“Jesus has chosen to show me the only way which leads to the Divine Furnace of love; it is the way of childlike self-surrender, the way of a child who sleeps, afraid of nothing, in its father’s arms.” St. Therese of Lisieux
Children are different from adults. They see the world as a place of adventure and excitement. Sadly, as they grow older their experiences teach them that the world is not always a joyful and peaceful place but is full of unfairness and cruelty. It is when we experience those terrible things in life that we lose our childlike innocence. Those terrible things can also be what leads us astray from God.
If you were blessed with a good childhood like I was then you know what it is like as a small child to not have a worry in the world because you know your parents will always provide for you. They are there to feed you when you are hungry, always make sure you have a comfortable place to live, and always be there to give you love. What a blessing it is to be able to trust that someone will always provide for your well-being! God wants us to come to Him in the same way, with the innocence of a child trusting that our heavenly Father will always provide and love us. Jesus even tells us to come to him with that same childlike trust in Matthew chapter 6 verses 25-26: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?” In Matthew 19:14 Jesus even promises that Heaven is for the childlike of heart when He says “ Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
We learn about love through our interactions with others. When we are surrounded by loved ones such as family members and friends that treat us with kindness, we understand what love is, how to love, and that we deserve love. However, many people in the world teach us the opposite. When people disrespect and abuse us, we start to disrespect and abuse others and ourselves. When we start to abuse and disrespect ourselves, we no longer see ourselves as worthy of love and we no longer have the innocent eyes of a child trusting that God loves us.
God is the definition of love. His desire is for us to accept His love. Disrespect and abuse always come from the evil one. The evil one tries to put lies in our head that we don’t deserve God and we do not deserve love so that we run as far away from God as possible. I know this because I personally am one of those people that, through a history of misuse, struggled to see a reason why God would ever love me.
As a child, I would be called names such as retarded, idiot, and stupid by someone all the time so much that I thought that it was normal and true. It wasn’t until many years later and I was chatting with a friend about my childhood that she informed me that it’s not actually normal for someone to verbally insult you like that. Also, in college there was someone who would verbally insult me as well. He would constantly talk down upon me so that I would be convinced I was not good enough. He would insult the way I looked and acted, thus internally making me start insulting myself. With these experiences of people insulting me it is only natural that I never looked at myself in a positive light. Many people who go through middle school and high school deal with the same situation of constantly being surrounded by negative words. Always being surrounded by negative thoughts and words makes it very difficult to keep those positive thoughts and trust of an innocent child.
If you have ever worked with children before then you would know they need lots of positive reinforcements so that they can gain confidence in their own abilities. They sometimes make mistakes and need to be encouraged that it’s ok to make mistakes because that’s how they grow as a person. They need to be in a safe environment so that they aren’t exposed to unnecessary dangers in this world. As an elementary school teacher I ensure these things for my students every day. If there is a particular student they have issues with I try to make sure the students are separated in class so that they don’t intentionally hurt each other again. I do all these things because I love them. I know they are a special gift of God and deserve the dignity and respect given to every person.
I know all these things are true for my students however, I don’t do any of these things for myself as an adult. Recently, I was given some advice to help me see a better way of protecting myself from my own worst enemy, myself. I was told to start living my life looking out for my 2nd grade self. This means when I want to get mad at myself for making a mistake, think about what I would tell the 2nd grade version of me that is upset about making a mistake. This means when I’m around people that intentionally hurt me, think about what I would do to get the 2nd grade version of myself away from those people that are intentionally hurting them. When I started seeing ways to protect the 2nd grade version of me, I realized just how cruel I had been being to myself. I realized that if anyone was treating one of my students the way I treated myself, I would have fought so hard to protect them from such a mean person. I also realized how sad I was making God each time I purposely hurt myself by not protecting the innocent child of God that I am.
God created everyone in His image and likeness. This is why every life is important from conception to natural death. When we look at a person, we see a part of God in that person. When we fall in love with a person, we fall in love with the part of God in that person. St. Teresa of Calcutta has several beautiful quotes about this and I’d recommend reading some of her writings. In one of her quotes about seeing God in others she says: "I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?"
How much joy it is must bring God to see us loving our neighbor through acts of love. When He sees us being respectful and kind to strangers, He is happy that our love for each other and Him is so strong. However, how do you think He feels when we start to treat others with disrespect and hatred? His heart breaks in sadness. This is even true when the person that is treating you with disrespect and hatred is yourself.
He created you with a purpose. God is a perfect being that makes no mistakes. He made you with certain gifts that you needed to do His will on Earth. He also made you with certain quirks that make you unique. He loves your quirks because those are the parts about you that make you one of a kind. God has been creating people for millions of years and has never made any two people the same. He did not have to create you, but He wanted to because He knew no other person in existence would ever be the same as you. And as your Father, He wants to protect you, He wants to love you, and He believes you deserve to be treated with dignity and respect because that is the way He created you in His own image and likeness.
Even though all this is true, out of love for us He gives us free will so that we can make our own decisions in life. With those decisions, we sometimes allow ourselves to be disrespected by others and even ourselves. So badly God wants to intervene because you are His beloved, but that would take away our own free will to choose how we treat ourselves. We focus on being a perfectionist and hate ourselves when we fail. We call ourselves insulting names and tell ourselves we will never be as good as somebody else. We do things that hurt our own bodies, hang around people we know will hurt us, and go places that we know are not good for us. When we do these things, God does not stop us but He is pleading that we stop hurting His beloved child, you.
This is what makes Matthew Chapter 18 verse 3 so beautiful. Jesus says “Amen, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus wants us to remember how trusting of love we were as a child. We should not go to the extreme of vanity thinking we deserve love because we are the greatest person but with the humility of a child, trust that our heavenly Father loves us simply because we are His beloved child. As a child we don’t question our parent’s love for us, we simply accept it. Same is true with our relationship with God. God is in heaven with arms open wide just waiting for us to accept His love for us. In the words of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, God says that “You don’t need to change to believe in My Love, for it will be your belief in My love that will change you.” This line from Mother Teresa’s reflection titled “I Thirst” is so beautifully written because it shows how we don’t have to become perfect for God to love us. But it is through opening our hearts and letting God love us that we can become a better person. It is true, the more we trust God as our Father and let Him take control of our lives, the more holy of a person we can become.
So I challenge you to think about who do you care most about in your own life? A significant other, a parent, a child, a friend? Think about if you saw someone tell that person that you love most the insults that you tell yourself when you think you are worthless. How would you react? Think about if you saw that person being as criticized as you criticize yourself when you make a mistake. How would you react? Think about if you saw that person purposely go into a situation knowing they were going to get hurt. How would you react? If you were ready to go fight for that person’s protection, then it’s time for you to start being your own protector. Next time you start hating or hurting yourself think about what God wants for you in this moment. Then compliment yourself because you are so amazing God decided the world needed one person exactly like you and created you in the image and likeness of the Creator of the whole world.
Try praying Mother Teresa’s reflection while having the innocent heart of a child. Let go of past hurts and your own negative self-talk. Trust that God is love and that all He wants you to do is let Him love you. When we give God the opportunity to love us we can begin to repair the pains of the past and trust that God is with us throughout anything we encounter in the future.
“It is true. I stand at the door of your heart, day and night. Even when you are not listening, even when you doubt it could be Me, I am there. I await even the smallest sign of your response, even the least whispered invitation that will allow Me to enter.
I know what is in your heart – I know your loneliness and all your hurts – the rejections, the judgments, the humiliations, I carried it all before you. And I carried it all for you, so you might share My strength and victory. I know especially your need for love – how you are thirsting to be loved and cherished. But how often have you thirsted in vain, by seeking that love selfishly, striving to fill the emptiness inside you with passing pleasures – with the even greater emptiness of sin. Do you thirst for love? “Come to Me all you who thirst …” (Jn. 7: 37). I will satisfy you and fill you. Do you thirst to be cherished? I cherish you more than you can imagine – to the point of dying on a cross for you.
I Thirst for You. Yes, that is the only way to even begin to describe My love for you. I THIRST FOR YOU. I thirst to love you and to be loved by you – that is how precious you are to Me. I THIRST FOR YOU. Come to Me, and I will fill your heart and heal your wounds. I will make you a new creation, and give you peace, even in all your trials I THIRST FOR YOU. You must never doubt My mercy, My acceptance of you, My desire to forgive, My longing to bless you and live My life in you. I THIRST FOR YOU. If you feel unimportant in the eyes of the world, that matters not at all. For Me, there is no one any more important in the entire world than you. I THIRST FOR YOU. Open to Me, come to Me, thirst for Me, give me your life – and I will prove to you how important you are to My Heart.
Whenever you do open the door of your heart, whenever you come close enough, you will hear Me say to you again and again, not in mere human words but in spirit. “No matter what you have done, I love you for your own sake. Come to Me with your misery and your sins, with your troubles and needs, and with all your longing to be loved. I stand at the door of your heart and knock. Open to Me, for I THIRST FOR YOU”
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