“Ammaaa…” were the familiar cries that I heard this morning coming from my neighbour’s house who live opposite to ours. Immediately I recognized the voice to be that of the sweet little girl whose life resounds her name – Miraclin!
Her mother was leaving for school, leaving little Miraclin home with her father and brother and that was the reason for her cry. From my home I could see her, standing behind the mesh door, her hands on the door, occasionally tapping it and crying for her mother. As her father calls her, she would go back, only to return in a moment to stand at the door trying to see if her mother was back.
In a while I could hear her cry again and I could hear her father leaving the house with instructions to his son to take care of Miraclin. As in every home, offering of different toys and amusement could only satisfy her for sometime. Though her cries subdued in a while, her occasional cries stopped only when her parents returned back.
Often we try to pacify those “cries” by offering it with variety of things to get pleasure, some legitimate and others illegitimate. Ironically, when I check the virtual dictionary in my computer, WordWeb, for the definition of ‘pleasure’ it says, “A fundamental feeling that is hard to define but that people desire to experience”! Only a relationship with God can satisfy our inner yearnings and give meaning and purpose to our life.
After I think about this I return to continue reading Ravi Zacharias’ book “Has Christianity Failed You?” and I turn to the Authors Interview at the end of the book and amazingly I find Ravi talking in these lines answering a question,
You’re speaking of religion in terms of an inviting and intimate relationship with God rather than a performance. The relationship is essential in this question, is it not?
Ravi: ….The older I get, the more I learn by observing children—and they don’t even have to be your own children in order to make these observations. I may be sitting in a restaurant watching a parent-child interaction and notice the child taking advantage of the parent. Or I may go to a graduation ceremony. When a student is speaking, you can easily identify the parents. They are wearing the biggest smiles in the room. We see ourselves in children and in observing parent-child relationships. When I was struggling with my studies as a boy, my mother’s delight when I did well was part of my own reward. The thrill of doing well was not just in receiving a good mark but in going home and showing my grade to my mom. Her pleasure in my achievement was the affirmation I needed. So I think my relationship with God is not by any stretch of the imagination a performance for him. (Courtesy: HAS CHRISTIANITY FAILED YOU?)
It is not only that only a relationship with the living God matters, it is not a call to perform, but to please. It is a relationship of love that we enjoy with God.
“We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19 NKJV)
“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NKJV)
Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To the cross where Thou hast died;
Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord,
To Thy precious, bleeding side.
Oh, the pure delight of a single hour
That before Thy throne I spend,
When I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God
I commune as friend with friend!
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