Excerpted from LETTERS TO HIS BELOVED

Excerpted from LETTERS TO HIS BELOVED, P. 109

One of the most endearing of all human qualities is that of innocence. We adore the innocence of youth and the best within each of us reaches out to embrace and protect it. When we kiss the head of a baby, we are touching and assimilating that innocence of youth. Our Lord Jesus surrounded himself with children often and remarked on their innocence; He seemed to have a special affection for children and made no secret of this. Our Christ said that we must be innocent before God. He did not say that we may wish to be innocent, or that God would prefer for us to be innocent and our Jesus said that we must be innocent to enter an oneness with our God. One would conclude from this that Jesus was either in error, He was lying to us or He was condemning us.

Perhaps our Prince knew more about innocence and more about us than we do. Generally, none of us can conceive of regaining the innocence of youth. We think of the inappropriate choices that we made, we think of the result of those choices and we conclude that our innocence is lost forever. Because we turn our backs to the light and focus on our own shadow, does not mean that the light does not shine on us with just as great an intensity as when we faced it. Innocence, which is an essential part of life, is renewed every moment of our lives and like the light we may turn our backs to it and reside in our own shadow. Innocence, nonetheless, shines upon us always and we need only to face and accept it.

Shall we be doomed to walk in our own shadow because we beheld it for so long? Must we conclude that the light of God no longer shines upon us because we chose the shadows of life for a while? How many times may we turn away from innocence before it is lost forever? If we turn toward the flow of life that is imbued with innocence how many times a day may we turn away before we can not turn back again? All of these questions are rhetorical to emphasize that there are no limits to how often we can turn back toward the flow of innocence and be renewed by it. This is surely the good news of our Jeshua, who is the Christ, that we may be renewed with the precious innocence we so love and we may make it a way of life. Our lives, thoughts, choices and decisions should be that of an adult while our hearts must be that of a child. We must reason as adults but we must trust as children. We must be responsible as adults for all that God has placed in our care as adults but we must be as unselfish as children. What an incredible realization that Jesus, the embodiment of God’s love, has promised us that each of us can become as innocent as a new born baby.

May you understand and accept the tender loving kindness that flows ever from our Lord and become as children, innocent treasures of God.