Do That Again!

“Again! Again!”  He giggles with a huge toothy grin and thrusts his arms in the air.  I swoop down and clasp my “big hands” underneath of his arms, scoop him up, whirl him in circle with a “whooshing” noise and his precious and consistent giggles and then land him on the floor.

He staggers for a moment as he finds his center and balance.  Shoots me a mischievous grin and the process repeats itself. “Again! Again!  Do dat again!”

So we spin in circles until Anika is the one too dizzy to keep up the process. 

“Okay.  Last one buddy!”  He reluctantly agrees. He’s only two but seems to understand that adults have limits (and unfortunate centers of gravity!) even if little boys don’t.  I know, however, that if I didn’t tire…he wouldn’t either.

Such an occurrence isn’t uncommon for me these last few weeks (now several as I find myself finishing a before-started thought).  Life with my “small friends” is much of the same – regardless of the activity.  Spinning circles. Singing songs.  Dancing something (while spinning circles and singing songs…) When it comes to doing life, simple joys never get old.  And there is something incredibly precious about the delight of a child running back to you one more time… “Again! Again!  Do dat again!” 

Their giggles and their smiles make me consider Christ’s instructions – to come to Him like a child.  With innocence and trust. To simply be loved and to be known.  To delight in Him and Him in us. 

Children often have no trouble with faith.  It is adults, hardened by life and experience and intelligence, who want answers.  Faith, when rightfully considered, seems foolish.  Faith, when wholly considered, is the power of God…

It brought my mind immediately 1 Corinthians:  “Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block for Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength…But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak thinks of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this wold and the despise things - and the things that are not  to nullify things that are, so that no one may boast before him...” (1 Corinthians 1:22-29)

In part of all of us resides that child. The one who knows simple joys don’t get old.  For some of us its harder to find (so hard I dare say there are some I’ve met who will never “find it back”) and harder still to recognize.  But believers: ones who, like a child (the nobodies and weaklings of society), have grasped onto the foolishness of God and claimed it as power, can’t help but admit the truth.  There is something both incredibly intricate and undeniably important about realizing identity as a child of God…

And part of me believes we connect best to God when we come as a child because part of the heart of God is that of a child as well.  If for no other reason than because He never tires of doing the same things over and over and over again – He seems to delight in it!  He is a God of repetition!  A God who set the world in motion in that seasons come and go and come again; the tide rises and falls; day follows night and night follows day.  A God whose mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22)… Whose faithfulness has never run out.  Whose promises are still true.  Yes, a God who delights in “doing it again”. 

And so do we…

I pause to consider what twitch my body starts to convulse in after I’ve heard the same song on repeat for two hours and I wonder.  I think about how my eyes start to glaze over after working on data entry and copying into multiple files for multiple hours (and days) on the computer and I scoff.  Repetition?  Boring.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about finding meaning in the mundane but everyone has a limit!

And yet…

Very few people look at a night sky as the sun is beginning to set; the scene streaked with purples and pinks and reds and oranges; a hint of blue sky still behind billowy clouds with a golden sun shining as it falls; and think “Mmm.  Boring.  I already saw this one.”  Even if only for a moment, there is a pause to comment on its beauty or majesty; a smile of appreciation and a nod of agreement at nothing in particular noting it is indeed good.  Longer moments come with wide eyes and gaping mouths; a sharp intake of air because breath has been taken and replaced with awe.  And those who really pause to consider watch until the sun finally sets and as a dusky hue of coming night sky replaces the masterpiece they just took in and respond with “Again!  Again! Do it again!” 

Sunset after sunset and sunrise after sunrise.  With every imaginable piece of majesty and splendor in between.  Not just in creation where His presence and hand becomes so physically evident but in people and situations and moments… It baffles me sometimes how many things seem to exist in this world simply for our enjoyment.  Things which seem to serve no other purpose than to make our eyes widen and our smiles broaden.  How blessed we are that God does not grow tired or weary.  His arms don’t give out and His head doesn’t spin in dizzy circles.  God gives again and again that we might respond again and again with the same glee, the same praise, the same adoration.  He delights in us that we might delight in Him.  Almost as if He is at the end of something He has done a million times before...just waiting.  Just waiting with a goofy grin on His face to hear us say “Again! Again!  Do dat again!”