Like a Child

This story shows that one of the most profound changes we can make on the journey
to renewed thinking is to adjust our perspective. We can control our attitude and how
we react to situations, but assuming a more positive view will not come naturally.
We were the only family with children in the restaurant. I sat our toddler Erik in a high
chair and noticed everyone was quietly seated and talking. Suddenly, Erik squealed
with glee and said, “Hi there.” He pounded his fat baby hands on the high chair tray.
His eyes were crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a big grin as he
wriggled and giggled with merriment.
I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It was a man whose pants were
baggy and whose toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty and his hair
was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too short to be called a beard, and
his nose was so varicose that it looked like a road map.
We were too far away but I was sure he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on
loose wrists. “Hi there, baby! Hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,” the man called to Erik.
My husband and I exchanged looks, “What do we do?” Erik continued to laugh and
answer, “Hi, hi there.” Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us, and then at
the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with our beautiful baby.
Our meal came and the man then shouted from across the room, “Do ya patty cake?
Do ya know peek-a-boo? Hey, look, he knows peek-a-boo.”
Nobody thought the old man was cute. He may have had something to drink. My
husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence, but not Erik, who was running
through his repertoire for the admiring “skid-row bum”, who in turn, reciprocated with
his cute comments.
We finally got through the meal and headed for the door. My husband went to pay the
check and told me to meet him in the parking lot. The old man sat poised between me
and the door. “Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or Erik,” I prayed.
As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back, trying to side-step him and avoid any air
he might be breathing. As I did, Erik leaned over my arm, reaching with both arms in a
baby’s “pick-me-up” position. Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from
my arms to the man’s.
Suddenly, a very smelly old man and a baby expressed their love and kinship. Erik, in
an act of total trust, love, and submission, laid his tiny head upon the man’s ragged
shoulder. The man’s eyes closed, and I saw tears hover beneath his lashes. His aged
hands full of grime, pain, and hard labor, cradled my baby. No two beings have ever
loved so deeply for so short a time.
I stood there, awestruck. The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his eyes
opened and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding voice, “You take care
of this baby.” Somehow I managed, “I will,” from a throat that contained a stone. He
pried Erik from his chest lovingly, as though he were in pain.
I received my baby, and the man said, “God bless you, ma’am; you’ve given me my
Christmas gift.” I said nothing more than a muttered thanks. With Erik in my arms, I ran
for the car. My husband was wondering why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly
and why I was saying, “My God, my God, forgive me.”
I had just witnessed Christ’s love shown through the innocence of a tiny child who saw
no sin, who made no judgment. The child saw a soul, and his mother saw a suit of
clothes. I was a Christian who was blind holding a child who was not. I felt it was God
asking, “Are you willing to share your son for a moment?” when He shared His for all
eternity.
The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, “Unless you change and become
like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Every person needs love because God is love. Every person needs acceptance
because that is what unconditional love from God truly is. Love is all about
FREEDOM. FEAR is all about CONTROL. That is why we can never love someone
from whom we need something. If we need something from them, we will never give
them freedom because they might not give us what we need. Because we are afraid
they won’t meet OUR needs, we try to control and manipulate them. That is the
opposite of LOVE.
Blessings, Ben