've been able to enjoy the simple things of life and just live, laugh, and love with such ease. It seems like I am always caught up in the business of life.

While I was thinking about missing the simplicity of life, it made me think about faith. I feel like along with growing up, our faith can also be an area where we lose sight of the simplicity. Sure, there are parts of Christianity... stories in the bible, trying to fathom the greatness of God, trying to fit in the time to have quiet times, etc. that can get complicated. But when it comes down to it, I think that our faith in God should be simple and it is simple. We believe that he is God, that he is good, and that he is Love. John 15:4 "If you remain in me, I will remain in you." It's that simple, if we remain in him, he will remain in us. Too often, I think we let life take over. We let our selfishness take over. We let things of this world take over. Sometimes, we even get caught up in our faith being complicated. But what if we made it a point everyday to just simply love the Lord and love others..... to remember that our faith in God is a beautiful, simple, thing.

There are many instances in the Bible where God talks about childlike faith. I was listening to this song by Rush of Fools called "Holy One" and these lyrics just jumped out at me:

All other noises fade away
Like all of the fear when your voice I hear
You're beckoning me to just come and be
A child at your feet seeing your need for thee

The play tonight, this song, and verse 15 from Mark 10 ("Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it at all.") all bring me back to this beautiful idea of childlike faith. God is calling us to look at him through the eyes of child, with wonder, amazement, obedience. When we were 5, we trusted everyone and we looked at the world with wonder and amazement. How great would it be to live simply like that again and love God in that same way? Let's all make it a point today, this week, or whenever we remember to live like we are 5 again. Even though life is messy, complicated, busy, and complex.... let's try to live simply, love simply, believe simply, and embrace the simple things in life that make us smile : ]