Building My World

The difference between me and a normal person is that when they see, smell, hear, taste, touch, and/or experience something seemingly trivial, the normal person usually just thinks about it for a moment, or maybe even not at all, and then goes on with his/her life.

I often experience something seemingly trivial and obsess over it. Usually this obsession comes out in writing. If something moves me--even something seemingly trivial--I HAVE to write about it.

Today, whilst hanging out (Really, am I allowed to write the phrase "whilst hanging out? No? Too bad! I just did!) with an amazing family from my church (and some other friends), I spent some time with their 4.5 year old son "J." I happen to think "J" is one of the coolest kids ever (and the feeling is mutual--he thinks I'm one of the coolest kids ever, too, although I'm a bit taller than most of his little friends). I picked him up and pretended he was an accordion (including all the "WAH-WOO-WAH-WOO" sounds a real pretend accordion might make), which for some STRANGE reason he thought was absolutely hilarious. Then he ran off and did something else for a few minutes because he's a kid and kids do that. While he was gone, I got involved in a grown up conversation (it's been known to happen from time to time), when suddenly "J" just came up beside me and impoloringly said, "Miss Ruth, I need help building my world."

A normal person would probably chuckle at the cuteness and innocence of such a statement, if they even understood why it was funny. OF COURSE he was talking about building a "world" AKA "city" AKA "house" AKA "randomly shaped indiscernable object of some sort" out of his legos, and he wanted me to come play with him. A normal person would get that and go play with him (or a mean normal person might say, "Not now kid. I'm too busy talking about grown up things. Blah blah blah grownup talk blah." No one at the gathering this afternoon would have EVER been mean like that to precious "J"--but I've seen grown ups in other places who are that mean. They make me sad.) My first reaction was to laugh at the cuteness of the statement and especially the cuteness of "J." My next reaction was to think "Wow, 'J,' I need help building MY world, too," and then I thought, "Oh, I am SO blogging about this later." I'm not a normal person. I'm more than okay with that.

I played legos. I helped "J" build his world. For a while, I was slightly concerned that I wouldn't build according to his specifications--because honestly, some of these 4.5 year old boys are SERIOUS about their lego worlds. But after a while, I began to realize that he didn't really care about HOW I played with the legos. He just wanted me to play legos WITH HIM. And I began to realize as I played legos with "J," in a very small yet important way, I WAS building his world. And he was building mine.

When you look at the task of building the WHOLE WORLD (one that's NOT just made out of legos), it's so easy to get discouraged. There are countless needs out there. It's impossible to even begin to imagine them. It's so easy to get discouraged when you think of it like that.

But we aren't called to build the whole world. We're called to build what has been placed right in front of us. Sometimes that's as simple as spending a little bit of time with an awesome 4.5 year old boy who for some unknown reason thinks I'm awesome, too.

Sometimes it's a little harder than that. Sometimes what we're given to do isn't something we're comfortable with. It's easy to get discouraged or frightened that we can't do it the way we're expected to do it--we're afraid of failing--but there's more than just ourselves guiding where we place each block. See, I, like "J," need help building my world. I can't do it alone.

But today I got one of those rare glimpses of what it must be like to be God. When "J" asked me for help, I didn't roll my eyes and act like he was wasting my time. I think sometimes we treat God like that. We have some silly "Why would God care about me?" attitude. But when "J" asked for my help, I was delighted just to get to spend some time with him. And I know God is delighted when we spend time with Him. He wants us to seek His help; He wants us to seek Him.

Block by block by block God is helping me build my world. He's putting others alongside me so we can help one another build, and He Himself is guiding the building. I got all of that from one simple, beautiful statement from a child. "Miss Ruth, I need help building my world."

Thank God I'm not normal.