To Be Like a Child

Both of us were sitting in window seats. Both of us were waiting for the jet to finish taxiing and take off. She was sitting directly in front of me. She was probably between three and six years old. She stared out the window and  I couldn't help but hear the excited exclamations she made as she observed what was on the other side. She wondered at the lava rock (yes we were in Hawaii). She was excited when the plane begin to pick up speed. Me? I was a silent "boring" adult. Here I sat watching a little girl pour forth excitement and joy over the little things that have become so routine and "normal" to me. To me it was nothing to write home about. To her it was thrilling and sensational. She made me think about being that way in life.

I can imagine that God loves it when I live like that little girl, when I'm excited and thrilled to the nines over the smallest little gifts. He gives me little gifts every day and so often I take them for granted, let alone treat them as if they were the best thing since whipped cream. But I want to be as excited about life and its small joys as that little girl was about a plane picking up speed. I want to find joy in every little thing. I want to be childlike.

What if I lived life with unhindered excitement over the small things and the big things God did in my life? What if I never contained or neatly packaged my joy? What if I was vulnerable and childlike enough that I simply let joy bubble uncontrollably out of my cup of life spilling onto everyone around me? What would life look like? What would my life look like if I lived every day like a child?

Be Still My Soul

The Lord has been speaking to me over the last few months about being still. Sometimes it can be one of the hardest things to do. To be still and not move can be very challenging at times. It grates against our urges to do, move and the impatience buried within us can no longer remain buried in the closet. But I love what the devotional Streams in the Desert says. "God doesn't tell you to be still, sit still or stand still unless He plans to do something." How exciting to be in the place where God is saying to simply, stand still so that He can work on our behalf. There should be a strong expectation in the fact that if the Lord is telling me to not move, than He Himself really wants to move on my behalf. 

There are times when we are forced to stand still because we have no way before us. We have no way back and no way forward. In those trapped places where we feel forsaken by the Lord, it just may be that He is about to open up a way we would have never dreamed possible. Israel experienced this when led to the Red Sea. With an army closing in on them from behind and a vast sea in front of them they told Moses,

"Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so felt with us to take us up out of Egypt?

What does Moses tell them? Look at his response. 

"And Moses said to the people, Do no be afraid. Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace." 

Israel was told to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. In the place where they had no where to go, they were told to simply stand still and see the salvation of God. Sure enough, God was about to do something.

Right after this the Lord tells Moses, "Why do you cry to me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward."  
The miracle of the parting of the red sea occurred before their very eyes and Israel saw the Lord fight for them and deliver them from all their fear. They were able to go forward through a way created by the Lord. 

May we never grow impatience in the stillness. May we never doubt the goodness of the Lord in those times where we have no way forward and no way back. When He says stand still, get ready for it very well may be because He is about to stretch out His arm and reveal His glory in ways no had never thought possible.