There’s something I’ve noticed in my decades of non-parenting. And it’s been verified time after time by parents and grandparents alike. It’s this: toddlers are little energy packs, never still, always exulting in their next new experience (that is, until they hear that infuriating word, no, as they’re standing on the kitchen counter, reaching for the candy on the top shelf, or a thousand other no-producing investigations). There’s a reason their caregivers often feel exhausted! But why are little children filled to the brim with so much oomph? Why are they always on the go? Why, at a certain age, are they fixated on the question, Why? And why do they follow up the answer given with another, Why? Why is their wide-eyed incredulity (their mouths forming that perfect ‘O’) at all things new or pretty or cuddly or delicious, so adorable?
It’s first, because they are little learning machines. They’re on a lifelong voyage of discovery. Every one of their days holds the promise of endless treasures, which is also why bedtime can be such a torture! FOMO – the urban dictionary’s popular abbreviation for Fear of Missing Out. And just what is this all-fired allure of all this discovery? JOY. Bounding joy! Precisely as the Father has designed them, has designed us.
Picture Jesus, filled to the brim with forever joy and almost ready to go public with Who he is. He’s at a friend’s wedding with his mother and his disciples. There’s a big, embarrassing problem – there’s no more wine for the festivities, and as every host knows, running out of anything is a ‘worst nightmare’ scenario. Mary speaks to Jesus, sensing his time has arrived (mother’s intuition). Jesus is a bit taken aback that she takes the initiative but quickly sees that she is spot-on – once again. So, what does Jesus do? I picture him thinking for just a second or two, deciding how best to show the delicious extravagance of the abundance of his joy. He whispers something to the shocked servants. When he directs them to serve some of that water they’ve poured into the pots, to the Master of Ceremonies in a wine goblet of all things, I can see their look of confusion, and maybe even nervousness. Then the amazement on the MC’s face as he tastes the superlative wine, the best he’s ever known. When he expresses his disbelief and pure joy at this turn of events to the Wedding’s Host, (who by now is sweating with anxiety over this catastrophe), he is greeted with equal, uncomprehending surprise. All this is developing while Jesus stands at a distance, enjoying this first, lavish sharing of his now uncontainable, abundant, joy.
Hey y’all, let’s choose to live our lives expressing our joy like all joyful little children, or like Jesus, who, also, expresses his joy just like all joyful little children. I think it’ll be fun! PD