Ceiling Secrets and Favorite Parts of Prayers
We love chicken here in Newnan, Georgia. There's a chicken joint on almost every corner and it's all fried. Mic and I were frequenting one the other day and I made a friend. At Zaxby's, there's this sunroom area with a glass ceiling (as is custom with sunrooms) like the ones you find in a lot of Wendy's. The difference is, they've put an awning over the glass on the outside to block the sun. The effect is, when you sit in the sunroom, you can look up and see your reflection in the glass. And if you want to be nosy, you can watch people at other tables in the reflection and they never even know it...unless they've taken the time to look up and discover the secret.
We don't go out much anymore, so Mic and I spent some time just sitting and talking after we'd finished eating and that's when I met my friend. She was probably about three years old and, being imaginative, had looked up and discovered the ceiling secret. She was having a great time looking at herself and I was just sitting there, waiting for her to discover that she could see me too. It didn't take long and then it became this game as she'd cross the restaurant, we'd wave and smile and play peek-a-boo in the glass and then she'd go back to her family's table. She did it a few times and her parents caught on...or at least they thought so. When she'd come over, she'd point up in the reflection and say, "come see the girl, come see the girl!" They'd smile at her silly game and come retrieve her, telling her that she could see her reflection at their table, too. She'd come running back, pointing up, "come see the girl, come see the girl!" They'd come over, look up at her reflection, say they saw her (their daughter) and take her back again to show her the other reflection over their own table.
They didn't get it. They underestimated her. They couldn't look past the blatant reality to see that there was much more to the game. She wasn't "the girl" - I was. And because they wouldn't take the time to really understand and listen to her because afterall, she's just a silly little girl playing a game, they never figured it out.
I wonder how often we do that to kids. We watch their imaginations at work, smile at it condescendingly, and then belittle it and dismiss it as silliness. We do it so much that, by the time they're adults, they think it's silly to be creative and imaginative and to live from the heart themselves.
I'm reading Waking the Dead by John Eldredge right now and it's one of those books that I want to read just one sentence at a time so that I can remember what he's saying and meditate on it. I just read one of those cool paragraphs and it made me think of these two stories of little girls.
Go fall in love then. Do something heroic; save someone's life. Spend a month in some breathtaking spot, doing nothing productive at all. Take up painting. Have yourself a good laugh - the kind that sends tears down your face and makes you grip your side for the ache of it. Listen to a beautiful piece of music. Live with courage. Tuck your child into bed; listen to her prayers; kiss her cheek. Find God.
Then you will remember again that the heart is central. Not the mind, not the will. The heart.
Listen to her prayers...the other little girl lives in Indiana.
We had gone to some friends' house for dinner while we were home over Christmas. Their youngest daughter is four and full of imagination. As we sat down to eat, she announced that she wanted to pray for the food. And then she entered into this great conversation with God, right in front of us. There was nothing flowery or formal about it. It was just talking with a friend. There was an extra chair at the table and we had joked at one point that it was for Jesus. Well, in the prayer, she told Jesus that we had put a seat there for him to join us and that she hoped he had a good time. It was awesome!
But the best was after she had said amen and we all opened our eyes. She smiled and said, "what was your favorite part?" It was as if she was saying, "you were just witness to someone pure of heart talking with their Creator. I let you in on it - which part of the imagination and innocence moved your heart the most?" We each took our turns, going around the table, letting her know.
I hope I can live like that. Looking up into the glass and seeing things that others dismiss too easily. And talking one on one with Someone I can't see but who is as real as the guy sitting next to me in the empty chair.
Don't forget to find God.
We don't go out much anymore, so Mic and I spent some time just sitting and talking after we'd finished eating and that's when I met my friend. She was probably about three years old and, being imaginative, had looked up and discovered the ceiling secret. She was having a great time looking at herself and I was just sitting there, waiting for her to discover that she could see me too. It didn't take long and then it became this game as she'd cross the restaurant, we'd wave and smile and play peek-a-boo in the glass and then she'd go back to her family's table. She did it a few times and her parents caught on...or at least they thought so. When she'd come over, she'd point up in the reflection and say, "come see the girl, come see the girl!" They'd smile at her silly game and come retrieve her, telling her that she could see her reflection at their table, too. She'd come running back, pointing up, "come see the girl, come see the girl!" They'd come over, look up at her reflection, say they saw her (their daughter) and take her back again to show her the other reflection over their own table.
They didn't get it. They underestimated her. They couldn't look past the blatant reality to see that there was much more to the game. She wasn't "the girl" - I was. And because they wouldn't take the time to really understand and listen to her because afterall, she's just a silly little girl playing a game, they never figured it out.
I wonder how often we do that to kids. We watch their imaginations at work, smile at it condescendingly, and then belittle it and dismiss it as silliness. We do it so much that, by the time they're adults, they think it's silly to be creative and imaginative and to live from the heart themselves.
I'm reading Waking the Dead by John Eldredge right now and it's one of those books that I want to read just one sentence at a time so that I can remember what he's saying and meditate on it. I just read one of those cool paragraphs and it made me think of these two stories of little girls.
Go fall in love then. Do something heroic; save someone's life. Spend a month in some breathtaking spot, doing nothing productive at all. Take up painting. Have yourself a good laugh - the kind that sends tears down your face and makes you grip your side for the ache of it. Listen to a beautiful piece of music. Live with courage. Tuck your child into bed; listen to her prayers; kiss her cheek. Find God.
Then you will remember again that the heart is central. Not the mind, not the will. The heart.
Listen to her prayers...the other little girl lives in Indiana.
We had gone to some friends' house for dinner while we were home over Christmas. Their youngest daughter is four and full of imagination. As we sat down to eat, she announced that she wanted to pray for the food. And then she entered into this great conversation with God, right in front of us. There was nothing flowery or formal about it. It was just talking with a friend. There was an extra chair at the table and we had joked at one point that it was for Jesus. Well, in the prayer, she told Jesus that we had put a seat there for him to join us and that she hoped he had a good time. It was awesome!
But the best was after she had said amen and we all opened our eyes. She smiled and said, "what was your favorite part?" It was as if she was saying, "you were just witness to someone pure of heart talking with their Creator. I let you in on it - which part of the imagination and innocence moved your heart the most?" We each took our turns, going around the table, letting her know.
I hope I can live like that. Looking up into the glass and seeing things that others dismiss too easily. And talking one on one with Someone I can't see but who is as real as the guy sitting next to me in the empty chair.
Don't forget to find God.
posted by Joy at
11:38 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home