Jesus Loves Me This I Know

Let's have a show of hands here.  Ok, figuratively.  How many of you went to Sunday School as a kid?  Or, how many of you went to church camp as a kid?  Or maybe Vacation Bible School?  If you did any of those as a child, I'd bet my middle right foot toe that you sang "Jesus Loves Me" plenty of times and that you still know the words.  And if you had children yourselves you may have even sung that simple, yet powerful song, with them at some point in time.

Did you ever watch a group of kids sing that song?  If so, you probably noticed not only how serious they all were as they sang it, but how enthusiastic they were as well.  I can just picture it now as I write this...all the fidgeting, smiling, big wide eyes, gaped teeth, and loud voices singing....rather, proclaiming with a real sense of possession...."yes, Jesus love me, yes Jesus love me.....for the Bible tells me so!"...and they always seemed to put so much emphasis on that last statement.  Talk about an expression of blind faith !!

Now I don't know about you, but I melt when I hear kids sing that.  You know why?  Because when I hear them sing it it is bringing back memories of a happy time in my own youth.  More importantly, however, it reminds me of simpler and less complex times, when purity and values were revered and lived on a much grander scale than they are today.  In reminding me of those times it is also revealing, as if in a spotlight, just how different things, and us...including me, are today.

Do you find yourself yearning for some of those simpler less complex times?  Do you kind of wish time could just slow down a bit so that perhaps that could happen? 

Here's a point I have found.  I have far more control over how un-simple my life is than I have realized.  My life doesn't have to be complex and overwhelming...irregardless of my circumstances.  If I stay out of my own way and pay attention to what God's will is for me, I am sure that my life will be far simpler than it is.  All I have to do is remember that God's own Son, Jesus, was a very, very simple man....a carpenter in fact, and that it was Jesus who came to show us the way to be more God like. 

It doesn't get any simpler than that.  Maybe, just as a reminder, we need to sing "Jesus Loves Me" as a congregation in church once in a while.