February 2, 2022
Dear friends,
With all our conversation lately about Catechism and first Communion and Confirmation, I’ve been thinking about the differences between kids and grown-ups. Here’s one of them: kids tend to be more painfully honest than grown-ups.
You know the old show, “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” Sometimes the clips are funny because the kids are sweet in their simplicity. Sometimes they’re funny because the kids say out loud what everyone else is thinking and what everyone knows you’re not supposed to say. Sometimes they’re funny because the kids repeat things their parents have said that they weren’t expecting anyone else to hear.
You could say that kids have less of a filter than grown-ups. Or you could put it this way: kids are not as good at deception as grown-ups.
It’s not that kids don’t know how to lie. They do. They just don’t start out very good at it. It takes time and practice to become a good liar. That’s one of the reasons why treating the lie as more serious than the crime is such an important part of parenting.
But grown-ups – grown-ups have had lots of time to practice deception. And, especially this one peculiarly devilish kind of deception: self-deception.
Perhaps this is part of the reason Jesus praises the little children as inheritors of his kingdom. Indeed, “Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it” (Mark 10:15). In their simplicity, children believe what they’re told. In their simplicity, children tell it like it is. In their simplicity children can spot a fraud (remember “The Emperor’s New Clothes”?), and they can see who is genuine.
We laugh when some politician gets caught on a hot mike saying the quiet part out loud. It’s certainly embarrassing for them, but think about how helpful it is for all of us to get to see their true colors.
What if we grown-ups showed our true colors? What if we were honest like children? What if we told it like it is? What if we fled from hypocrisy, from thinking one thing and saying another?
Some thoughts in our hearts should never see the light of day. What if we repented of them instead of tucking them away and saving them to relish later? What if we lived in the light instead of seeking the cover of darkness?
What if we stopped shushing kids when they say embarrassing things? What if, instead, we taught them that their honesty is good? What if we took the things that they say as helpful signs of what they have learned and what they have yet to learn? What if we asked – where did they learn that? (See Rodney Atkins for the answer to this question: https://youtu.be/2uzK3VwzraM)
An English theologian from the 1800s, J. C. Ryle, wrote this: “Believe me, he is your best friend who tells you the most truth.” What if the kids are our best friends? What if they’re the ones we should imitate – in their faith, in their simplicity, in their honesty? What if, instead of insisting that they grow up to be just like every other grown-up in this world, we approach them in humility and help them to grow up to be just like Jesus?
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs
COMING EVENTS:
Family Night – Wednesday, February 9 @ 5:30pm
Elders and Council – Thursday, February 10 @ 6 & 7pm
Men’s Bible Study – Wednesday, February 17 @ 8pm