My five-year-old granddaughter has a new second-favorite toy to play with when she comes over to our house: my chin fat. (Her first favorite being my iPhone, of course.)
Who knew I had so much pinching and stretching fun hanging right here under my chin?
I suppose this could be a little insulting, except that it’s clear Edda doesn’t think “extra skin” is a bad thing.
My son and his family were over recently and I noticed Edda was staring at me with a little grin on her face. Finally, without even a hint of malice, she said, “Gram, when you get old, is that when your chin starts to hang down and you get white hair?”
“Yep, pretty much,” I answered.
“Oh, okay,” she said, returning to her chicken nuggets.
I’ve read that when a child begins to ask questions about serious subjects, you shouldn’t give them more of an answer than they are ready to handle. I figured that might apply here to Edda’s questions about my aging features. No use in terrifying the poor little thing with a litany of body parts and functions that begin misfiring when you’re sliding down the back side of life.
If Edda thinks baggy chin skin and white hair are the worst of it, let her remain blissfully ignorant for as long as possible.
I do love the honesty of children, even when it gets, literally, all up in my face. It’s like a fresh breeze blowing through the manipulative, deceitful, politically correct smog that so often hangs over the grown-up world.
Reading through the Gospels, it seems clear that Jesus appreciates transparency and honesty, too, even when it is a little rough around the edges.
In the first chapter of the book of John, for example, we find Jesus choosing His first disciples.
An excited Philip runs to his friend Nathanael and says, “‘We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’
“Nathanael said to him, ‘Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?’
“Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’
“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’
“Nathanael said to Him, ‘How do You know me?’
“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’”
It’s interesting that instead of rebuking Nathanael for his tacky Nazareth comment, Jesus seems delighted to find someone so honest.
The folks Jesus couldn’t tolerate were the religious hypocrites who sacrificed truth upon the altar of power and prestige.
He always seemed to welcome anyone who was radical, passionate, brave, broken or desperate enough to seek the truth above all else.
Jesus didn’t value what we so often do. Just one thing seemed to matter to Him: “Do you REALLY want to know and follow the one true God?”
Those who wanted it badly enough followed Jesus.
They still do.
We don’t need to toss out all the filters that keep us from needlessly offending others, but it seems Jesus is looking for followers “in whom there is no deceit.”
God can work with hearts stripped of pretense and pride.
He’s looking for people who’ve come to the end of themselves, who are tired of playing games, who are willing to see themselves and God as they and He really are.
People who are refreshingly honest … like a beloved child with her saggy-chinned Gram.
“And He called a child to Himself and set him before them, and said, “Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. … — Matthew 18:2-4