Revelations from Dora the Explorer/my 2 year old niece.

I have been watching my 2 year old niece a lot in the last couple of weeks and little kids are the ones who teach me the most about God. I know I posted on Twitter a couple of days ago that "If you want to know what a childlike faith is like, watch Dora the Explorer with a 2 year old."...  The other day, it came on and she started screaming "YAY DORA!!" and clapping...needless to say, she was excited about Dora being on. Why don't we get that excited about God?  The faith of a child..they could care less what other people think of them getting excited. When they get excited, they get EXCITED.

At one point in the show, Dora and Boots call out "the Map" and they sing an annoying little song about it...but the map shows the three points where Dora goes to get to her destination...and yes, where they need to go is very obvious...but Dora always asks the viewers how she should get there...sometimes where God wants us to go is very obvious but we don't know until we ask Him.

In every episode, there is a sly little fox named Swiper that always "swipes" something that Dora and Boots need (really, he just throws it somewhere else)...and they ask the viewers where to find it...but it always gets them off their path a little bit. When we stray off of our path, we should ask God to help us get back...even if it means finding something we lost or was stolen. (metaphorically speaking, sometimes physically....trusting in Him to provide our every need.)

Also, my niece always asks me (well tells me) to blow on her food when it's hot...even if it's every bite. She knows how to do this herself but would rather have me do it...or when she gets a cut or a scrap, she asks someone to kiss it...then she will start crying and kiss it herself...and then stop crying again...and have someone else kiss it again...and stops crying again....why aren't we this dependent on God to "blow on our food" (complete dependency) and heal our cuts and scrapes?

Listening

For my entire life, I've always been discouraged from sharing my feelings with other people. I've always been the person that other people came and talked to about how they were feeling and what's going on in their life.  I've been hurt a lot. I've always had that "Don't share how you feel" mentality with the people who come and talk to me. I always feel like I have to stay strong for them. Someone has to. (I have to keep reminding myself that's God's job… :))

I am a very emotional person but most people wouldn't know. Sometimes I bottle it up inside for so long it goes from one extreme to the other. I will start crying or get really upset over little things. I cover up what I really feel about things that are said to me with sarcasm or I'll crack a joke and make fun of myself for it. Particularly when people say, "Hey, you're really bad at that..." , I will make a sarcastic comment about myself  or them but that doesn't make it hurt any less. Recently, God has been helping me open up to people about what I'm feeling...not the annoying, whiny "OH MY LIFE IS SOO HARD WAHHHHAHAHAHAH!!" kind of sharing my feelings...just like, "Hey, when you said this or did this...that hurt...or that was really mean…" or just confronting and challenge people I'm close to about things that I've noticed about them.  This is a really, really difficult thing for me beyond what anyone else will ever know. There is no shame in having emotions and being open about them. God created us in HIS image. That means He has emotions too.

But honestly, the way people receive confrontation is the difficult part. People don't like to be confronted (No, neither do I.)...but we have to put ourselves in that other person's shoes and realize that they too have feelings. It's not just about us, it's not just about them. We're all in this together.  (No nasty High School Musical reference intended).

Please don't shut people out when they try to talk to you about stuff. They could be falling off the edge and you may be the only person that will take the time to listen. It can make a huge difference. Repaint Jesus for that person. I've been in that persons' shoes. It's the worst to be shut out...especially by your fellow Christians. Let's all make a change and listen.

Challenge: Sit down with someone over coffee  and learn their story. Don't make it about you...ask them questions about what you've learned about them. Listen intently. It's a really good exercise to learn how to listen and get to know people.

Trapped

I'm trapped alone in this cold, isolated place with nowhere to go. The door is wide open but I fear what lies beyond the doorframe. It's pitch black out there and I have nobody's hand to hold so they can guide me into the unknown. I have no one to hold me until I'm not scared anymore. I fear I will become more lost than I already am. I call for someone to come and rescue me from this lonely place. The wind calls back so I call again...still no answer...here I am...alone, forgotten, ignored. I am trapped.