"Jesus is God's Show and Tell"

These words, uttered by a small child,

are by far the best piece of theology I have

 read in a very long time.

During Lent this year I picked up The Genesis Trilogy, by

Madeleine L'Engle of A Wrinkle in Time fame.

It is unbelievable to me that in my 55 years

of being a voracious reader who literally eats books

that this particular book has never been in my hands.
It is magnificent and will be added to my
list of books to read over and over again.

The sentence above was relayed to her by a teacher

who was attending one of her writing workshops.

(Again, how did I not know this book existed???)

Jesus is God's show and tell.
Just take a deep, deep breath and
 let that sentence wash over you
and settle into your heart.

In our own imperfect way aren't we all called
 to be God's show and tell?

We have been shown and we have been told.

In our every thought,

in our every word,

 in our every action,
and in our every reaction

we can reveal God's message to others.

For once I will not bore you with the
 seemingly endless stream of hyperconsciousness
 this one sentence has produced in my
already cluttered mind.
 Suffice it to say that I have filled pages

and pages with thoughts and images that 

this one simple sentence has unleashed...

But I keep going back to one.

I am humbled to be witness to moments
of God's show and tell,
like this one, every single day.
This quiet moment of peace and contentment
was preceded by a moment (more like fifteen)
of screaming and banging and covering his ears
because I asked him to put his shoes on.

Yet this boy of ours,
this yelly, bangy, breaky whirling dervish
of a human being,
 is the embodiment of what it means

to be God's show and tell.

He is forced to live in a world where he will never truly fit in.
It is a place, that for him, is full of chaos and confusion.
He must try to cope with the frustration that boils up inside,
because no one understands him.
He must suffer inside a body that often betrays him.
He must endure the isolation that comes
from living in the margins of life,
and the sadness and heartbreak he must feel.

And still he is able to find so many moments of joy.

This boy can find joy in the simplest of pleasures.
A trip to Lowe's, an unexpected gummy worm in his cereal,
facetiming with family or a stolen banana are all
good enough reasons for him to jump for joy.

This boy calms to the soothing
sounds of  his "church" music,
  clutches his bible to his heart for much of the day, and
will drop to his knees for no apparent reason and pray.
This boy sat at my friend Karen's dinner table,
folded his hands and waited to eat until she prayed with him.
This boy who has been given a small handful of words,
and yet three of them are Amen, Alleluia, and I love you.

This boy who loves so hard and
 with such profound emotion is
a perfect example of God's Show and Tell.

I sense something deeper here...
something reverent...
something holy.

It is there in the moments of yelling and banging,
and it is in the moments of peace and contentment.

Through him I am shown God's message,
so in my every thought, in my every word,
in my every action, and in my every reaction,

I am inspired 

to be a better show and tell.

For Scotty's birthday this year we got him a butterfly habitat.
For the last few weeks we have watched
 our caterpillars turn into beautiful painted lady butterflies.
It was time to release them today just in time for Easter.
For some strange reason Scotty is terrified of butterflies.
He loves zombies,vampires,snakes and crocodiles,
but butterflies make him scream like a girl!
I was very surprised today that he wasn't freaked out.
Perhaps because they have been living in the kitchen for a few weeks???

Butterflies are the perfect symbol of the tomb Christ conquered
and every Christian's hope of their own rebirth.

Jesus said to her,
I am the resurrection and the life.
Whoever believes in me,
though he die, yet shall live.
John 11:25

May you all have a blessed Easter.
Jesus IS God's show and tell...
Remember to pay attention.