Author Archives: freespiritseedcompany

Two Year Olds Are Living Parables

I think two-year-olds are kind of like a living parable from God (although Siri thought I said “living terrible from God”).

They show us how it looks when someone with precious little understanding or wisdom refuses to listen to someone very big who loves them, provides their needs, and instructs them to do what really is best for them.

When Jesus Had Down’s Syndrome

A somewhat threadbare, stuffed, blue rabbit always accompanied a middle aged man with Down’s I once cared for.

Leaning in to examine him one day, I thought I heard Jesus say, “That’s me.”  I felt puzzled. 

Again I seemed to hear, “That’s me.’

I paused, then asked, “What do you mean?”

He whispered, “Powerless.”  Then it clicked.

I turned to the Bible to see if I’d heard correctly and this truth is what I found.

Jesus is a lot of opposites that work together, like mercy vs. justice, infinite yet personal, obvious and hidden. 

He holds the universe in existence by his word, and is powerless, too.

Consider how he arrived on his planet – this is not a post about abortion – not as a stallion or warrior, but as a newborn.  A fetus even, an embryo.  Is anything less powerful??

Five scriptures:

Matthew 25:35-40.  “For I was hungry and you gave *me* food, I was thirsty and you gave *me* drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed *me,* I was naked and you clothed *me*, I was sick and you visited *me*, I was in prison and you came to *me*.”

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives *me*”

Matthew 18:5 (emphasis mine)

“Whoever oppresses a poor man insults *his Maker*, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.” Prov14:31

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”

Isaiah 53:7 ESV

Have you ever seen a baby sheep?  “Lamb” is a name of this Deity (Rev 5:6)!  Is ‘Lamb’ a good name for a mighty man?  A superhero?  An Olympian? 

Jesus made us all in his image, including the powerless ones.  The mentally and physically handicapped, the poor.  Little children.  Newborns.  People with no political power, no intellectual power.  People drowning in despair, victims of every kind of abuse.  Those broken by loss of child or lover. 

Always the question seems to await us from Jehovah Almighty, “How are you going to treat me? Because that is what I look like.”

Enabling

If you are like me, you struggle with a destructive habit of enabling people. Mostly you don’t recognize it because you’re so used to it. When you do see the pattern you feel totally helpless as to how to break the cycle.

I’ll pass on one suggestion that helps me sometimes. And by all means, feel free to share you suggestions below because they may help someone else, including me.

I cannot control another person’s behavior. I can’t make them be nice, respectful, more responsible, or less angry.

What I can control, though, is my response.

If I’ve been chewed up and spit out a thousand times or more, I can say this. “You may speak calmly to me, and I will listen. If you raise your voice at me anymore, though, I am going to just get up and quietly walk out of the room.” See? I’m not telling them to change a thing. I’m only saying what I am going to do.

It is probably better to tell them this when things are calm, not in the heat of the moment.

And they may get even more angry at first, but if you hold your ground, they will realize that they must speak calmly if they want you to listen.

Or, “I’ve loaned you _________ 35 times because you truly needed it, and I care about you. Now you need to get your own _________. I’ve done what I feel I’m responsible to do, and way above and beyond that. If you don’t purchase your own and it puts you in a terrible bind, I’m not going to rescue you next time. The problem will be on you then, not me, because I’ve given you plenty of advance notice.”

Again, I’m only saying what I am going to do or not do. I’m not trying to control them or change them at all. You may get called very nasty things, and guilt tripped like never before. If you hold your boundary — and it will be tested — eventually they will stop. And you will be a little more free.