I live with a family of 2 adults and 4 kiddos. (I say "a" family but I feel like they are just as much my own as the one I was born into.) The kids range in age from 13 down to 1 year. It isn't often through my own hectic schedule that I get a lot of one on one time with the kids, but recently I got some with Sam-the 4 year old. Sam has a HUGE imagination and LOVES to play. It's typical to be in the kitchen or living room and hear low mumbles and voices coming from a nearby area-and it's Sam, playing alone with his toys lost in a wonderful and magical world he's created. It never fails to make me giggle.
To be invited into this world is an honor, as well as challenging. The whole, fake it til you make it, strategy does not always work with small children because they can spot a fake a mile away. Well, this particular day I had a lot of energy, some free time, and my imagination was in just the right place to take on Sam's world for a while. We started play time having simple conversations back and forth from the dinosaur he was holding to the plush jack-o-lantern that I was holding. That simple dialogue led to Jack-O-Lantern arresting Gorilla and throwing him in jail because he was eating his friends. So of course Gorilla needed a lawyer to help him out of his bind, which is how Dinosaur got involved. It was so funny where his imagination would lead (and comical that my 24 year old body with the imagination of a 4 year old was just as much into it of not more than Sam was!)
After play time we decided to clean up. It took some coaxing, but we made clean up a game so it would be much more fun! While cleaning up we had a "Dino Hunt"--not with Dinosaur being hunted but instead, doing the hunting. I gave Sam and Dino the specifications of an object, and they had to look for it. We started off simple with just color.
Bring me something green.
Bring me something blue.
Bring me something that is red and black.
Then we got a little more challenging and added size.
Bring me something small.
Bring me something medium.
Bring me something large.
Then we added the 2.
Bring me something red and small.
Bring me something medium and green.
Bring me something big and brown.
After color and size, we moved on to shapes.
Bring me something square.
Bring me something shaped like a circle.
Bring me something shaped like a circle.
After color, size, and shape got old we moved on to objects that would make Sam have to think a little before instantly reacting.
Bring me something you would wear outside.
Bring me something you might make a tent out of.
Bring me something that you can dig with.
Bring me something that doesn't belong to you.
This game went over so well, and Sam learned while he was having fun. It isn't always though that I can get his attention to play a learning type of game. And the more I thought about it while playing with him, the more I realized that is probably how God feels about me. There are so many things in this world that distract us....and just when it seems like we've conquered one, another pops up.
I feel the most loved by God when I see the lessons He is trying to teach me. Because in those moments I know that I am present with Him and growing the way He designed me to. And just like with Sam, I know I am getting attention and loved on-even if being taught something at the same time. But there are moments in my life, and often because I am so busy and my schedule is ever-changing, that I feel like a 4 year old. Like I am running around in my underwear in the living room with the cartoons up loud hitting the furniture and younger siblings yelling crazy things that don't make sense. And I don't like that feeling in my life at all.
I am tender hearted, and a very sensitive gal. When I don't feel God near, it breaks my heart. I know that He is ALWAYS near....so when I don't feel Him, I often know it's because I am doing something in my life that is separating me from feeling Him as closely as I had. Or being able to receive His love that He is ALWAYS pouring out on me.
I prayed a simple prayer tonight. To experience the miracles, the overwhelming encounter of the Holy Spirit, and the things I know other radical believers get to experience. We are one body-I know this. But I can't help feeling sad for myself (instead of sharing in their victory), when they get to experience God's glory and I seem to be missing it. And not only missing it, but unaware why.
So I will continue to seek God-to let Him teach me. I will attempt in my poor human capacity to rid my life of distractions that hinder me from seeing the glory of God in these miraculous ways that connect the physical realm to the spiritual. And I will continue letting Him use me and my voice to spread a message. I encourage you to stop everyday and take a look at what God has been doing in your life-because I guarantee there is a lesson in there that maybe we've all been missing for quite a while. The great thing about God's lessons during play time is that He doesn't stop at shapes, sizes, and colors...because it might be too "challenging"--He challenges us always to continue learning and growing and surrendering to His will. So where sometimes I feel defeated, I KNOW Truth and God's word says He will never be done using me or teaching me or loving me.
In Him,
Meg
