Tuesday, November 29, 2022
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Relax, rejoice, and be childlike
Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit.
I mistyped and it came out Holly Spirit.
Jasper and I unpacked several boxes of Christmas food, decorations and gifts yesterday, and neither of us ever got enough of it. We put little Elizabethan houses on our decorative shelves, and we made hot cocoa bombs with George for part of our lunch together. We brought in two rolling carts of boxes, and opened one after another.
Then we made sausage and blueberry waffles, and drank George’s “super-natural” eggnog. We finished off some shrimp cocktail. Finally came the cocoa bombs and strawberry ice cream.
I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned, you have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father such has been your gracious will.
Jasper and I told a story to each other about the Paw Patrol Fire Rescue Squad, and as the story wound down, so did we. I think we were asleep in the same instant – Jasper in his red, zippered, Batman sleeping bag and me right beside him.
The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a Spirit of counsel and of strength, a Spirit of knowledge and of fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.
We woke with a bang, not a whimper, and took off in our rocket (looks like a white Prius) for Austin Classical School. Miles’ chess club was as fun and wacky as ever. He played Tennessee again. Miles got three queens this time, but lost them all, and when all he had left was his king, he tipped it over and said, “I resign.” Their unedited joyful laughter and shouts of triumph when either of them captured a piece makes me want to change my own chess playing to be less thoughtful and more aggressive. Let the game come to us both. Leave it all out on the board. Feel the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!
Jesus said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. Many prophets and kings wanted to see, but did not see it, and wanted to hear, but did not hear it.”
And why? Jesus had not yet appeared. But those prophets and kings also just tried too hard. They lost their “childlikeness.” They thought too much and tried to figure it out themselves. They couldn’t just wait till God did what only God could do. They got ahead of God and tried to do it themselves.
I do too. Of course. But on days like yesterday, surrounded by literal and figurative childlikeness, I do less of that tiresome and nasty getting ahead of God. I sit more patiently, wait longer, and laugh with less restraint at myself and the joyful humor all around me.
The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, and the lion will eat hay like the ox. The infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
 (Isaiah 11, Psalm 72, Luke 10)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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