Blink.

Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. – 1 John 3:2

When our first daughter was born, we received this advice, “Don’t blink.” As the weeks and months went by, we watched our little girl observe the world, curious about everything new happening around her. We couldn’t wait for her to crawl. Months later, we watched her learn to walk. We encouraged her to talk, something that we may regret, as even now she is filled with elementary school sass. Now she reads, and not only for school but for herself. She helps with her sisters, especially her youngest one. She proclaims daily what she would like to be when she grows up. Her heart and mind are filled with play, curiosity, possibility, and wonder. And I feel like we blink too often.

St. John writes that we are called children of God. He writes that God’s love for us is so great that this love transforms us into who we really are, children. Yet, we grow up too fast. We blink. We forget too easily what it was like to be lost in imagination and play. We leave behind a world that was once filled with infinite possibilities. We cease being curious. We lose sight of the one who loves us and what that loves makes us. In our so-called growing up, taking on adult responsibilities, we define ourselves by the things that we do and dry ourselves of the waters of baptism that first claimed us and ultimately define us. We are children of God, marked by Christ’s cross forever.

And as children, we are free-range and can wander and wonder. We can make mistakes and be imperfect. We can learn. We can grieve small things. We can cry when we feel wronged or perceive injustice in our world. We can celebrate and dance for no reason at all. We can take naps. We can play and imagine a different world. We can be curious. And as children, we can have a trusting faith that no matter what happens we will fall into the hands of the loving and merciful God.

When we fall into those hands, when we rest in God’s loving arms, we are awakened and through the eyes of children see, once again, Jesus through whom, with whom, and in whom, we are made siblings, one body in the risen Lord.

Beloved, you are God’s children.