Joy In Our Hearts
I keep on thinking the kids will get tired of going to the monastery, but they never do. They always find “something more” that intrigues them. They experience pure joy from running down the hill and greeting the geese at the bottom of the lake. They squeal when they see the water fountain from across the field and start running towards it screaming, “waterfall!!!”
Each time they go I think they enjoy it a little more. Each time we go they help us discover something new that maybe our eyes missed the time before. Yesterday we noticed the sky blue stained glass windows in the church. This time we found a courtyard with a “secret garden.”
As we were walking outside the kids were skipping in front of me, giggling as they experienced the joy of discovering “something more” at the monastery. To my surprise they were not bored. They were not unimpressed. They were giddy and curious, completely amused by their surroundings.
Much like God does, He is always teaching me spiritual lessons through my little ones. On the drive home a quote from Sam Storms came to mind. “Worship without wonder is lifeless and boring. Many have lost their sense of awe and amazement when it comes to God. Having begun with the arrogant presumption of knowing about God all that one can, they reduce Him to manageable terms and confine Him to a tidy theological box, the dimensions of which conform to their predilections of what a god ought to be and do."
God isn’t boring. God isn’t dull. But I think the way some of us live others assume Christianity is stale and old. I have been praying that God would restore to me the childlike wonder and curiosity in knowing Him and being known by Him. The same One who put the stars in the sky and nourishes the earth with rain, desires a relationship with you and me. The same One who created the very fiber of our DNA and fashioned cells together to form human beings, desires a relationship with you and me. There is nothing dull about that. Let’s ask God to light that fire in our hearts, and help us be excited and joyful Christians who spread the love and light of Jesus everywhere we go.