The Greatest Story Ever Told

It’s December first and I woke up this morning realizing that I had really not prepared for Advent.  I actually thought to myself - I have all teenagers.  In the past we would be playful and childlike because we still had a kid at home.  A friend of mine shared with me that Christmas is a time of mourning for her - She grieves times gone by, because now that her children are raised.  I was walking through a big box store with my husband and felt the same twinge of sadness.  Christmas was so much more fun and affordable when we bought toys - I mused.

All of this got me thinking of something I have mulled over for the past few months.  In October I was trained in Accelerated Resolution Therapy.  It is a eye movement therapy that helps participants reconfigure difficult memories and find freedom from anxiety, grief, sleeplessness.  One of the components of the process is to reconcile all your selves - from years past.

I am intrigued by the Gestalt Psychology movement which came out of Germany in 1912. It was researched by great minds like Fritz Pearls.  The theory includes the following definition of the inner child, the encompassing of the parts of the human psyche that retain the qualities we possessed as children.  The joyful energies of creativity, curiosity, playfulness, and spontaneity. These traits can mobilize a collapsed person (system) and be the agents that start the healing process. Childilke wonder unites the often disenfranchised parts of the the whole person.

So… while contemplating the idea of the inner child I had a phenomenal spiritual breakthrough.  The idea has revolutionized how I see Christ and myself.  Jesus taught that we must become like children in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  He specifically invited the childen to him even when his disciples were running interference to keep them away.  Eugene Peterson says it like this:  “Don’t ever send them away.  Bring the little ones to me.  Children loved Jesus , and they know they didn’t need to do anything special for Jesus to love them.  No matter how big you grow, never grow up so much that you lose your child’s heart:  full of trust in God.  Be like these children.  They are the most important in my Kingdom.”

As I continue to pursue identifying my childlike personailty, I realize that those traits include wonder, adoration and joy, I am launching 25 days of stories.  These stories are my family favorites. I encourage you to listen with me and share them with your children. Children’s books will help us prepare for the GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD. And while reading we may just find the child hidden within.