Our Father is Younger than We

A child kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life.

Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged.

They always say, “Do it again“; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.

For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough…

It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again,” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again,” to the moon.

 It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.

It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old,
and our Father is younger than we.

- G.K. Chesterton

Reminders of our Dependence

This week, while fighting a terrible virus, I wrestled with the meaning of it all.  One night I wrote in my journal:

I don’t understand why we have to be sick. I suppose it’s one more thing we can chalk up to the Fall. Thanks Adam…thanks a lot! 

Sometimes I wonder if sickness isn’t much unlike a forest fire. A forest becomes overrun and rundown with dead trees and undergrowth.  In many ways, flourishing, but at the same time, choking itself out.

The fire comes through to start things over. The soil is enriched, the air is cleared, and new life begins. In fact, without the fiery conflagration, many of the plants and trees would be unable to reproduce. Pine cones and nuts litter the forest floor…rotting…until heat and pressure cause them to bear their life-giving seeds. And the cycle begins again.

And within our fleshly shells, a never-ending game of balance plays on day by day. When sickness assaults us, our system goes into survival mode. Our symptoms are simply our own body’s response to perceived imbalance. And when the war is done being waged, we stand stronger for the next battle. Once again, heat and pressure bring new life.

Perhaps of even more signficance is the fact that if there was no fire, no earthquake, no disaster: Creation would be without its groaning (Romans 8:20-22); even forgetting its fallen nature.

And so man, in the frailty of sickness is reminded of his death. Of his mortality. And therefore, his utter need for God.

What has independence gotten us? Sickness. Sorrow. Pain. Evil. And ultimately…DEATH.

Not that our loving Father causes us sickness to teach us a lesson. No, that is a result of the Fall. Yet, our Father, in His perfect wisdom and sovereignty, birthes good and truth out of every situation.

So the next time you awaken with a sore throat and stuffy nose, remember your mortality. Remember your humanity. Remember your absolute dependence on the Giver of all Life. May your own weakness drive you into the arms of the only One strong enough to sustain you. May you find rest and healing in his perfect Love.