Matthew 18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
2 He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. 3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
Jesus calls us to RECLAIM our inner child and shed the layers of jaded cynicism that has been applied to our souls as we plod through the journey of life so that we can FULLY thrive in the realm of God. Jesus tells us to open our eyes to the curiosity, joy, kindness, fearlessness, and pure love that is demonstrated by a child and then REFLECT this in our relationships with God and with each other.
Well, I don’t have my own CHILDREN to observe, but I have a beagle named Pretzel who is pure of heart and has no fear of the big dogs–but will back down from kittens! I got Pretzel at the beginning of my seminary trek so my walks with with him became moments of enlightenment. The lofty concepts that we discussed in class became real as I watched him interact with me and God’s creation. It is humbling to observe a creature that absolutely LIVES IN THE MOMENT. He doesn’t worry about the past or the future, he is not distracted by smart phones, he just wants to sniff in peace and have a ball thrown every once in a while.
So I am working on combining the theology–or the study of the nature of God–that we grapple with everyday with the childlike wisdom of a beagle. I am calling it BEAGLOLOGY. I will try to post something every week or so–so stay tune. In the mean time–you can watch this video that I created for a class project a few years back that gives great insight into the thinking of Pretzel.