Magna-Doodle Faith

As Pastor’s of the Nursery department, Tammy and I get to spend a lot of time with the babies and toddlers in the church. A great deal of that time is spent just loving them, playing with them and finding ways to show them that church is a place where they want to be. We are blessed with many different kids with varied personalities. Some are quiet. Some are loud. Some are still. Others have been blessed with energy. Surprisingly though, no matter what their other differences are, there is one thing that they all seem to like: The Magna-Doodle.

I’m sure you’ve all seen one. I’m talking about the toy that’s filled with metal shavings and you use a pencil with a magnetic tip to draw pictures on the screen. I’ve been involved in youth ministry for about 40 years and it’s never failed to amaze me that when given a drawing toy like this, kids always eventually want the same thing out of it. They will place their hand on it, splay their little fingers out wide, and then have me draw around the edges of their hand. Inevitably they will also ask to trace around my hand. The result is a picture of their little hands seemingly swallowed up in my big one. They will then point out that theirs’ is little and mine is really big. There they are, away from home. Uncomfortable. Insecure. However, when they see the big hand that theirs is resting in, they suddenly find comfort and begin to feel at home.

Many times in this life, we feel vulnerable. We don’t fully understand the settings that we find ourselves in or how we got there. Fear and doubt may set in and press at us from all sides. However, if we would just take a minute and look at the hands that hold us… Just think about the hands that formed the stars, the heavens, the oceans, the lands and every living thing in them. Those are the hands we have placed ourselves in. These hands have never lost their grip or trembled in weakness or fear. Trust in them. God has you safely in the palm of His hands and He won’t let go.

Pull out the Magna Doodle in your mind and draw the comparisons between you and God. Look at it there in stark black and white. There’s no way we can make it on our own. But, there’s also no way that God can fail. Jesus cautioned us that in order to make it we would have to embrace Him in childlike faith. Don’t overthink it. Just go back in your mind to a point when you realized how small you were in comparison to the big things around you. Then run in faith to the biggest set of hands that will ever be. Cry out to the Lord. Acknowledge Him. He will keep you safe.