"The child shall lead..." showing how God's love is more powerful than "religion"
One example back then when Jesus lived, was that people were so concerned about the rules of honoring the Sabbath day, which is important, but not to the point where they were putting the rules above safety of people or animals under their care. Jesus said that it was allowed to do good on the Sabbath, such as even miraculous healing that He did which was a dramatic way to show the people who had lost the true meaning of the Bible, that God's love and doing good can be more important than religious laws in many cases, especially if observing a church law or law or rule from the Bible, causes a person to suffer which is against the whole meaning of the Bible.
There are some Church and Bible rules and "traditions" (ways of worshiping God or healthy ways of living) that are very important and can not be set aside just for any reason or emergency. One of these is honoring your parents, as long as they are honoring God and not asking you to do something harmful to yourself or to anyone else. If they are, sometimes you have to call a friend, or a church, or even the police.
Another important rule is waiting until you are married and the age of an adult to share intimate times with someone you love of the opposite gender (gender means male or female).
Another rule is showing kindness to everyone that you can, not putting people down who might be different, or poor (or rich) or a different race or culture (race means different skin colors and culture means maybe someone from another country or different part of town or a nation), helping people in need or who are suffering, as long as it does not put yourself in danger and is done with the help of a church or caring family.
Most churches try to teach and live the Christian values taught in the Bible. Jesus said that true religion is not just preaching to others, but putting your faith in action, loving God, loving friends and family and school friends (defending and helping students who are being teased or bullied or finding someone who can help them), and loving and respecting good and healthy projects in life that make Heaven real on earth and in our own homes. God and Jesus considers people and life to be sacred (sacred means honored and very special--especially people who have special needs or need special help). He calls this "stewardship," which means doing our best to take good care of things and people who have been put in our lives for special reasons, sometimes that only God might know.
So, this should give a good lesson in what religion is supposed to be and what it should not be.
In the middle of the unhappiness of the family fights and sadness of people who had suffered from abuses of religion, or other mean people who use religion to lord over others, instead of Jesus the LORD being LORD--
In the middle of all this sadness, on a trip in a car to the countryside (away from the city), one little girl, a friend of the family who didn't know anything about the Bible, or church or religion, got out of the car, and cried over the sadness of everyone, and walked out into the middle of the field and picked some flowers and twirled around looking up at the sky and sang out with joy at how beautiful the sunny day was, and the flowers, and the beautiful field, looking up at God hidden in the blue sky, like happy dolphins are hidden in the ocean--you can't always see them, but they are very real.
In the Bible, when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river by his Cousin and friend, John the Baptist, which means telling God that you are thankful for your life and want to share the joy of life with other people, especially the joy that life can go on forever in Heaven when we know and follow Jesus of Nazareth, who lived in Israel 2,000 years ago--God spoke out of the clouds over the river and said that He was very pleased with Jesus His Son, who was going to teach the world about God's love, kindness, and Mercy.
In the same way, that little girl in the field was kind of "baptized" by the field of flowers and the joy of life, and God surely looked down from Heaven, with all the Angels singing that they were very happy about that little girl sharing the simple joy of life on a sunny day, with a lot of sad and sometimes angry people.
What an amazing, beautiful and brave thing to do, don't you think?
That's the power of God's love to change the world!
All we have to do is love God, who created all the beauty in the world, love life, and love all the nice people in the world, and just try to avoid all the mean people.
Whenever I think of this "baptism of flowers," and god smiling down from Heaven on a brave and happy little girl, I still weep with joy many years later.
That's the power of God's kindness that can change the world!
It's the Power of Heaven that makes it real through simple things like that, being made real though simple, happy people!!
Learning about bad religion and mean people,
and good religion and nice people--a lesson for young people.
A true story about the Bible and
a little girl who found God in a field of flowers
In this world, today, and even back when Jesus lived, "religion" can become a source of terrible suffering. One of the main reasons Jesus came when He did, was that corrupted "religion," that many people refer to as the "spirit of religion," or putting laws and rules, which are important, but not if they become an idol of religion that puts religion above the people that Christ came to save. and good religion and nice people--a lesson for young people.
A true story about the Bible and
a little girl who found God in a field of flowers
One example back then when Jesus lived, was that people were so concerned about the rules of honoring the Sabbath day, which is important, but not to the point where they were putting the rules above safety of people or animals under their care. Jesus said that it was allowed to do good on the Sabbath, such as even miraculous healing that He did which was a dramatic way to show the people who had lost the true meaning of the Bible, that God's love and doing good can be more important than religious laws in many cases, especially if observing a church law or law or rule from the Bible, causes a person to suffer which is against the whole meaning of the Bible.
There are some Church and Bible rules and "traditions" (ways of worshiping God or healthy ways of living) that are very important and can not be set aside just for any reason or emergency. One of these is honoring your parents, as long as they are honoring God and not asking you to do something harmful to yourself or to anyone else. If they are, sometimes you have to call a friend, or a church, or even the police.
Another important rule is waiting until you are married and the age of an adult to share intimate times with someone you love of the opposite gender (gender means male or female).
Another rule is showing kindness to everyone that you can, not putting people down who might be different, or poor (or rich) or a different race or culture (race means different skin colors and culture means maybe someone from another country or different part of town or a nation), helping people in need or who are suffering, as long as it does not put yourself in danger and is done with the help of a church or caring family.
Most churches try to teach and live the Christian values taught in the Bible. Jesus said that true religion is not just preaching to others, but putting your faith in action, loving God, loving friends and family and school friends (defending and helping students who are being teased or bullied or finding someone who can help them), and loving and respecting good and healthy projects in life that make Heaven real on earth and in our own homes. God and Jesus considers people and life to be sacred (sacred means honored and very special--especially people who have special needs or need special help). He calls this "stewardship," which means doing our best to take good care of things and people who have been put in our lives for special reasons, sometimes that only God might know.
So, this should give a good lesson in what religion is supposed to be and what it should not be.
A LITTLE GIRL SHOWS HOW GODS LOVE AS FLOWERS
IS MORE SIMPLE THAN RELIGION SOMETIMES
One day, many years ago, our family was fighting and arguing about many things related to a new marriage and new relatives who didn't get along, and about different Church beliefs, or not having any beliefs. In the world today, there are still people who think that religion is meant to control and hurt other people, or force their beliefs and rules on them. Sometimes they can be from another country, or different religion, or even local churches (formal or casual churches--formal means strict ways of worshiping, or dressing, or following strict rules like studying what the church believes for many hours a day, and casual means more relaxed and friendly). IS MORE SIMPLE THAN RELIGION SOMETIMES
In the middle of the unhappiness of the family fights and sadness of people who had suffered from abuses of religion, or other mean people who use religion to lord over others, instead of Jesus the LORD being LORD--
In the middle of all this sadness, on a trip in a car to the countryside (away from the city), one little girl, a friend of the family who didn't know anything about the Bible, or church or religion, got out of the car, and cried over the sadness of everyone, and walked out into the middle of the field and picked some flowers and twirled around looking up at the sky and sang out with joy at how beautiful the sunny day was, and the flowers, and the beautiful field, looking up at God hidden in the blue sky, like happy dolphins are hidden in the ocean--you can't always see them, but they are very real.
In the Bible, when Jesus was baptized in the Jordan river by his Cousin and friend, John the Baptist, which means telling God that you are thankful for your life and want to share the joy of life with other people, especially the joy that life can go on forever in Heaven when we know and follow Jesus of Nazareth, who lived in Israel 2,000 years ago--God spoke out of the clouds over the river and said that He was very pleased with Jesus His Son, who was going to teach the world about God's love, kindness, and Mercy.
In the same way, that little girl in the field was kind of "baptized" by the field of flowers and the joy of life, and God surely looked down from Heaven, with all the Angels singing that they were very happy about that little girl sharing the simple joy of life on a sunny day, with a lot of sad and sometimes angry people.
What an amazing, beautiful and brave thing to do, don't you think?
That's the power of God's love to change the world!
All we have to do is love God, who created all the beauty in the world, love life, and love all the nice people in the world, and just try to avoid all the mean people.
Whenever I think of this "baptism of flowers," and god smiling down from Heaven on a brave and happy little girl, I still weep with joy many years later.
That's the power of God's kindness that can change the world!
It's the Power of Heaven that makes it real through simple things like that, being made real though simple, happy people!!