Childlike Faith

I am currently an aunt to two nephews and two nieces. My closest brother, 16 years my senior, married, and honored me with the title "aunt". This is a big word for me, especially at 12 years old when I first learned I would soon be wearing the name. But nonetheless, 4 years later, it's a title I wouldn't turn over for the world. When Sophia was born, I thought my heart would burst with joy. Then Asher came 2 years later, and I was one of the first to hold him. As my past 4 years being an aunt they have taught me more than I have learned in my entire 16 years on this planet. And one of those lessons is this: faith. We hear it at church all the time, that we must have childlike faith to enter the kingdom of heaven. This was not fully put into perspective for me until just recently, when I was babysitting for my brother and Sophia wanted me to pick her up by the arms and swing her around. Now anyone that knows me knows I am pretty small, and I certainly wouldn't trust myself to have a grip strong enough to swing a small human through the air. This didn't seem to cross Sophia's mind, and she begged me to do it. So I did, because I knew it would make her happy. And she squealed and smiled and had so much fun just doing this simple thing. And it amazed me how much faith she had that I would hold her hands tightly enough and that I would never let her fall. For me, now, as an adolescent, I am not sure I would be willing to do such a thing. Faith is too often something that feels like a lost cause, an invisible promise. As children, our hearts are whole and pure, not quite tainted by the world or by society in its whole cruelty. She had unwavering faith and trust in me when she held tightly to my hands that day. She didn't even have to ask, she just knew that I was not letting go. And that, I believe, is what the Father asks for in us. Repeatedly in the bible we are told to have faith and trust in the Lord, that he is a deliverer, healer, and protector. Too often we become impatient and we give up on faith, for what is something we can't even see? But that is where the fault lies, because Sophia had no idea if I had a strong grip on her, she just knew I would never let her fall. People listen, Jesus will never let us fall. Just like Sophia's faith in me holding her up, we must have the same faith in our Father's ability to hold us up. We serve a good, good Father, one who loves so much he let his son die a brutal death, for us. If that's not enough to place our unwavering trust in him, I don't see what is. 

Faith is often the glimmer of light we cannot see, yet it is constantly there. It's the same faith we have that the sun will rise every morning, and fall every night. That's the faith we must place in Jesus. 

Childlike faith in our always-faithful Father. 

          

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. {2 Corinthians 4:18}