Secret to Life

My 3 year daughter old has lived with us for almost a year now.  She is not ours completely, but my love for her reaches so far beyond the earthly confines of the fact that we do not share DNA.  She could not be more part of me than if I had given birth to her myself.  Even if by some horrible turn of events we are not allowed to be together on this earth, I have all confidence that she, too, will carry part of me with her all the days of her life even if she cannot remember my name or what I looked like.  But, that is not the real point of this blog, my heart for the hurting of this world.  That is a subject for another day. :)  Why I mentioned her is because in the year she has lived with us, she has daily heard of a God of whom she had previously little exposure to.  I remember the first time we cracked children's Bible.  She looked at us so funny as if we were speaking of aliens.  It has been so amazing to see the transformation take place in her eyes as she has learned more and more of the God who so delicately wove her together and gave her the spunky personality that I have come to cherish.  It is not as though God had just now met her this year, but the One who has preserved her, held her, and brought her through much in her short life, was now being introduced TO HER by name.  I truly believe He had revealed bits of Himself to her along her tiny journey in life, but now He has a "face."  And in these small 11 months, that in so many ways has seemed like an eternity, her life has been forever altered.  She may not get all the intricacies of religion and theology, but she has seen Jesus.  He has shown Himself to her in ways only she could understand, and has written His name forever on her mind, and I hope, one day, on her heart as well.  She now speaks of Jesus as if they are old friends.  Sometimes I stand back in awe of this tiny girl whose life has been filled, and is still filled, with so much heartache.  A couple weeks ago we were praying before an event that she particularly hates, which we do each time she must go, and I cried as I listened to her pray one of the sweetest prayers I have ever heard.  It was so sincere and so simple.  She said, "Jesus, oh, Jesus.  We love you.  We love you so much.  I pray that you would make this (the event in which she hates, but is forced to attend each week) stop.  Thank you, Jesus.  Amen"  The Name at which she used to put her hands over her ears so as to not hear it uttered, she now loves.  Everything this year has brought in the way of tribulation is worth it for that one simple reason.

We get a kick out of her because when we are talking about anything remotely serious and we ask her a question, her answer is always, "Jesus."  We could be asking her, "Who delivers mail?"  And she will reply with a slight question in her voice, "Je-sus?"  We chuckle and say, well, it is the mailman, but that's a good answer!  It's like the old story of a little boy in Sunday School that is asked what stores nuts in the winter.  He raises his hand and quickly replies questioningly, "I think it's a squirrel, but I'm going to say, Jesus Christ."  The simplicity of a child's understand of big things is often quite hilarious, but could it really be that simple?!  One some elementary level, do they really have it all correct?  I believe they do.  The answer is always and simply, just Jesus.  It really is and can be that simple.  I'm not saying He is the answer to the mail question and the nut question, but in the big things of life, He is the only answer.  We humans like to complicate things with our higher education and intense thought processes and grand theology.  But He has made it quite elementary.  To experience joy, fulfillment, love, and a life lived with great purpose, is simply, Jesus.  To know Him, to really know Him, is all we need in this life.  He is the "gap filler" that pretty much everyone I have ever met is looking for.  Whenever I find myself so discouraged about life and worn out from seemingly running uphill at every turn, it is always that I've taken my eyes off of Him and am looking at my surroundings.  Knowing Him, loving Him, does not mean that life is easy, prosperous, or that anything will turn out in the way we would plan or even like for that matter.  What it means is that we are never alone, we are satisfied, and that at the end of our earthly life, there is a life that we were intended for that is so far beyond what we can imagine.  Pretty much every plan I have ever made went up in smoke.  My heart has broken so many times I cannot count.  Life is a LOT harder than I planned it to be.  And the dirty secret that defies all my school lessons as a youth; you can do all the right things and have intense difficulty.  You can even make many mistakes and life go well.  It's not about us or our performance.  It has taken me all of my nearly 35 years to understand that.  But in every situation, the answer is and will always be, Jesus.  He is the fixer of the broken, the giver of everlasting joy, the gap filler and the only Key to happiness.  I'm not saying to know Him is to go skipping through life.  If you knew me, you'd know I do not think that nor do I do that, nor do I always follow what I know to be true!  But, it really is that simple.  My sweet girl is right!  Jesus is the answer to every question and the true secret to life.