Becoming a Kid Again
I'd like to do a few posts on what Jesus taught about becoming like a child. I'm in the middle of Ragamuffin Gospel, by Brennan Manning, and he offers a few thoughts. Here is one for today:
"When Jesus tells us to become like little children, in order that we may enter the kingdom of God, he invites us to forget what lies behind."
There is a story of a Zen monk who was being chased by a ferocious tiger. He raced to the edge of a cliff, glanced back and saw the growling tiger about to spring. The monk spotted a rope dangling over the edge of the cliff. He grabbed it and began shinning down the side of the cliff out of the clutches of the tiger. Whew! Narrow escape. He stared down and saw a huge quarry of jagged rocks five hundred feet below. He looked up and saw the tiger poised atop the cliff with bared claws.
Just then, two mice crawled onto the rope and began to nibble at the rope. What to do?
The monk looked to the side and happened to see a strawberry within arm's reach growing out of the face of the cliff side. He plucked it, ate it, and exclaimed, "Yum-yum; that's the best strawberry I've ever tasted in my entire life!"
"When Jesus tells us to become like little children, in order that we may enter the kingdom of God, he invites us to forget what lies behind."
There is a story of a Zen monk who was being chased by a ferocious tiger. He raced to the edge of a cliff, glanced back and saw the growling tiger about to spring. The monk spotted a rope dangling over the edge of the cliff. He grabbed it and began shinning down the side of the cliff out of the clutches of the tiger. Whew! Narrow escape. He stared down and saw a huge quarry of jagged rocks five hundred feet below. He looked up and saw the tiger poised atop the cliff with bared claws.
Just then, two mice crawled onto the rope and began to nibble at the rope. What to do?
The monk looked to the side and happened to see a strawberry within arm's reach growing out of the face of the cliff side. He plucked it, ate it, and exclaimed, "Yum-yum; that's the best strawberry I've ever tasted in my entire life!"
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