Dancing the night away

How old were we when it was no longer "cool" to dance for no particular reason?  Sometimes, when everyone in my house is so busy doing "important" stuff, I get a kick out of watching my 7 year-old, Isabella.  Grooving to a soundtrack playing only in her head, she will dance carefree, mindless of who may be watching and not concerned with being right on cue.  Nothing seems to prompt these spontaneous outbursts of artistic display, she just decides to dance and that's good enough for her.  She's not dancing to elicit a response or to impress anyone with her moves, no it's much purer than that, she just feels compelled to move and does it.  My middle child Megan (age 13) still occasionally breaks into a fun or silly dance...but not as often as she used to.  Our 15 year-old, Ashlie, wouldn't be caught dead dancing for no apparent reason...she's way to "cool" for anything so ridiculous.

Could it be for this reason that Jesus calls children the "greatest" in the kingdom of Heaven?  Their unabashed and simple faith is powerful.  Each week in the Xtreme Team elementary department we give an open call for prayer.  It's an amazing thing to witness and even more incredible to participate with the kids.  As soon as the altars and leaders are available for prayer kids just line up.  You don't have to convince them or push them, they know that Jesus is ready to hear their request.  Sometimes we hear cute requests like "please help my dog be brave when she goes to get a haircut," other times we hear "Lord, please help my mom and I find a place to go...her boyfriend kicked us out of his apartment because mom won't quite doing drugs."  Regardless of the details of the request, their faith is the same.  They simply and wholly believe Jesus can do something about the situation, so they're asking him to.  What beautiful faith.

Maybe we can learn something from our kids.  Maybe we can pray the way they dance, without seeking attention or feedback, without caring who's looking, regardless if the setting is right or the if the environment is prepared.  In fact, I believe that particular type of freedom is truly liberating.  Lord, help me remember the freedom of my childhood and to seek you with that type of faith, a pure one.