Books for the summer hols

It's summer holiday time at last!!

No school runs to do, no packed lunches to make, and no organised routine to abide by.

Exhaling happily.

Best of all, extra reading time so, here’s my to-read list.

Simple and Elemental

‘I like you.’

In the middle of a busy day, surrounded by children and all their accompanying noise, a three year old boy said these words to me and it made me stop in my tracks.

I mean, how often does anyone say that to you?

What can you do but smile? It’s so disarming.

His simple, transparent honesty was incredibly endearing. A heart-warming moment that could easily have been missed. Isn’t it far too easy to get caught up with organising and cleaning and disciplining and teaching little people? The frustrations, the push-your-button moments, and the unbelievable mess they are capable of making in an unbelievably short space of time, driving you to the brink of sanity and then…………….

‘I like you.’

And suddenly all that other maddening stuff, just melts away.

It’s not something we big people say. It’s not something we do.  We don’t retain the straightforward relational simplicity of childhood. Conversations take a sharp turn into awkward, self-conscious territory. We shift uncomfortably and don’t quite know how to respond.

Jesus said, ‘Whoever becomes simple and elemental again, like this child, will rank high in God’s kingdom.’ (Matthew 18:3 Msg)

He said it to the disciples who are asking about rank order in God’s Kingdom. Messy competitiveness, jealousy, a jostling for position, fraying of friendships and fracturing relationships. Anything but simple!

Jesus answers by calling a child over to stand amongst them and tells them all to go back to square one.

As that small child stood, perhaps shyly, in the midst of all those adults, what did he or she see in their faces when those words were spoken?

Puzzlement? Incomprehension? Shame?

The flat ground in square one puts everyone on the level.

The only person who can and does stand above us, taking the highest honour in God’s kingdom, is the only person who knows best how to live with a child’s fresh, simplicity of heart. It is anything but a slight thing, when he loves us.

It is the most profoundly moving and life transformative moment when we stop and actually listen to him telling us,

‘I like you’

‘I made you, you are mine’

‘You are precious to me.’

‘You are my child.’

‘I love you’.

We are disarmed.

Become.

So there we stood. One big person. One little person. Thirty eight years my junior and he was doing a much better job of being present in the moment, speaking simply and honestly. A disciple being pulled up short and humbled. Back to square one it is.

I imagine the conversation changed as the disciples all moved off. When we hear Jesus say words like that to us, how does the process of becoming begin?

Do we become more able to face each other and speak with sincerity without the need to dissemble?

Do we become more able to turn to the person beside us and speak words of love, encouragement and affection?

Do we experience moments of true personal connection because we are deeply and personally connected to Jesus?

The letters of the New Testament give evidence that yes we do. Those first disciples experienced and went through the process of becoming simple and elemental again. They rank high in the kingdom of God.

Children looking up at the face of Jesus.

Benches

Be at peace. Rest a while.

It can be a disappointment when you follow a path only to discover that it leads to a dead end.

Dead ends make you feel  a bit cheated. A path should take you somewhere instead of ending abruptly, leaving you seemingly nowhere. A sense of expectancy or adventure can turn into annoyance at simply having to turn back.

At the end of this path is a bench.

You haven’t arrived anywhere in particular, the path simply stops but you’re invited to sit down. If you take up the invitation, you then immediately wonder why you did. All you can see is the path you’ve just travelled along and the scenery of a dead end which really isn’t all that attractive, at least not at this time of the year anyway. The trees are still mostly bare, the ground is very damp and soft underfoot, there is no scenic vista, and there is no apparent reason for this to be a place to have either travelled to or to spend any time lingering.

Pointless, slightly frustrating, a waste of time until…

you close your eyes.

and listen.

By not concentrating on what you can see, you become more aware of what you can hear.

A bubbling stream. Chirruping birds. A sighing, gentle breath of air. Sounds of nature that help ease out the tension in your shoulders, encourage you to inhale a little slower, a little deeper, soothing mind, body and soul.

Maybe there is something worth paying attention to here after all, and in order to notice it, you have to stop moving, and stop concentrating on just the path.

Our focused, determined strides don’t always take us where we intended. Life can be full of dead ends. Pathways that don’t seem to have led anywhere at all.

We come to the end of our energy. The end of our ideas. The end of our plans. The end of our theology. The end of our prayers. The end of ourselves and we find a bench waiting for us in the spot.

What if we stop for a moment, sit down and wait before moving on.

What if God is inviting us to sit down for a little while, to close our eyes and simply listen. What if he has been walking beside us the whole time and he has made sure that there is a bench at the end of the path. A spot for us to simply rest, breath, and listen.

The soft cooing of a gentle dove ministers to our spirit, the soughing of a holy wind through the unattractive bare branches of our thoughts clears the mind, and the sound of living water that flows from the deep places reminds us of all that is pure and true.

Eventually we have to get back on our feet and keep walking, sometimes backwards, sometimes forwards but whichever way it is, there will surely always be a bench when and where we need it.