If the cold of winter is getting to you, maybe the following quote from G.K. Chesterton will bring a little spring to your day.
As the Grandpa to three little ones, I smiled as I pictured God in this way: "Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that he has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we." - G.K. Chesterton
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On this date in 1536 Menno Simons left the Roman Catholic church to join the Anabaptists. He eventually became a leader in their midst.
For me as an English Canadian with British roots, to carry the name Mennonite speaks nothing of ancestry or culture. It represents a Christian faith heritage of following Jesus with conviction, seeking to embody the Good News as children of light. I wonder how many of our members have read any of Menno's writings. The recent eclipse serves as a reminder that the heavens declare the glory of God, and that we do well to take notice in wonder and worship. The following is from Philip Britts, a 20th century British anabaptist writer, farmer and poet. He calls us to retain our childlike wonder as we see the power of God in a thunderstorm, or observe the miracle of the sea of grain growing in the fields. "A young child believes in miracles, as a natural or normal part of life, because it sees the miracle in everything. And in that seeing, that seeing of miracles, to which our older eyes have become dim, the child is very near to God. Verily, unless we become as a little child, we cannot see the kingdom of God. Let us beware then of doing anything that can pull any child away from its vision, away from God. If ever we find that we have no time for the children, that we are too busy to talk to them, or too tired, let us consider well what is that business we are about--is it really more vital than to share time with a child, is it really more our Father's business?" |
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