Welcoming God's Kingdom Like a Child

Jesus is seeing those the rest of the world overlooks, and he does this a lot in scripture. It makes me wonder what our world would look like if we demonstrated that same culture of welcome. If we saw the people society overlooks. If we work to understand people beneath what we see at the surface. If we worked to honor and love the little children in each other and importantly, if we learned to hear, honor, and value the little children in ourselves. [00:48:57] (31 seconds)  #WelcomeLikeJesus

On islands, I'm not asked to posture, to be perfect, or to outcompete those around me to be seen as enough. I don't feel bogged down by or the sort of terminal individualism that I experience up stateside. And I wanna own that I'm not an expert on this island or on cruising culture, and I also wanna own that a lot of us, self included, have a life stateside as well. What I'm trying to share is the experience of welcome that I've received here because I think it aligns with the experience of welcome that Jesus invites us in to. [00:33:01] (44 seconds)  #IslandHospitality

And I understand that it may not be safe physically or emotionally to be trusting and vulnerable with all people. So please hear me. I do not want any us to put ourselves in unsafe spaces. But I'm wondering what our world would look like if we could start showing up that way again with Jesus. Curious, loving, trusting, vulnerable, and authentic. To be brave enough to really be who we are, all parts of us with Jesus. [00:50:35] (35 seconds)  #VulnerableWithJesus

What would it look like to welcome the hurting parts we carry on the proverbial train of life and to trust them to the care of God? I'm not suggesting that we dwell in our pain or cling to the past, but I'm wondering what it would look like for each of us to actually see those other nesting dolls inside of us and to bring them to the feet of Jesus. [00:49:29] (30 seconds)  #BringWoundsToJesus

No matter how painful and scary or thrilling and wonderful any moment is, God's love is with us in it all. When we remember who we are at the heart of it, when we tap into that inner child, it's like we are sitting at the feet of Jesus. Let's turn to gospel scripture from today. In that, Luke says, people were bringing babies to Jesus so that he would bless them. [00:47:21] (29 seconds)  #ChildlikeFaith

When we hear fear the Lord in a psalm, it's not intended to say that we need to hide ourselves away from God because God is big, bad, and scary. A more accurate or helpful translation of fear in this context is more so a deep reverence or an awe or a sort of profound awareness of God's power that compels us to obedience. And God's power is one of redemptive love. [00:42:49] (30 seconds)  #ReverentLove

Psalm one zero three is explicitly clear in the reminder that we are sinners, that we fall short. All of those nesting dolls do. That life piles on a lot of nesting dolls that confuse who we are at the core. But that psalm is equally clear that God is a God of redemption, a God whose love for us is unfailing. [00:51:30] (24 seconds)  #Psalm103Hope

She always felt less than. She judged her insides by everybody else's outsides. I think that's something a lot of us do. We look at the outermost nested doll of others, and we start to make assumptions about them. When in reality, we largely have no idea what they carry within them in the many layers between what we see and the core of who God made them to be. [00:45:13] (29 seconds)  #LookBeneathTheSurface