Something for Free
in Reflections
They waited eagerly at the end of the driveway; the music grew nearer. The ice cream truck approached.
“Mom?”
The desperate question rang out toward the house. A shake of the maternal head; not today.
“Can I stop him anyway? I can ask if he’s got something for free!”
Child-like faith. The hoping for something. The willingness to wonder.
Maybe something’s free.
The thought tickled and pierced at the same time. I relished the sweet girls that stood there, bedazzled by the setting summer sun. I soaked in their little hands, content to wave at the truck while it passed by.
I pondered their funny-looking faith. Ask for something for free? How absurd. If they only knew how foolish…
Oh thank God, for such beautiful foolishness. It’s wonderfully like another bit of foolishness I’ve relished:
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters;
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost” (Isa 55:1).
Come, buy… without money and without cost? What nonsense! Who buys for free? My mind can hardly get around the thought. Only little children could ask for something like this.
And only an infinite Father could make the offer His children are so desperately hoping to hear.
“…but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
Thank God for the foolish things made real.
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As parents, we are always trying to balance teaching practical wisdom with faith. Unfortunately, as adults we have lost sight of that balance. We give lip service to faith and cling to practical wisdom as the Truth. As easy as it is for our children to ask for what is “free”, it has become just as easy for us to ask “how much”. Practical wisdom will always cost us the things we cherish most when we believe it is the ultimate authority. And we will never be free, until we learn to trust like a child. Our faith is in the Father, not in ourselves. I pray our children know that. I pray …I know that.
Steve, I’m trying to wrap my mind around what you mean by “Practical wisdom will always cost us the things we cherish most when we believe it is the ultimate authority.”
Trying to relate this to my life: practical wisdom says I need to be ditching daycare to look for a full-time position to help pay the bills. Yet, I cherish the opportunity to care for a little life and encourage a new mom. If I believe God is the ultimate authority in my life rather than wisdom, I will not give up what I cherish because I believe God has given me this desire of my heart; and He will provide a way to fulfill it. (And so far, He has.) Is that what you mean?
Karen,
Yes, I apologize if I wasn’t clear. My statement was to be taken in the negative. We ultimately sacrifice the things we cherish when we cling to practical wisdom. Like you said, practical wisdom would lead you to seek a full-time position, but at what expense? We often think that more money or more “efficiency” are the answers, but we end up being more bankrupt than when we started. When we cling to God, ultimately we will keep those things we cherish even if it doesn’t look wise today.
@ Steve and Karen: I appreciate your thoughts and dialogue. And I love where it’s going. It brings me back to an Oswald Chambers devotional titled, “A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice”:
If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. … Our spiritual life cannot be measured by success as the world measures it, but only by what God pours through us— and we cannot measure that at all. … Are we prepared to pour out our lives for Him? ‘He who believes in Me . . . out of his heart will flow rivers of living water’— and hundreds of other lives will be continually refreshed. Now is the time for us to break ‘the flask’ of our lives, to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him. Our Lord is asking who of us will do it for Him?”
Isn’t that what it’s about? No more “economy” of action (in the original Chamber-words)—no calculations and costs. But an “abandoned” pouring out of our lives—foolishly and freely, like Him.
I love that…”Now is the time for us to break ‘the flask’ of our lives,to stop seeking our own satisfaction, and to pour out our lives before Him.” It makes me think of the paradoxes of faith – die to live, stop seeking to find. For when I stop seeking my own satisfaction and pour myself out to be filled with Christ, I am satisfied!