I can’t remember when it began that my mother gave dirty hands a bad rap, but
she did. I also remember my grandmother, well into my early twenties,
saying “go wash your hands, dinner is ready.” It was a habit, well into my
thirties, that before sitting at my grandmothers table, I would wash my
hands. It’s not so much the hands now
that I’m seventy; it’s the pants. Bettyann reminds me to “throw those dirty
pants in the hamper,” every day! Well, I
guess that’s all right since I never get anything else dirty or dribble much. I
must say, I am habitual about washing up, at least once a month, whether I need
it or not. But, on the other hand, I realized a long time ago that I am not unlike most children
I’ve observed. They too are born ready to
dig into the mess before them, to experience the sandbox by getting it under
their fingernails and in between their toes, and to delight in life by
generally getting it all over themselves. But, like me, it does not take
long before they learn that dirty fingers and messy faces are not acceptable,
that jumping into mud puddles to experience the warm soft dirt will almost
always come with a reprimand, and that finger-painting is for babies who have
not yet graduated to more refined utensils. I suppose that moving from
child to adult seems to involve cleaning up our act in more ways than one.
I’m realizing that the apostles utilized metaphors of childhood in their letters to newly believing communities. Paul compares our knowledge of God to the process of learning: "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" 1 Corinthians 13:11-12. Peter also encourages new believers to grow in love and knowledge: "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good" 1 Peter 1:2-3.
It may be a little out of the box but from these examples I’m going to conclude that my ways of being childish are behaviors I am being told to out grow. I’ve found it easy to allow my negative perspectives on what is "childish" to inform the way I receive these exhortations involving what is "childlike." Yet far from speaking of childhood negatively, Paul is comparing my current understanding and vision of God to that of a child's, which will encouragingly grow clearer on the day I stand before God face to face. Similarly, Peter is not urging me to grow out of my newborn hunger, but on the contrary is calling me to grow further into it. I’m thinking there are some things in childhood that God would not have me to abandon with age!
Here, I cannot help but wonder how much of life I have forgone as I have misplaced the instinct of getting my hands dirty, and instead learned to perceive the world in detached and more acceptable ways. I think that I’m at the point of believing the same can said of my faith. I know I’ve missed out on things of the kingdom, things of God and of Christ, because I have so ossified faith into something that only touches my spirit or mind, and not hands, feet, and body! Might it be that I have failed to move farther up and further into the kingdom because I’ve been viewing this kingdom as something distant—a future hope for a future time or life—instead of something dynamically here, surrounding me, calling me to a fully engaged, get the hands dirty existence?
I’m realizing that the apostles utilized metaphors of childhood in their letters to newly believing communities. Paul compares our knowledge of God to the process of learning: "When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known" 1 Corinthians 13:11-12. Peter also encourages new believers to grow in love and knowledge: "Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good" 1 Peter 1:2-3.
It may be a little out of the box but from these examples I’m going to conclude that my ways of being childish are behaviors I am being told to out grow. I’ve found it easy to allow my negative perspectives on what is "childish" to inform the way I receive these exhortations involving what is "childlike." Yet far from speaking of childhood negatively, Paul is comparing my current understanding and vision of God to that of a child's, which will encouragingly grow clearer on the day I stand before God face to face. Similarly, Peter is not urging me to grow out of my newborn hunger, but on the contrary is calling me to grow further into it. I’m thinking there are some things in childhood that God would not have me to abandon with age!
Here, I cannot help but wonder how much of life I have forgone as I have misplaced the instinct of getting my hands dirty, and instead learned to perceive the world in detached and more acceptable ways. I think that I’m at the point of believing the same can said of my faith. I know I’ve missed out on things of the kingdom, things of God and of Christ, because I have so ossified faith into something that only touches my spirit or mind, and not hands, feet, and body! Might it be that I have failed to move farther up and further into the kingdom because I’ve been viewing this kingdom as something distant—a future hope for a future time or life—instead of something dynamically here, surrounding me, calling me to a fully engaged, get the hands dirty existence?
"I tell you the truth," Jesus told disciples and on-lookers alike, "unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" Matthew 18:3. I have known for years that neither Christ nor the kingdom He came to make known is a static entity. On the contrary, all of history, the stories of salvation and the incarnation itself, reminds me that God is far more hands-on than I can imagine. The Lamb of God very physically took away the sins of the world. And with a God who is willing to become flesh and dwell among humans, who is willing and able to stand as the gate to another world, would make me believe that I have been called to a faith that is anything less than hands-on as well? Even in his last days, Christ did not merely leave without instructions to remember him as a figure in history. He asked me to remember him, gave me a meal, and left me with a way to bodily take-in the kingdom and the story he proclaimed again and again. Of course, I speak of the bread and cup.
Father, God, I thank you for Christ truly giving me permission to touch, to experience, to jump completely into the great and wonderful kingdom in which You reign! In this kingdom, I am invited to be as a child who delights in knowing life with dirty hands, but who, much like Thomas, at times, needs a loving prod to touch, and like Paul see the need to give mind, soul, and body to the One who gave me all of Himself. Remind me often that the
