The Light According to Libby

A short while back my wife, daughter and I found ourselves at my mentor, Bill's house for an evening of encouragement and well...food. Ahhh, the great North American tradition of communing together around a table full of great tasting food. Bill's wife had prepared a masterful meal considering the obstacles; they had six children and we had brought our little crumb cruncher as well. So, if you are doing the math, that is eight people from the home team and three from the visitors. Now, the stage is set.

Conversation was thick with questions, curiosity and just general, get to know you stuff as this was the first time our families had done life together. At one point in the evening I discovered Libby, Bill's hardly quiet and undeniably cute eight year old, coaxing me into a dime tour of the house. When we arrived in the office in which Bill does his work there were some artifacts laying out. The first was a laptop... in Libby's words, "...that small one is Mommy's." Next to the laptop was a slightly larger and newer version of itself, according to Libby, "...this big one, its dad's and we don't touch it." Glancing at anything else that would grab the attention and maybe an interesting comment from an eight year old, a planner caught my eye. I said, "what's this Libby?" She promptly replied, "that is daddy's planner, it tells him what to do." Then, the revelation came.

I looked over her shoulder as she teetered on a reclining office chair - there was a tattered Bible, laying open. Through a quick smile I was able to grab her attention and casually threw out the question, "so, what's that?" I fully expected a brief glance followed by a retort something like this, "...oh, that's a Bible silly." However, Libby, an unexpected theologian and challenger of my faith said these words: "...oh, that is daddy's Bible, he reads it every morning with a hot cup of coffee..." leaning in slightly and with a kind of smirk I'd not yet noticed, Libby finished her statement, "...he really really needs it."

How do kids do it? How do they take truths we have tried to put into books, detailed sermons and neatly theologized statements and reduce them to something so understandable? The fact is Libby hit on one of the most important details of the Christian life: we really really need the Word of God daily. Hebrews 4:12 states, "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

How are we to ever grow if we do not understand the "attitudes" of our heart? I have seen the light of really really needing to be in God's word daily. Libby, if you're out there, thanks...a thousand thanks to you for paying attention to the heritage your father is leaving daily because not only does he really really need it, but I do to.