Raised by Wolves (May 7, 2013)

…Opening To…

Once I heard and answered all the questions
of the crickets,
And joined the crying of each falling dying
flake of snow,
Once I spoke the language of the flowers…
How did it go?
How did it go? (Shel Silverstein, “Forgotten Language”)

…Listening In…

Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. (Jeremiah 17:7-8; context)

…Filling Up…

For the first several months of a human existence, our species is woefully incapable of taking care of itself. We just lie there on our backs looking up at this new world that’s full of blurry shapes and is neither as warm nor as comfortable as the womb we so recently exited. We rely on our parents, or, in the case of certain Disney characters, either wolves or fairies, for everything. We can’t cook our own food. We can’t change our own diapers. And we can’t even come up with the manual dexterity to turn on the TV.

In the animal kingdom, buffet type animals – that is, animals that, sooner or later, become prey for carnivores – tend to be born ready to take on the world. They can stand after a few hours (minutes, in some cases) and can run soon after. If they were as helpless as we, not a one would survive to adulthood.

But there is something precious and special about our utter dependence on another. We are born into this world in the state that each follower of Jesus is striving for – dependence on God. At some point in our early years, we lose this utter dependence and we spend our lives trying to find it again. The good news is that it’s much easier to recover something lost than it is to invent something new. At one point in each of our lives, we lived with the kind of dependence that a right relationship with God exhibits, the radical reliance on the Lord in all things. And we can get it back, with God’s help.

…Praying For…

Dear God, you are the source of all life and all life depends on you; help me to regain my desire to rely on you in all things. In Jesus Christ’s name I pray. Amen.