- At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children
- Matthew 11:25
I remember when our son Nathaniel was about four he had an issue with wearing clothes. Many Autistic children do, because certain fabrics irritate them and it's just hard for them to deal with having them on for long periods of time. It took time to figure out which fabrics he would wear and which he wouldn't, but once we did, the clothing stayed on. One summer afternoon, he was outside with his granddaddy and he had on a pair of cotton shorts, that I managed to coax him into. We were going to a festival later in the day, so I was letting him wear as little as possible, until it was time to get dressed to go, so he wouldn't fuss about the clothing he had to wear for the evening.
He and his granddaddy were outside and grandpa went around to the back of the house for just a moment, to hang up his rake. While he was gone, Natey stripped out of his shorts and underclothes, ran out the gate, dropped his clothes on the neighbors porch and headed down the street in his birthday suite.
Grandpa came around the corner and saw the bubbles he had been playing with and assumed he had gone into the house. Our neighbor, saw him deposit his clothing on her porch and headed out the door to catch him. She figured he escaped the yard and she knew for a fact there was no way, any of us were letting him head down the side walk sans clothing.
About four doors down from our house was a church and this particular Sunday afternoon, they were having a special church service in the afternoon. It was a celebration day, so the church was packed and Natey heard the singing and decided to venture in. When he got to the back of the church, he could see through the double doors, the statue of Jesus up front and so he went into the aisle and said "Hi Jesus, it's me, Natey." Imagine the surprise on all the people's faces when they saw this naked little boy, standing in the aisle, grinning and waving at Jesus.
My neighbor hit the double doors in time to hear his salutation and the eruption of laughter. She scooped my little one up in her arms and brought him home, tears running down her cheeks from laughing so hard. When she knocked on the door, I was confused. She relayed the story, inbetween fits of laughter and with each word, I felt my face grow more red. By the time his grandpa had made it inside, the whole living room was filled with laughter. He wondered what had happened and after I relayed the story, I swear I never saw him laugh as hard, as he did right at that moment.
Later that night at the festival, there were many people there who were in the church service and they just couldn't stop telling us how cute he was and how hilarious the day had been. When I was tucking him into bed that night, I said "Natey, remember, we do not leave the yard without clothes on and we especially do not go into a church naked." He smiled at me and said "Jesus loves me just how I am."
I was blown away. Not that I condone naked church going, but he was wise enough to grasp that regardless of how we are, Jesus loves us. We don't have to dress up, or primp before coming to him. All we have to do is come and he will accept us and take us right where we are, just as we are. If there are some hiccups, he'll guide us through them and he'll begin to work on us, from where we are and no extra requirements are needed.
I was thinking back to that last night and I remembered the lesson behind the funny story. God is good and regardless of what is happening in our world, he loves us. If we make mistakes, fail or fall flat on our faces he loves us anyways. If we come to him with skinned knees and elbows and dirt on our face, he still sees us in perfection and he felt so compelled to share that love, that he died on the cross for us.
What a wonderful blessing to know that the one who holds our Heavenly eternity in his hands, doesn't expect us to jump through hoops, perform or be more than what we are, for him to love us. He made us, He knows us and imperfections and all, he takes us just as we are.
Comments (2)
That's a great story and message. Thanks.