Daily Devotional for May 10

 

May 10                                                            Luke 10:17-24

I adjusted the blanket over Zeb's three-year-old feet and slowed
the pace of our rocking chair. It had been a delight for me,
a single, childless woman, to spend the evening with my
neighbor's son. After sharing animal-shaped sandwiches, racing
dump trucks, and reading half a dozen stories, we rested
silently, nourished and content.

At last I rose to slip Zeb into his bed. Stirring in my arms he
announced clearly, "God could've made your face black."

Startled, I settled both of us back in the rocker. "Why, yes,"
I replied, "I suppose so." To myself I added, "The poor boy's
dreaming! I'll keep still; he'll go back to sleep."

But my tiny blond friend was wide awake. Peering deep into
my eyes he asked earnestly, "Where does God keep the pile
of faces?"

I could so easily have laughed! Instead I chose to listen carefully
to a three-year old's perspectives on heaven. I was asked to
consider a land where the once-lame now dance in pools of
chocolate pudding... where children have forgotten what
guns look like... where diversity is celebrated... where
harmony reigns .

Stroking my cheek with his soft, pink fingers, Zeb concluded,
"God knows we're coming back some day."

I nodded through my tears and recalled the many sermons,
books, and Bible studies along my spiritual journey. How I
had struggled to understand God's value system and its link
to my own salvation. Now, through a sleepy child-prophet,
God had revealed what ultimately mattered. Relaxing my grip
on sophisticated theologies, I rocked to one rhythm: "God
knows I'm coming back someday."

    God, you have hidden these things from the wise and
  revealed them to babes. I ask only to understand what it
             means that my name is written in heaven.

​

 

From The Road to Emmaus - An inclusive devotional Edited by Joseph W. Houle

Emmaus House of Prayer - Washington D.C.198