The Kingdom as a Child

I am taking a side trip this morning, off the track of narratives we tell, in response to a post from a fellow Solitary of Lindisfarne, whose unusual interpretation of an all-too-familiar verse from the Bible has got my wheels going.

Here's the quote: "...whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." (Mark 10:15)  And mostly we think of the "child" as the person receiving the Kingdom.  But what if the Kingdom IS the child???  Hmmm...

Here's where this brand new thought takes me.  A child enters your life as a complete surprise - no matter who you thought this little person would be, she will be completely her own self.  So, I suspect, does God's Realm - no matter how lovely our preconceptions of it are, it is God's sovereign will that is completely its own, and we will be surprised when we encounter it.

When a child enters your life, everything you thought you knew about life, about yourself, about being an adult, is turned upside down.  You see through new eyes, find patience and strength you never knew you had, learn to ask for help because you can't be everything to everyone for 24 hours a day. So it is with God's Realm - no matter how religious you are, or how often you pray, God's actual presence knocks the stuffing out of you.  And that's generally a good thing.

When a child enters your life, it demands that you be your very best self.  No slacking, no pretending, no cutting corners.  Children see through your pretenses (kinda like God does) right to your very soul.  You stretch yourself to be what they see, fully and completely.  As does, of course, God.

A child in your life is both pure presence, and pure potential.  We love them both for who they are right now - demanding, charming, and completely "here" - and for who they will become - the infinite possibilities that lie ahead.  So, too, with God's Realm.  It is completely present, completely here, and filled with infinite possibility.  And that gives me hope.  As do the children in my life.

Thanks, Leah, for getting me onto something really interesting!  Blessings.