Cora's Jesus
My one-and-a-half year old is challenging my faith. Not in the way you'd expect, although she has those moments too. She's challenging me to look differently at my own faith and love for God. She has been absolutely in love with her Bible for months (and I can only thank her Sunday school teacher who seems to have instilled that love in all of her little students). It's somewhat foreign to me, that passionate love that she has. I like my Bible, and I do appreciate the times I gain insight from it. I do believe it's the Word of God, but it's too often just another book to me. But Cora. She clings to her little Bible, carrying it around the house with her, sitting down and opening its pages like she's in awe of its contents. I know she's so small. I know she can't possibly understand completely what she's doing. She can't even read the words she finds there. But she's made me stop and think. Why don't I love my Bible like that? Why don't I sit down and open it with a sense of awe, expectant that God will speak through the words on the page?
This past week she learned to say "Jesus." I wish I could somehow convey the sound of her little voice when she says it. There's excitement, depth, and a babyish love, like it is and always will be her favorite word. I almost cried the first time she said it. I've never felt that way about him. I love God, and I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit. I have an easy time wrapping my mind around both of them. But Jesus? I sometimes think I've left him somewhere two thousand years behind me. I'm grateful for what he did, but his power in my life has so often been past tense. But Cora. I know she's too young to understand completely, but she has grasped something I've never come close to attaining. She loves Jesus. The sound of her little voice when she says his name reminds me of so many hymns of others who have clung to him, who have understood that his power and presence in our lives continue daily.
She's making me look at my faith a little differently. So much of my walk with God has been consumed by a sense of duty. But her very early experiences are different. They're driven by love. And isn't that the heart of the Gospel? I knew having children would shape me, and they've taught me so much already. But I will never cease to be amazed at the things I learn, even at such a young age, from my precious children. There's a reason Jesus said that we must be like them to grasp the kingdom of God...
This past week she learned to say "Jesus." I wish I could somehow convey the sound of her little voice when she says it. There's excitement, depth, and a babyish love, like it is and always will be her favorite word. I almost cried the first time she said it. I've never felt that way about him. I love God, and I'm so thankful for the Holy Spirit. I have an easy time wrapping my mind around both of them. But Jesus? I sometimes think I've left him somewhere two thousand years behind me. I'm grateful for what he did, but his power in my life has so often been past tense. But Cora. I know she's too young to understand completely, but she has grasped something I've never come close to attaining. She loves Jesus. The sound of her little voice when she says his name reminds me of so many hymns of others who have clung to him, who have understood that his power and presence in our lives continue daily.
She's making me look at my faith a little differently. So much of my walk with God has been consumed by a sense of duty. But her very early experiences are different. They're driven by love. And isn't that the heart of the Gospel? I knew having children would shape me, and they've taught me so much already. But I will never cease to be amazed at the things I learn, even at such a young age, from my precious children. There's a reason Jesus said that we must be like them to grasp the kingdom of God...
