Little Boys in the Hearts of Men ~ A Short Story

          Somewhere in the hearts of some men are little boys who know their heavenly Father more than words could ever say. These are the children who are in such awe and wonder at the grace and mercy of the Lord of heaven that they can rest in what little they do know as the very best things that there are to know. While they cannot always put what they know into words, they can put what they know into prayers of concern for people who seem unable to see what they see.

          All around these little boys, mockers tell them what a terrible Father they have. Some claim their Father does not exist, while others declare their Father could not have created all the amazing and wonderful things that have boggled the greatest minds for centuries. But these children know their Father, and have witnessed the inner-life of their Father’s workshop. They know what their Father does with sinful little boys, how he washes away their shame, their feelings of guilt, and their overwhelming fears. They have no doubt what their Father has done in the past, what he is doing in the moment, or that he will do all that he has promised for the blessing of his children.  

          Not only that, but the little boys can see for themselves that the world is everything their Father says about it. It is filled with amazing creatures that continue to reproduce after their kind, just as his word has declared for centuries. It is filled with sinful men who tell lies about their Father, just as Father put into his written word so long ago that it is obvious even to little boys that Father is the one who is telling the truth.  

          The little boys’ hearts do not like to think of all the bad stories they hear of people hurting each other, and killing each other. They do not like to hear about what adults do to hurt children, or what children do to hurt each other. They don’t like to hear the stories of how their friends were abused in secret places. And they certainly do not like to look in the mirror to think about anything that may have happened to them.

          At the same time, they do not like to hear the way people blame their Father for things he was never part of. They know their Father is not the one who allows all the suffering that takes place in the world. They have no difficulty remembering what the world was like when they did not know Father. They now can speak of the difference they feel living as adopted sons in Father’s house. No, it was never Father who was causing all the pain in the world. It was the deceiver who causes the bad things that take place, and then uses his lies and deceptions to keep people from the Father who would bring healing, joy, peace, and rest to the souls of the Suffering.

          For Father’s adopted children, there was a certain fear, and sadness, and confusion, when loud people would stand outside Father’s house, never knowing how good it was to live in the love of the Father, and yet speaking as if they knew him full well. It was hard to hear their claims of knowing Father as a bad man when his adopted sons knew that Father was the best good they had ever known. It frustrated them that they did not know how to argue with such violent and angry people. They regretted that they did not know how to convince the mockers and scoffers that it was Father’s enemies who were wrong. The beloved little ones could not keep up to the big words and deceptive reasoning of Father’s opponents, and the shocking numbers of people who would believe them just because they talked so loud, and made Father out to look so bad.

          Of course, there was nothing that any of these mockers said that could change the little boys’ minds about Father. There was something about knowing someone in person that was different from merely knowing about him. No matter how long the mockers stood outside Father’s house telling everyone how bad Father was, or that there was no Father in the house at all, the little boys in the hearts of men knew what Father was really like.  

          It was strange to be children who knew something so well, and yet could not find words to explain it. There was a sadness that the adopted children of Father’s house felt because people were not only missing out on knowing what Father was like, but had such a strange need to prove him to be different than what he was. If Father was so bad, or didn’t really exist, why did it matter for them to prove that they were right and Father was wrong? Why didn’t they just go away and live with their wrong beliefs? It would be soon enough that they would see Father as he is, and bow their knee to him, and confess that he indeed was right after all. If they were so sure they were right, couldn’t they find some way to make themselves look good without telling lies about Father?  

          The little boys did not understand their own feelings well enough to be able to explain the feelings of others, especially when the feelings of others were so angry, and hateful. The sons of Father’s kingdom knew their capacity for feeling upset and distressed because of their own wrong beliefs about Father. Orphan-minded street kids came into Father’s house filled with fears that Father could be as bad as others had been out in the world. They found it much easier to doubt the love they saw in Father’s house than to believe such a love was really theirs, and that it would last beyond a lifetime.

          However, as the days, and weeks, and months of experiencing Father’s love brought peaceful changes to the minds of the adopted children, the orphan-minded came to truly know the love of the Father. They began to feel like the beloved children of Father’s heart, and began to understand the love their Father showed them through the suffering of his Son. They came to know the wonder of discovering how much love the Son showed them through his sacrifice as a Shepherd giving up his life in place of his sheep.

          Along with the growing experience of the love of the Father and the Son, the little boys witnessed for themselves how much the Comforter poured out the love of the Father into the hearts of all the adopted children. They saw his devotion to making the Father and Son known even to the most wounded of hearts. Well did they recount the times when they felt they must have ruined their relationship with their adoptive Father because of some big mistake they made, or some terribly bad thing they had done.

          To their surprise, they would find the Comforter finding them in the dark places of their hearts and speaking to their souls that they were still sons after all. They would hear the kindest words affirming that there was nothing that could separate them from Father’s love, and how the Father had already demonstrated his love for his beloved children when he sent his Son to lay down his life while the orphans were still sinners.

          Now that these sinful little Worldlings had experienced adoption as sons, the Comforter was their constant companion in urging them to call out, “Abba, Father!” While their little hearts could never imagine that such miserable creatures as themselves could dare to address such a regal Father at all, the Comforter spent all his time telling them to do just that. He spoke to them about the reasonableness of the mercy and grace of Father’s house, teaching them things about the loving sacrifice of their firstborn Brother, and reminding them of the things they so easily forgot because old training made this love of the Triune seem utterly impossible.

          However, it not only was not impossible for a sinful little street orphan to begin feeling like a beloved son of the eternal Father, it was the Comforter’s constant work to tell the adopted sons how loved they really were. At the same time, it was the unfailing work of the firstborn Son to shine out the glory of Father’s love so that the adopted children could not escape seeing it even if they tried. These children might not be able to think of words fast enough to argue with the angry and violent opponents outside Father’s estate, but their hearts were filling up with experiences of the love of the Triune so that it felt like they were knowing their love in a way that was even greater than explaining such love.

          From that kind of knowing, the adopted orphans could never believe that their new Father was as bad as the Worldlings accused him to be. They could see the anger in Father’s enemies, and they could know the love that was in their adoptive Father, so they knew that the problem was not with Father at all. It was not that Father was without anger towards his enemies. It was more like it was not time for it to be expressed. The little boys of Father’s house did not know how it all worked together, but they came to see that there is anger and wrath being stored up somewhere against all the mockers and scoffers who set up their deceiving-stations outside Father’s house.

          In fact, while the enemies shout all the louder their lies against the Father, the little boys marvel all the more that their Father can show so much mercy towards such an angry world, while also storing up his judgment against what they are doing should they never repent and enter his estate. It is a marvel to these little children that Father could feel such justice against his enemies, and yet show that he is not at all willing that even such as these would perish under the weight of their sin, and the deadliness of their ignorance. Sometimes the children of Father’s house simply did not understand why Father gave such people so much time!

          The view from the window of Father’s house showed the adopted children what Father was like in his love for the world, and what the world was like in its hatred of Father. Outside the fence around Father’s domain there was a very wide road filled with people laughing, but with a sound that was not happy, or joyful. Father’s children remembered what the empty laughter felt like, however briefly it would come. It was nothing like the joy and peace that were their daily experience in their new home. They were thankful for what they had, and sad for what the Worldlings thought they had, but could never find out on their wide and easy road.

          The throngs of people were constantly moving, as though time itself, and the downward slope of the road, kept them dancing and skipping along to an end that was the pure essence of the anger and hatred they felt towards Father. Over time, the little boys came to understand that Father’s wrath against the world’s sins is stored up at the end of that road. Watching such a mirage of happiness in people heading to something far worse than their anger against Father sent a shudder of horror through the little boys’ hearts. They shook their heads with tearful eyes, wondering how people could see Father in such a bad light, and see the road that leads to destruction in such a good light.

          While there was a distinctive wave of sadness that came over the little boys’ hearts to see people believing they were so happy without Father, there was another side to this sadness as they looked at the well-lit path that leads up to Father’s house and knew how few children found that way of life. There was a magnificent door in the wall around Father’s estate, lit up with the light of love for all to see. Everyone on the wide road that declined past Father’s house could see the door. They could see it was open wide. They could see it was lit up. It had announced Father’s hope to the world for centuries of time. It had proven itself good to everyone who had ever believed the good news etched into the door, or listened to the older brothers who had stood at the doorway trying to speak Father’s living hope above the deadly din of the passing world.

          No, there was no way of denying what was in the hearts of these little boys who live in Father’s house. They can deny neither the wonders of Father’s heart, or the sad wastefulness of the wide road that leads so many past the doorway of life that leads up to Father’s love. They cannot deny their experiences of Father’s firstborn Son taking them in his arms, and holding them close to his heart; and they cannot hide from their Brother’s angry enemies who work so hard to deny everything about him. They cannot erase from their minds all the uplifting times they have spent with the Comforter, how he would hear their cries for forgiveness, how he would pour out the mercy and grace of the Father that would match their moments of need. Neither can they erase from their ears the boisterous voices of those who so devotedly claim that such a One as the Triune does not even exist.

          And so, with sad hearts that cannot ignore the deadly jubilation sliding past Father’s house, the little boys in the big hearts of men seek to know the love of the Father, the Son, and the Comforter in such a real and personal way that they would become brave and courageous to stand at the doorway of Father’s love and call people to come into what they themselves have already found to be true, even if they can’t always keep up with the big and angry words of their opponents.

          The trickle of children who find the narrow, winding way up to Father’s house is enough encouragement to accept the railings of an angry, deceived world, in order to find more lost little orphan-minded children who would enter through the door of love if little boys could love them enough to tell what they know, even when they are afraid they don’t know how to put it into words.

 

© 2014 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com