Low & Slow Enough To Listen
If men do not keep on speaking terms with children, they cease to be men, and become merely machines for eating and for earning money. —John Updike
I wonder if we are “maturing” to a place where most of what we do is a never ending cycle of producing and consuming, consuming and producing. Or as Updike put it, machines for eating and for earning money.
Tina Francis spoke of this recently—when she talked about being still and knowing He is God. She said, “It’s when I’m no longer producing or consuming that I am most able to experience God’s love.”
We often think in terms of how the poor need us, or how children need us – for help, instruction, advice, etc.
But truthfully, we need the poor, and we need the child. They instruct us in the way of the Kingdom.
They remind us to play, to listen, to enjoy small and simple things.
They remind us to celebrate, to sing, to imagine.
They remind us to make use of cardboard boxes and sticks and to not be afraid of the dirt.
If we do not keep on speaking terms with the poor, with the child, we lose… Read More