Get Down Low

                Most of the time, I do not look up until I have gotten down low enough.  When I am standing up, my eyes focus on what is right in front of me or in a downward direction.  The perspective is small and limited when I stare at the ground.  But, when I look up…  the possibilities are endless.

                Jesus would look for every opportunity to get down low.  He would crouch down to touch a child, to heal a leper, to feed the hungry, sleep in the bottom of a boat.  He knew that this is where His Father was.  His Father’s heart belongs to the lowly.  Jesus came that He might draw all men to Himself.   Where do we find Him?  When we are laid low.  The poor and humble get His attention.

  Recently, while we were at the park, my two year old son was enamored by some exceptionally tall pine trees.  He would throw his arms around the trunks, throw his head back and look up.  “Tall, Tall”, he would say.  And so I crouched down beside him and looked up to see what he saw.  My gaze turned from nothing but brown dry pine needles to a blue open sky with clouds floating past.  My perspective had changed because I had come down low.

                My son is a pretty friendly toddler. It was no surprise to me that a little boy about a year older than him decided to make him his playmate for the remainder of their time together at the park.  My son, blond and white, held the hand of a smiling black boy and together they walked in pure delight around the park.  Both of them were smiling and trusting one another completely.  There was no bias, no judgment, no fear. 

                As they walked around, another woman commented to me. “If we would all be like that.”  “Yes,” I said, “ like little children.”  She then said, “We have to come like little children.”  “Yes,” I said, “ that is how He wants us to come, like little children.”  Jesus was drawing me down low. 

                Life can be like an optical illusion.  We see one thing in the picture, but we try to turn it around to see something different.  Can this picture change?  Then Jesus comes and says, “Come down to where I am and let me show you what I see.”  He changes the picture right before our eyes.

                Nothing is impossible with God.  “Do not come and bother the Master” we want to say to ourselves, to others, with our self-righteous spirits.  “No, forbid them not.  For the Kingdom of God is made for such as these.”  He calls us to become like little children again and again.

                “Come, come on”, my son would call to the little black boy.  The other boy would run over and hold his hand without saying a word.  He trusted him.  And they would run off together.  M y son knew I was there.  He knew I would not leave him.  This was the source of his confidence.  No matter where he went or what he did, I would be there.  Reaching out his hand to this little boy was natural for him.  He could walk through the park without apprehension because I was watching and I was ready.

                My time came when the two playmates decided to follow the path outside of the playground gate and into the parking lot.  I came alongside them and turned them around.  They insisted on continuing along the path right into the parking lot.  I knew they did not understand the danger.  I was not angry, but I knew that I needed to bring correction.  They finally submitted and continued on with their play.  I followed them smiling, knowing that they could enjoy playing together because I was keeping them safe.

                Lord, Lord.  I forget that you are always watching and keeping me safe.  You turn my gaze upward to remind me. “Come, come on”, You say to me.  Keep me low Lord, so that my eyes are staid on You.  There, I can run in the paths of Your commands.  What have I to fear?  For you are with me.  And I become like a child again, knowing my Daddy is walking right behind me. ~ Your Fellow Sojourner

                 I lift up my eyes to the hills.

               From where does my help come?

                 My help comes from the LORD,

                who made heaven and earth.

                 He will not let your foot be moved;

                he who keeps you will not slumber.

                 Behold, he who keeps Israel

                will neither slumber nor sleep.

                 The LORD is your keeper;

                the LORD is your shade on your right hand.

                 The sun shall not strike you by day,

                nor the moon by night.

                 The LORD will keep you from all evil;

                he will keep your life.

                 The LORD will keep

                your going out and your coming in

                from this time forth and forevermore.

                                                       (Psalm 121 ESV)