Honesty

Every other weekend my nephew has the pleasure of having his lovely 3 year old son to stay with him and his mother at their home.  Oliver is a typical 3 year old, full of curiosity and the innocence of a child becoming aware of new experiences daily.  You can almost see his little brain working as he processes new things, growing and learning with each new encounter.  He always enjoys his food as the photo clearly shows - he is in ecstasy enjoying the delights of some chocolate cake.  He especially likes vegetables - not always so common in small children.  His Grandma (my sister) had made a lovely rice pudding to have after dinner.  Oliver tried a spoonful and then just sat looking at it, not wanting to eat any more.  His Dad, Darren, told him, 'well tell Grandma what you want then Oliver', to which he replied, 'I want pudding ... ... a nice one!'  Aahh!!    The honesty of children.  There was no real problem with the rice pudding - the granddaughter enjoyed it and others ate it but Oliver just didn't like it.  I guess that goes for most of life -  we are all so different, some liking some things while others not. 

A day out at the zoo with Grandma.

What I liked about this anecdote when I heard it was the fact that Oliver felt so comfortable and safe in his relationship with his dad and grandma that he didn't have a problem in saying exactly what he wanted.  He wasn't afraid that maybe if he said the wrong thing that he would be told off or punished.  He loves spending time at their home and has no problem when his mother leaves him there.  And yet how often when we talk with Father God do we choose our words carefully; we seem to use a special 'God/prayer' language; some words we wouldn't dream of using, even if we use them frequently in daily conversation with others.  It's as though we feel we need to be on our best behaviour - after all we want to make a good impression and not give God the wrong idea  - as though He didn't already know exactly what we're like.  It really is ok to tell God how we really feel - He's big enough.  He can take it!  When Jesus says we must be as little children, I like to think that includes their openness and honesty.  And there's a lot to be said for being so comfortable and safe in our relationship with Him that saying it as it really is, isn't a problem.

I also saw this picture on a friend's status on Facebook this week.  It was actually an article about a newspaper (not in the UK) saying how it distorts things and ends up telling untruths.  I found it a very powerful illustration of how we can so easily get caught up in one part of our Christian living, focussing on a few, specially chosen verses of the Bible instead of looking at the whole picture.  The danger about homing in on one particular aspect (say sexuality, worship, creation, end times ...) is that we lose sight of the bigger picture of God.  These things have their place but are only part of the big picture.  Again I think it's about being honest to God, ourselves and each other about how we really feel and think and not just what we have been told or feel we ought to comply with in order to fit in with our particular congregation.  I think that feeling comfortable with being really honest also applies to the Christian family we choose to be part of.  Let's not distort the good news of God's gospel by focussing on only one small part of it and maybe giving a totally erroneous idea.

We think that we are teaching our children but actually they are teaching us - quite a lot if we let them.