Children

My sister came over today around 1:00 with her two daughters (my two nieces), Katheryn and Bree. They were out back swimming for a while with my mom. After a while, I went out back to see how Jennifer and my mom were doing (and to see the two little weasles).

Katheryn is 6 (I think), and she is hilarious. She really likes me a lot, I think. She will give me all the hugs and kisses I want.

Bree, on the other hand, is still a little shy. She is somewhere between 1 and 2 I think (sorry, I'm terrible with judging babies' ages... she can talk a little if that helps) and until today she had never even acknowledged me. She gave me my first hug and kiss today. It was very special.

Anyways, we were all out back by/in the pool, and I decided to try to have a conversation with Bree.

I started out with a simple question, "How are you today, Bree?" to which she responded with "My mommy!" and pointed to Jennifer. I said "Yup, that is your mommy, but how are you doing?". "My mommy" and a point. "Bree, I know that that is your mommy, but what are you doing?" "My mommy". "Okay, okay... what's your favorite song?" "My mommy!" Every single question I asked her she responded with the same two words and a point to my sister (granted, the wording I asked her the questions with was intentionally over her head, so she was probably confused, but still).

Being the jerk that I am, I then thought, "I can have a little fun with this."

So a few minutes later, it hit me. I was going to try to confuse her. Bree was sitting right next to my mom, so I looked at Bree, then pointed to my mom and said "My mommy". Bree again responded "My mommy" and pointed to Jennifer. So then I pointed to Jennifer and said "My sissy". "My mommy!" Bree said. I'll transcribe the rest:

Me: "(pointing to my mom)My mommy, (pointing to my sister) My sissy."
Bree: "My mommy!"
Me: "(pointing to Jennifer) My sissy."
Bree: "My mommy!!"
Me: "My mommy, my sissy, my niece, my mommy, my sissy, my mommy, my mommy, my sissy, my niece."

*pause*

Bree: "MY MOMMY!"

I probably kept that going for 5 minutes, with Bree getting gradually more and more upset that I couldn't understand that her mommy was all that mattered in the world. She was almost on the verge of tears when I said "Okay, Bree, that's your mommy over there." She looked up at me with the most sincere eyes and said "Yup, my mommy." and then went back to her business.

It hit me later that no matter what question I asked her, she would respond the same way "My mommy". To her, her mommy is all that matters in the world right now. Her mommy is all that she is passionate about. Bree can't make her own food, she can't "go potty" by herself, she can't even hardly open a door. She is completely dependent on Jennifer for her every need. Thus, no matter what I could think to ask her, she would not be wavered. All she cared about was where her mommy was and she made sure that everyone else knew who her mommy was/where she was.

At that time the disciples cam to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like these little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18.1-4)

Bree can't do anything. She's completely dependent. We've all heard this comparison a million times. "Jesus wants us to become like children because children are dependent and can do nothing on their own yada yada yada..."

Yes.

But, Bree showed me the other side--a possible other reason why God chose children as the model. Its because they are so in love with and obsessed with those who provide for them. Bree answered every question I asked with "My mommy", and while it was not a very coherent answer (especially when the question I ask is "what did you do today?") it made me dang of sure where her focus was. Her mind was completely focused on her mom, the person who is the very reason why Bree is even alive. And that focus and love spilled over into every single thing she did today.

If we were only like that. Passionately and blindly in love with the Father.

I can see it now:

Random Friend: "Heger, so I saw such and such movie, what did you think?"
Me: "My Daddy! ...I mean, it was pretty good."
RF: "So do you know if anything is going on tonight?"
Me: "MY DADDY! ...uh, sorry, what?"
RF: "I asked if anything is going on tonight that you know of?"
Me: "MY DADDY!!"
RF: "...ok, you're an idiot, I've got to go..."
Me: "Dadddddddyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!"

Well... that probably was the single worst example conversation I could possibly have written. Oh well. Obviously God is not going to give us a passion for him that makes us completely illogical and semi-retarded. But, you know what I'm saying...