I was out for a stroll this week with my youngest – a little boy who is curious about everything and fearful of nothing – and he meanders to the pace of his own turtle speed. Translation: he’s slow. We were slow. The walk took forever.
While admiring his ability to effortless wander, this scripture popped to my mind:
”Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit”
-Galatians 5:25
That’s when truth hit me like a ton of bricks: Is it any wonder Christ calls us to have faith like a child?
They have no sense of rush, or panic, or confusion.
They don’t look at life and read between any lines.
They are easily amazed and entertained.
They don’t process experiences through a filter of doubt or rationale… just being outside is miracle enough.
They walk to enjoy life, not rush through it.
A walk to them is just that, a walk. It’s not a chance to think and analyze and complicate and dissect, it’s a chance to see beauty and freedom in everything going on around them and to enthusiastically partake in this curiosity.
Most of all, they live with fearless abandon because they know what and whom they trust in.
I couldn’t help but think of the Holy Spirit in this exact same way. God sends Him to us to be the exact parent we need as we “stroll” through life. We can either trust Him and live life with fearless abandon and unabashed curiosity, or we can doubt, and rush, and panic, and confuse, and rationalize while trying to get ahead of Him. In a culture of go, go, go, we must remember what it means to actually live “in step” with the Holy Spirit – to live in such a way that we meander through life at His pace… which will always be a little slower than we humans prefer, but He does it not to annoy us, but so we see the beauty and the wonder of our freedom that is going on around us at all times.
