Beth is in first grade. She has a sweet toothless grin and a kind, tender heart. I love her.
Her mom, my Annie, must have given her some sort of communication device, because a few days ago I got this text:
I was actually pretty impressed that she began her emoji spill with an introduction, so I would know who she was. It made me giggle, of course. When you are just in the process of learning to read, and write, those little emojis are such an easy fix!
I imagined her little thumbs working their way across every single picture on her device, analyzing its value, and sending the worthy ones along.
Don’t you just love little kids?
I got to thinking this morning, as I laid in my bed, savoring the beauty of a day when nothing in particular pulled me off my pillow. I laid and prayed. I got thinking about how I tend to toss emojis up to God. Little snippets of emotion, with names attached. I insert little gratitude signs in regular portions, praying hands and thumbs up’s. I scroll past the fiery anger signs, and the clown faces that freak me out. And I tend to overuse the single dropping tear over the downturned line of a mouth, and occasionally the rivers of tears flowing from circle eyes. Oh, and I also overuse the hearts. Lots of hearts. Like Bethy’s.
I wonder how God feels about the emojis we send him. Do you think he tires of it? I mean, it’s OK when a first-grader sends up little wordless notes. But every once in a while don’t you think he’d like a nice, deep, well thought-out conversation?
It’s healthy to ponder. Long, uncomfortable ponderings that have no destination. We humans like endings. We like to know that when we start something there will be a conclusion and we can tie a bow on it and set it aside and move on. The concept of eternity is just so weird in this world where things don’t last. But I think its time for me to outgrow that, to move down into the keypad with letters in it and use words instead of quick pictures.
I know God loves me. I feel it. Otherwise I wouldn’t send him those cute little pictures. But I can’t help thinking he craves adult interaction, because so many of us will not get past the cuteness of spiritual emojis.
As I ponder what to pray today, my figurative text with God, I’m thinking he might be surprised by my actual use of words, even the misspelled ones, the ones that are maybe even too big for me. I press send and wait for the reply. He’ll send it, of this I am sure, in his own good time. And because he knows my love language, he might even seal it with a kiss.
This is great! I'll be pondering it.
ReplyDeleteBTW, the church has a new emotional self-reliance module in its self-reliance courses. I took it and learned much. One point that affected me strongly was about the importance of spilling our hearts out to God in prayer, the bad as important as the good. I'd never realized the importance before of, in essence, griping to God, actually saying all the words instead of skipping to "help me see this more clearly." It's been a good lesson for me, one I'm still learning. The point is that we're not ready for other work-- changing our thought patterns, etc.-- until we feel truly heard and accepted in our wretchedness.
I love that, Darlene. Thanks ☺️
DeleteThis is great! I'll be pondering it.
ReplyDelete