One More Gift

I wore my rubber shoes today. It's been a long time since I last wore her. I have forgotten how comfortable she feels. The first few steps reminded me of how I loved to walk. To run. To just to simply wander with my ever dependable rubber sole mate.

I have forgotten she was there, like so many gifts I have set aside. I am thankful I have found her again. The (re)discoveries of the past week has done much to help me take new steps in life.

I walked with her today on the way to visit the SAGIP kids of GK with my friend D.
Sitting there at 1 pm on the city plaza, observing the kids listening attentively to their volunteer-teachers, I remembered what I have been missing, what I loved. How comfortable it was to be in their presence. How right it was to be there.

We went to worship service with the kids in the nearby Church of Our Lady of Fatima. It was the Children's Mass. I have never been in a church service filled with kids. Listening to the children praise with my eyes closed was simply an experience, other-worldly, like hearing seraphs singing. Though I have not heard angels sing, I would imagine them like this.

It was just simple faith. Pure childlike faith.

I remembered how it felt when I had it. The faith that did not give in to any worry but simply believed. This was how it was supposed to be. Adults get so easily jaded by the concerns of the world. How beautiful it was to remember how it was to simply trust.

Let the children come to me, the Lord had said. It was the faith of a child that pleased God. The kingdom of God belongs to them.

I realized that no matter how old we become, we will always be children. God's children.

I left the place with a sheepish smile. Sometimes we forget how beautiful it is to simply believe without needing any explanation. Just resting on how things feel just right, like the comfort of my old rubber shoes, like the trusting hearts of children.

I don't believe, I know. That's what the famous psychologist Carl Jung had said.

I don't think I would be needing his theories to believe, although his authority helps. I only need to see the kids in GK, and I don't just believe...I know.

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If there's one more gift I ask of you Lord
It will be peace here on earth
As gentle as your children's laughter
All around, all around...

-One More Gift-