On Getting Bitten By a Child

August 6, 2007 - Monday                  

Current mood:  exhausted

Category: Religion and Philosophy

I got bitten today! Really--it drew blood and everything! We were hanging out with the kids at the community garden downtown at some apartment buildings we've been going to weekly over the summer. I met the girl last week--and we got to do the "spin me" game so long I felt nauseous the rest of the evening. :) But she's fun anyway, and I was happy to see her again this week. She was a little more erratic this week with her behavior--a lot of negative attention issues. Several times I had to stop, look her in the eye, and explain why this was not a good idea. So she'd quit, and be ok, for awhile, then go on to something new....

We'd been playing together for at least an hour or so, and had started back into the "spinning" game, when she grabbed my thumb and started biting down on it. The funny thing was, I didn't jerk back for some reason. I still don't know why I didn't--maybe I wanted to see if she would really bite hard--and maybe she wanted to see how hard she would have to bite before I jerked away. Slowly, she bit harder and harder until I don't think she could go any harder! It hurt, but not terribly, and I stopped her and asked her how she felt when she got bitten--if she liked it. She said no, and I said that's because it hurts--that's why we don't bite people. Or something like that. Then I spun her around again. (And soon after, got some disinfectant! :)

It seemed like the biting was really her biggest effort (so far) to see if I would still like her and want to be with her, even though she wasn't being nice. It's interesting how that works with kids who don't get much attention--and if they do, it's not attention they want. When someone shows them loving attention, it's hard to believe that it's real--that it's unconditional--even if they're mean, even if they hurt you.

Sometimes I wonder if I do the same to God sometimes. I may not do it quite as purposefully, but there are times when I think, maybe that was too much. Maybe He's done with me--surely He's given up on me now. It's easy to say "God loves you unconditionally" to other people--but to believe it in my own life and struggles, that He's really there--explaining that it's not nice to bite, and yet still picking me back up and spinning me around again. This kind of love is bigger than anything we've ever known, so maybe that's why it's hard to understand. But that doesn't take away the truth. God really does love us in our rebellion, even as our sin bit into His flesh until He bled. And yet as we consistently come face to face with that kind of stubborn love, even after all our failures, it slowly transforms us until we want to be more and more like Him--and we are! We want to love more and more like Him. Even if it means getting bitten. :)

10:39 PM  2 Comments