Snarky (Luke 2:51-52)

“Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And as Jesus grew up, he increased in wisdom and in favor with God and people.” Luke 2:51-52 NIV

God Thoughts:

There is a time and place for most things including the baby-steps of growth that must come before we walk, run and navigate our way through life. Often when we think of Jesus the adult we think of his wisdom, his teaching and his civil disobedience--that thorn-in-the-flesh tendency to break the man-made rules of the Pharisees. Or of antics worthy of modern day shock-jocks as he ate with prostitutes, talked with social pariahs and touched the forbidden. But he wasn’t always that way. 

Jesus, as God, knows the right time and place to accomplish his work and to that end, he began his life as we do, taking the time to “grow” in areas of submission to authority (in this case, his parents) as well as growing in spiritual wisdom and in his relationships, connecting with those around him.  

Question:

How are you growing in obedience to your heavenly Father? In what ways are you seeking to grow in wisdom and in favor with God and with others? 

Life As I Know It:

“Snarky.” It’s a word that just makes me laugh. It just sounds so funny and funnier still when I hear a snarky comment or perhaps even make one myself. Maybe its a generational thing. For most of my adult life I have taken pride in the fact that I and my peers perfected our Boomer-parents’ mistrust of anyone over 30 by simply  mistrusting anyone and everyone. Period. 

The result? Snarkiness. You know, a snappy, defensive retort that informs those around us that we are too smart to believe in happy endings, good intensions and two-for-the-price-of-one sales. Disillusioned by a broken world, however, it has become clear to me that I have let my disappointment turn to resentment, allowing it to break something inside me too.

How can I grow in obedience to my Father when I am too “wise” to believe in goodness and hope? How can I grow in favor with him or others when I am always second-guessing motives and assuming the worst so I won’t be disappointed? When did I confuse being wise as a serpent with biting like one? How do I learn to be wise--realistic  about the world as it is--and gentle? Compassionate?

20 years ago I was compelled to learn a lesson that has served me well. Forgiveness--that long process of giving over to God the hurts that another has inflicted along with the need to  “get back”--was the only way to ensure that my heart could heal. To free it from an anger that would have poisoned me from the inside out. 

Yet here I am, years later, only now realizing that I have swallowed a poisonous pill of another kind. I am angry at the world. I am angry at self-promoting politicians, at another upgrade to figure out (when I just got used to the last one), at sock-mates that refuse to be found and the outrageous price of movie-theater popcorn. 

So what now? Jesus, the child, obeyed his parents. He submitted to their authority even though they were limited humans and no doubt, at times, even flawed. Apparently, he did not use this inequity as an excuse to whine or berate the unfairness of it all. And perhaps that's because his whole mission was to forgive the world, not rail against it. So he focused on his heavenly parent, growing in God’s wisdom, growing in favor with him and others. 

It’s time for me to go back to the beginning. To obey my Father who tells me to forgive. This world is broken. My job is not to be of it, not to be broken by it, but to simply to be in it so that I can love on it and love on those in it a little while I’m here. 

If my last lesson on forgiveness is any indication, this will be a change that will take time to learn. 

But the word “snarky” still makes me laugh.