Kiddos

I sat in a nail salon tonight and got a pedicure. It was my treat to myself after a few weeks of SUPER stress at work. My time there was more fun than I would have expected though, and that was thanks to a little kid. The nail tech's son was there; he was four, and he was precious.

We pretended to hide from each other (he behind a wall, and behind my hands mostly), and then he's pop out and laugh at my shock at his re-arrival. It was fun. And he was one of the highlights of my day.

Then, tonight, at a worship gathering at my church, I am feeling so blessed to look down in the the front of the church and see little clusters of children dancing and playing and just enjoying the music.

Something tonight prompted me then to also remember something I witnessed while on a mission trip to India last fall. We were having a time of testimony, prayer and worship with a group of children at one of the orphanages we work with there. There was a little girl standing not far from me, Indira, who (we'd been told) had just come to the orphanage in the last few weeks. She was undernourished and tiny. And something about her, although she was beautiful, was shockingly sad. She had a deep well of hurt in her; you could just tell by looking in her eyes. Some of the kids there radiate light, and seem like little pockets of walking laughter. Life on the street for kids like Indira in very harsh and very cruel, and it was clear that in her short life, she's suffered much. I remember, though, looking up at her during one part of worship and being immediately flooded with tears. My eyes well up again now as I remember the scene. Tiny, fragile little Indira had her eyes closed and her hand reached out to heaven and the look on her face... I wish I had words. She was worshipping God, and I know He was right there with us all.

I am not even sure exactly where I'm going with this tonight, but what strikes my heart is that no matter how small, no matter how immature, now matter how be-boppy and crazy the little bundles of fun in our lives can be, they can also worship and connect in a real way to the heart of God. Mostly, I think, because He connects to us all with grace and an open hand.

Even in the innocence of the little guy at the nail place today, and even in the silly bopping of the kids in front of the stage, there is a God who loves them and knows their hearts intimately. I suspect He knows them in ways that they have yet to know themselves, and in ways none of us ever will. What a gift. I remind myself of this to encourage us all to remember to let the kids in our lives touch God in the realest way we can help them to. And I also just want to give gratitude to the moms and dads out there who carve out time in their kids' lives and space in their children's consciousnesses to know and to be with God. What a gift...