"Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, 'Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.' After laying His hands on them, He departed from there." Matthew 19:13-15
Recently we visited our son and his family in Springfield, Missouri. We took the time to all go see an amazing presentation of the life of Jesus. The theater in Branson held about 2,000 and it was packed. The show was so very impressive and ended with an altar call. We were all impressed. However, the show itself was not what left the greatest impression on me.
A young girl, approximately ten or so, was sitting behind me. As soon as the performance started she began kicking the back of my seat. At first it was a slow gentle thumping, and it really didn’t disturb me. Unfortunately, minutes into the show she ramped it up and began really kicking hard. I was being distracted, and it was somewhat uncomfortable.
It got worse and worse, as if she had a real problem with my seat, or me. I turned and looked at the girl and her guardian. I didn’t say anything at this point, but the kicking stopped, for a bit. If you know me, you won’t be surprised that I was considering my option to have a strong word with the adult who was allowing this child to attempt to murder the seat I was in. She was treating my seat as if it had stolen her puppy.
Don’t worry, it was right about then that God showed up, and it was no coincidence. Just as I was about to be less than gracious, and clearly be selfish, God used a blunt instrument to remind me about why we were there. Right there on stage was Jesus, and His disciples were trying to stop children from “bothering” our Savior. There was Jesus talking about the value of children, and about how we should never come between them and Christ. Just when I needed it most, God saw fit to remind me that I was sitting in front of a child I’d never met, who had been brought to see and hear about the life of Christ, and it was incumbent upon me to do nothing to come between this child and Christ.
She kicked away until intermission. It was then that I turned around, had a gentle conversation with her and what turned out to be her grandmother, and it was obvious that this was a sweet girl who was suffering with some challenges. I’ll never know if she was on the autism spectrum, or some other condition, but she clearly was struggling with something. Her grandmother had brought her anyway, and she was quietly, if not calmly, sitting through a presentation on the life of Christ. How wonderful.
She continued to kick the back of my seat after the intermission, and oddly enough I found it a constant reminder of how important she is to Christ. Thump-thump-thump, this became a rhythmic reminder of what I needed to do: relax and thank God that this child was being exposed to the message of my Savior.
When the performance was over I once again engaged her, a hand shake and a thank you to her for being there led to a very brief interaction with her grandmother. G-mom was grateful for my apparent patience, but I knew I was the one who had been blessed that night. No surprise that God would use a performance about the life of Christ to show up, but what an amazing experience, and reminder of the importance of remembering that every interaction is an opportunity to display the fruit of the Spirit. Patience, love, etc.. All it took for me to deal with the situation was for God to have a couple dozen actors portray Matthew 9:13-15 right in front of me. This little one is immensely important to Him. I hope I remember this little girl often, and I hope she enjoyed the performance as much as I did.
If God himself can be patient with me, His child, as I rebel against Him, how much more should I make sure to care about the little ones (and the adult children of God) I encounter. Praise Him.