A New Childhood

God calls himself our Father, and he calls us his children. Jesus called little children to himself (Luke 18:15-17 for instance) to explain visually what it means to be God's kids (not just so he could explain humility -- he also took them in his arms and blessed them). The imagery that God accepts us "as his kids" should include our own memories of safety, love, warmth, comfort, care and security. That's how it should be.

But for some of us, childhood
wasn't a good time, a fun time or even a safe time, so maybe those images aren't helping us relate to God as our safe, loving, comforting Parent. That's a curse from a broken world -- modern society and history alike. Few societies ever valued children to the degree Jesus showed by loving and blessing them. In the Roman culture of the early New Testament era, the head of the household decided whether or not to keep a newborn baby, and those not accepted were left outside to die.


But if you and I had times, even most of the time during our childhood, when we were unsafe or harmed, what can we do?  In this life, we can work toward fully forgiving those who didn't love us as God does. We can learn to be better parents ourselves, keeping at least some of the weaknesses of our past from hurting our own kids as we were hurt. We can learn to see our wounds through God's eyes and not through our own brokenness. We can learn to see God in a healthy way, not crippled by the pain of our past.

Will our wounds ever fully heal? YES! In the final restoration of all things, when we are in the presence of God, every wound is healed: "He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever" (see Revelation 21:3-4). Some people have looked at "heaven" as a time when they can run on the beach, climb mountains, or whatever, in a renewed way. But besides that, we'll be able to replace those old memories with new ones: healthy, happy, joy-filled conversations, maybe even times of play -- with those who hurt us, butwho will then also be redeemed and renewed by the awesome love of God, and able to love us as he does.

One more thought: If the future will give us that full healing and restoration, why not reach for it now? Why not think of those who hurt us, not as we have but in that renewed way, praying for them to heal from their own pain, maybe even finding a better way to interact with them, even now?