Seeing through the eyes of a Child.

A hug is like a boomerang - you get
it back right away. ~Bill Keane

Millions and millions of years would
still not give me half enough time to
describe that tiny instant of all
eternity when you put your arms around
me and I put my arms around you.
~Jacques Prévert

Everybody needs a hug. It changes
your metabolism. ~Leo Buscaglia

I love hugging. I wish I was an octopus,
so I could hug ten people at a time.
~Drew Barrymore

No matter how hard you hug your money,
it never hugs back.-H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I will not play at tug o' war
I'd rather play at hug o' war,
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs....~Shel Silverstein

A kiss without a hug is like a flower
without the fragrance. ~Proverb

There's nothing like a mama-hug.
~Adabella Radici

A hug is a smile with arms, a
laugh with a stronger grip.
~The Quote Garden

Be a love pharmacist: dispense
hugs like medicine - they are!
~The Quote Garden

A Hug is a handshake from the Heart.
-john f mccarthy

You can't give a Hug without
getting a Hug. -john f mccarthy

A Hug delights and warms and charms,
that must be why God gave us arms.
-john f mccarthy

Hugs are the universal medicine.
-john f mccarthy

A Hug is a great gift - one size fits all,
and it's easy to exchange. -john f mccarthy

Hugs grease the wheels of the world.
-john f mccarthy

A Hug is worth a thousand words.
-john f mccarthy

Have you hugged yourself today?
-john f mccarthy

A Hug is two Hearts wrapped in arms.
-john f mccarthy

I don't discriminate - I'm an
equal-opportunity Hugger.
-john f mccarthy

Hugging has no unpleasant side
effects and is all natural. There
are no batteries to replace, it's
inflation-proof and non-fattening
with no monthly payments. It's
non-taxable, non-polluting, and is,
of course, fully refundable.
-john f mccarthy

Never wait until tomorrow to Hug
someone you could Hug today,
because when you give one, you
get one right back your way.
-john f mccarthy

Sometimes it's better to put
Love into Hugs than to
put it into words.-john f mccarthy

Arm ourSelves for war? No!
All the arms we need are for Hugging.
-john f mccarthy

A Hug is the shortest distance
between Friends. -john f mccarthy

You can't wrap Love in a box, but
you can wrap a person in a Hug.
-john f mccarthy

If you're angry at a Loved One,
Hug that person. And mean it.
You may not want to Hug - which
is all the more reason to do so.
It's hard to stay angry when
someone shows they Love you, and
that's precisely what happens
when we Hug each other.
-john f mccarthy

Seeing through a Child's eyes means
meeting someone where they are and
letting God make the changes. A
time when my family and I were
feeding the Homeless at Saint
Joseph's Kitchen got me started
on this one, and now it is a path
I have to travel. And an email,
today, Breakfast at McDonalds,
reminded me of what is important.
What does it really mean to see
through the eyes of a Child? I
must admit that until I had children
I never truly knew what that meant?
Jesus claimed, (Matthew 18:3) . . .that
unless you become like a little child
you can't enter the kingdom of heaven.&
I'm still learning the true meaning of
what Jesus said.



A Kind Of Wide Eyed Innocence



Have you ever watched little kids
interact with people? When they
are really young they don't see
the color of a person's skin.
They will Hug a homeless person
just as fast as they will Hug any
one else. Somehow through life's
experiences we put up walls and
barriers and forget how to see
through the eyes of a child. Is
it safe to say that Jesus wants
us to be like little Children
so we come to Him with no barriers?
If you look at Jesus' life (really
look at it) I think you would see
a different picture than what you
normally see in churches today.
We are too busy looking proper
to notice the hurting people right
beside us. We are too busy noticing
the tacky clothes, or the piercing,
or the dyed hair to notice our smug
judgmental Selves. Maybe it secretly
makes us feel better about ourSelves
because we can't possibly be as
tricked up as they are (at least
that's what we think). Yet, seeing
through a Child's eyes means running
up to people who look different than
us ( maybe whom we even disapprove of)
and Hugging them in a Genuine way
with no agenda.



Now I admit this is not something
that is always easy to do. Who wants
to run up to a nasty guy who hasn't
shaved or showered in weeks and give
him a Big Hug? I can genuinely say
it is not at the top of my list. But,
that is exactly what Jesus did. When
Jesus came to the Earth He did not
come and hang out with the church
people of the day. Actually those
were the people who annoyed Him
the most. Maybe this was because
they were so busy being righteous
that they missed the big picture.
Who did He hang out with the most
during his stay? He hung out with
the prostitutes, the tax collectors,
the homeless, the dirty, and the
beggars. He was not looked upon in
a favorable light by the religious
leaders of the day. Today that hasn't
changed much. "Good " Christians
don't go and hang out with prostitutes.
They don't associate with gay people,
they don't talk to the nasty homeless
guy, and they don't talk to tattooed,
pierced freaky people with weird
colored hair.



Oh wait, go get your religious
pamphlet, pass that and some food
out and you have just bought your
salvation. For some reason this
is how most religious people of
the day do it yet, that is not the
example we were shown. Jesus met
people where they were, met their
immediate need and then said,
"Go and sin no more, He did not
preach to them. He spoke like a
Child might, Honest, to the point
and then He moved on. He was much
like a Child who might say your
breath stinks one minute and then
want you to play with him the next.
He's saying hey man your act needs
to be cleaned up but I'll still
play with you in the mean time. He
spent more time preaching to the
"religious people" then anybody.
Honestly I think He liked being
around the everyday people because
they weren't so blinded by their
religiosity that they couldn't see.
The religious leaders were so caught
up in what was proper that they
wanted to kill Jesus because He
was Healing on the Sabbath! You
would think that would be a Blessing,
but it was against their law so that
made it worth killing over.



Uninhibited Expression



Have you ever seen a Child's
expression the first time they
discover the moon, or maybe a
brightly colored rock? They can't
control their Excitement, their
faces beam, and they squeal and
laugh. Have you ever seen a Child
who has been away from a parent
for a period of time? Do they not
run with arms wide open as fast as
their little legs will carry them?
The walls we have put up over time
make open expression like this very
difficult for most people. We've
learned to hold back our tears, we've
learned to bridle our laughter, and
stifle our expressions. After a while
through watching our parents and peers
we change. We learn to control our
emotions, we learn to notice the
differences between us and the next
person, and we get stiff and rigid
and uncomfortable with things that
are different than our way of thinking.



Seeing Through A Child's Eyes



Before I get accused of going too
far let me say a few things. I am
not saying that Jesus was telling
us to get into Heaven we just need
to stand on the street corner or
to go hang out in a gay bar. That
might be participating a bit too
much. But, we can Love Our Neighbor
as ourSelves despite whatever
differences there may be. That is
what seeing through the eyes of a
Child means. Little Children Love
Completely, Trust Completely, are
totally awed by almost everything
they see, have Wonderful Imagination,
have amazing Forgiveness when wronged,
aren't afraid to act silly and laugh
hard and even cry for everyone to see.
Is it any wonder that Jesus said you
have to become like a little Child to
get into the Kingdom? He doesn't want
to be hanging out with all the stuffy
self-righteous people either. Can't say
I'd blame him. I'd rather hear the
laughter of a Child any day than have
to listen to one more self-righteous
stuffy Christian telling me the long
list of things I have to do to make
it into Heaven.