As a child, I remember myself as a very naughty, bratty kid.

True story.

Staying up till late could see me jumping on beds in front of our prized summer-time cooler, while the next day noon would witness me running through our garden in round circles, my mom and maid on their heels chasing after me.

I would pull at the beard of the menservants working at home, and unabashedly demonstrate affection for my next door neighbor, an adoring uncle, by pouring half-a-litre worth of my favorite oil (Brahmi-Amla Kesh Tel – you’ve got to Google this one!) over his head (and perhaps down his shirt) in front of all the dinner party guests! After all, the one I dearly love must have the same oil as me, right?

The festival of Holi a certain year had me go over with friends to the nearby mess hall, mix all the colors together with water and splash them on one another, and that too with my brand new birthday gear on!

I mean the girl needed rescue.

And rescue is what I got – but not from my sense of child-like innocence, awe and wonder; but rather into it.

I reckon friend, that as the years go by, life happens. There is pain, grief, suffering and before long, we know we are living on the east of Eden.

The glint in our eyes that said, ‘Anything’s possible!’ begins to wane; the spring in our step that took us on brave adventures reduces to a cautious shuffle; and the song in our hearts that connected us to the heartbeat of heaven dims itself to a tired whisper.

So the question on the Table today is –

“Before trauma ever happened – who were we?”

Well…

Let’s see..

We were childlike, innocent and unashamed to live in awe & wonder.

We were the object of our Father’s affection and delight, and we knew it.

We were living in a free-flowing communion with the Lord and walked with him in the cool of the day.

We were free.

We knew no sorrow, but then it happened – the Fall of man.

The crafty serpent slithered into the Garden of Eden – a heavenly potrait of perfect bliss – and tempted Eve into partaking of the forbidden fruit; a demonic strategy of deception to create division between God and man, leading to death and destruction.

And those were the birthing grounds of all of humanity’s trauma, which essentially means, ‘heartache,’ caused first and foremost by creating a rift, a barrier, a separation between God and his beloved children, and that too in a place that was purposed to enjoy unbroken communion – the Garden of Eden.

Now given that we are living on the other side of the Fall – how do we reconcile that?

Well..

Let’s see..

Friends, we reconcile that through the Person of Jesus given to us by the Cross of Christ.

“God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

He is our Redemption, our Song, our Hope. He is the Prince of Wholeness,  Everlasting Father, Immanuel – God with us.

He is the one who holds our promise of restoration – back to the original design that was in God’s own heart concerning us.

But how really?

Well…

Let’s see..

CHILD-LIKENESS RESTORED:

Our childlike innocence and purity is now redeemed in Christ. We are the apple of our Father’s eye, his song and his prize. He sung us into being, and still rejoices over us.

He is not ashamed of us or disappointed in us. He is a wise Father who knows to demarcate between our ‘who’ and our ‘do.’ He is quick to diss the latter, but keep and nurture the former.

For our Identity in Christ is independent of anything that we have done or has been done to us. He has paid the price for our freedom, and has obliterated both, our sin and our shame. He has given us the gift of ‘shalom’ instead – wholeness, victory and peace.

Our childlike awe and wonder is also redeemed in him. He has untethered us from the tentacles of this earthly realm, and tied us to the reality of heaven itself – our true Home.

Friend, Heaven is the domain of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. It is a place of endless possibilities, and zero limitation, sickness or sorrow. It is here that dreams live and destiny manifests – it is the realm of glory.

Our very mission and mandate is, “On Earth as it is in Heaven,” and the currency of our exchange is belief – “everything is possible for him who believes.” (Mark 9:23)

So as we pull down heaven with our words and declarations of faith, a new flow is released in and through our lives – Heaven Come.

For we were designed and destined to not just go there ‘one day when,’ but to usher in it’s reality ‘here and now.’ Our God is moved by faith, and when God is moved, he moves mountains.

It is in this love that he invites us on a journey of child-like trust and adventure where anything is possible – the sick can be healed, the dead can be raised, the past can be redeemed and dreams can be fulfilled.

Now doesn’t that sound like a child’s imagination?

Precisely.

Jesus in his earthly ministry told his disciples that anyone who doesn’t receive the kingdom of God like a child cannot enter in (Mark 10:15).

This is our Father.

He stirs the inner child within us, looks at us with pure mischief in his eyes, calls us out from the crowd and says,

“Delightful one! Take my hand and follow me. I have not created you to lead a life of mediocrity, but of Heaven on earth.

So come.. let us walk on the water with our eyes on the prize. Step away from the safety and familiarity of the comfortable shore, and step into the deep, blue unknown of the ocean waves, where I assure you, I have greater things in store.

Do not fear, for I am with you.”

So even though I don’t anymore run wildly through sprawling gardens, jump on my bed at 2 AM or pour oil down my favorite person’s head and gear; I am yet a Child of God.

My sense of child-like innocence and purity, awe and wonder, trust and adventure has not only been rekindled, but also fully restored in Christ, and perhaps in a way that even surpasses the gait and gumption of the 5-yr-old riot that I once was.

I maybe an adult to look at, but my heart has come alive.

Trying my best to language this experience accurately has been a fun attempt in faith for I feel that a phenomenon like this points not only to the perfect wisdom of God, but rather to the pure mischief of the Father who sees us and says,

‘I know you. I love you. I want you. And I’m going to see to it that nothing stands in the way.’

Friend, looking back at the full-of-life, five-year-old kid that I used to be, I was tempted to think that maybe I was the queen of mischief, but no.

Wait a minute.

I got it from my Father.

And he’s the King.

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