"Cause You're Smart!"
A couple of weeks ago i was sitting in my living room watching my three year old playing, trying to keep up with her older sisters and mostly just trying to get a laugh out of us all. As a Dad, it is so fulfilling during those moments to just see your kids playing, having fun, enjoying "being"... So much of life, we are judged and loved conditionally, "what have you done for me lately"... but with our kids, especially when they are little like my Abby, 3 years old, there is nothing that she could possibly do to make me love her more. She's too cute :)
Anyways, I am an affectionate person and enjoy giving and receiving lots of hugs and kisses in our little family. As Abby danced her way around our living room i told her to come over and give Daddy a "big hug". She always asks when we are done, "was that big enough?" Most of the time I say, "no, I need a bigger one", and she will proceed to try and squeeze the air out of my neck if it was possible.
On this occasion, after she hugged me, i said "Abby how do you know that Daddy loves you"... I expected her to say because you tell me, or because you give me big hugs... something like that. Instead she said "Cause you're smart!" :-) Lori was sitting in the room when this happened and we both just laughed and laughed. Of course since she got the laugh, any time I ask her now - "how do you know daddy loves you" she repeats that phrase, "cause you're smart".
Well, as they say... "from the mouth of babes.."
I wanted to write this down for two reasons. One, because these little cute sayings are easy to enjoy, and quickly forgotten. I wish I had written down these kinds of statements from each child. They literally are statements rich with insight and wisdom that can be gained for life.
Secondly, I am deeply concerned about something in the church today. Unity of the brotherhood. Love. They will know we are Christians by our love... Do we understand? The wisdom of a simple statement by my Abby - in essence - Dad, you love me cause it is smart to love me. So simple. So why don't we understand that in the body of Christ, we should love each other because it is a smart thing to do? I mean, what is smart about carrying a grudge? What is smart about packing our closets full of baggage containing the hurts of the past. Bitterness, unforgiveness, pain...
The truth is, the more wisdom we gain, the more of life we experience, the more we realize the truth of Ecclesiastes 1:18 - "in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain." And so we start to think that the "smart" thing to do is to withdraw, to pack it away, to push it into the back of the closet where we can't see it any more. But rare is the person who lives their whole life in the same house. Eventually, we are forced to clean out our closest. And if we don't, you know what happens after we die, those who are left behind have to clean out our closets for us. I've seen it happen at funerals, in my counseling office years after someone has passed away - unresolved relationships. How smart is that?
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!. It is like precious oil upon the head... It is like the dew of Hermon... For there the Lord commanded the blessing - life forever." Psalm 133
That last phrase speaks to me - "life forever". For those of us in the body of Christ, we are going to live together forever. So when do we want to resolve our differences - now in this lifetime, on this planet where we get to choose? Or do we want to wait until we get to heaven and have to wait for Jesus to bring peace. Seriously, why wait?
Why should we love each other? Why should we let go? Why should we forgive? Why should we unpack our closets, empty our old suitcases... because it is smart.
posted by Blackie's Tour @ 1:37 PM
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