Be 10!

Before I get to my topic for this post, let me take care of a few housekeeping items. First, I’d like to acknowledge and apologize for the long gap between posts. The fact is that I’ve been working on some personal goals and self-examination. Writing about issues of faith and spirituality can be daunting at such times. I realize, intellectually at least, that if I offer these humble articles as gifts of love, and if I have faith, then I shouldn’t be afraid to share my thoughts with you, and I shouldn’t entertain thoughts of inadequacy of rhetoric, style, or tone. I was just looking at some stats and it appears that I drifted away at exactly the wrong time. I was blessed to receive 183 views of this site in the first week of February. That is probably a small number in the vast universe that is social media presence, but it’s a big deal to me. I hope a large percentage of that 183 will return when they see that there is finally some new content. More than that, I ask always for your prayers; if you are reading this, please consider keeping this blog and its author in your daily prayers. I shall, in return, pray earnestly for all of you. Second, I just want to let you know that, for now anyway, I’m not going to write about the current scandals facing the Church. I don’t pretend to be a religious journalist, and pretty much everyone from Rome to Madison Avenue to Jakarta has opined on what happened, what should happen, and what they think is going to happen. I don’t feel that I have anything cogent to offer on the subject. I will pray—hard—for the victims and I encourage you do to so as well.

Alright, then! I’m back and I hope you are as well. May the Grace and Peace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, which passes all understanding, be with you all. Now: today’s topic.

When one really steps back and takes a breath and a broad view of the relationship one has with Our Lord, it becomes clear that we humans are complicated, but Christ’s love for us is really very simple and direct. We were all created in God’s image, but we were not created to be co-divine. That might sound obvious, but it is an important point. We are imperfect beings that are nonetheless objects of perfect love. That is probably why we often refer to ourselves as “children of God,” and not “brothers and sisters to God.” We don’t always act that way, though. We kick around concepts of religion and theology like they are vast, complex, and very “grown-up” issues. The truth is that religion might get you a book deal, and theology might get you a teaching gig, but salvation is an outpouring of God’s Grace in the form of Christ’s love for all of us and his passion on the cross. We can wrestle with didactic arguments if it makes us feel important, but I think that we would be better served by making ourselves “10-years-old for Christ.”

One of the many blessings in my life are the group of my adopted nieces and nephews. Mostly, these are the children of very close friends who are now more like family. One of them is my adorable goddaughter who is still a toddler, another is a wife and mother of her own toddler now, and still another will be confirmed this year and has honored me by asking me to be her sponsor (a decision she might now regret, because if I’m your sponsor, I’m picking you up every Sunday morning to go with me to Mass). This morning I got to spend some time with yet another neat person who calls me “Uncle Paul.” Her mother had an early appointment, so I was tapped to be on hand to ensure that she got on the school bus safely. She was already up and moving when I arrived. She had her breakfast, washed her face and combed her hair, picked out her outfit and got dressed, checked over her homework, made sure she had all important books and papers in her backpack, took the dog out to do its business, secured said dog in its day-crate, retrieved her lunch, closed and locked up the house, and headed to the driveway to wait for the school bus. I must admit that I was wondering what the heck I was doing there. She certainly didn’t need my help for anything. I was, of course, security. I was an adult presence there in case of any unforeseen issue and so I could make sure that she got on the bus safely. She didn’t need me in any tangible way, but she could be comfortable in the fact that I was there; that I was watching over her. I reminded her that I work from home, so I am always nearby and asked her if she had my cell phone number in case of an emergency and she confirmed that she did. In the midst of the small talk while we were waiting for the bus, she paused and looked up at me and said in a discernibly serious tone, “Tomorrow, I’m going to be 10 years old.” I was struck with a real sense that she was in tune with the fact that she isn’t a baby anymore. She is a person with a strong sense of identity and self-awareness, but she also understands that she’s still a kid, and she needs the security and stability that the adults in her life provide.

It is a relatively non-eventful anecdote, but I share it with you because I think it provides a metaphor for the way God can act in our daily lives. If through prayer and other means, we tune ourselves into the security and stability of Grace, then we can go about our daily responsibilities efficiently and earnestly, because we have that sense that Christ is with us and God is always there. I want to be 10 again for Christ. I think Christ opens us to the freedom of being loved at that level. Sin is the unforeseen incident, and God is the adult in the room that, through Christ, removes the obstacles so we can get back to living normally and healthfully. I want to be 10 again for Christ. Take a second and think about your best friend in 5^th grade. I’ll bet you are smiling. At 10, one’s personality is developed enough that deep and sincere relationships can bond and form, but one is still young enough that much of the flotsam and jetsam that creeps into our lives in our teen years hasn’t hit yet. I want to learn to love all the people in my life the way that my niece loves her dog, her best friend, her family, and unicorns. I want to feel the sense of safety and security she feels when her dad gets home, or when her Uncle Paul is there to make sure she gets on the bus okay. I want to be 10 again for Christ. I want to understand deeply that I am always welcome in the house of the Lord, and that I can be me, and that I don’t have to prove anything to Christ. This is the true power that Christ gifts to us through the cross. Not the power to conquer nations or build huge ministries or massive churches. We can do those things, and He can be our guide and our strength in all endeavors. But I want to be 10 again for Christ. I want to shake off the bothersome and nagging adult issues that try so hard to pull us away from our relationship with the Lord. I want to be 10 again for Christ, and I want to hear with a 10-year-old’s ears, and believe with a 10-year-old’s faith, and love with a 10-year-old’s heart when I hear Christ Jesus say, “Remember that I will be with you always; even unto the end of the age.” I pray that all of you will reconnect with your own inner 10-year-old as well. It’s good to be back on the blog. Thanks for reading my humble musings. Believe that you are special and worthy of love because God made you who you are, and Christ loves you very much, and may God bless us, protect us from all evil, and bring us to everlasting life.