No Filter


 

Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time. Hebrews 4:16

 
How many times have you heard it said of someone that he or she has no filter? My granddaughter Madelyn is the personification of that statement and she gets that quality straight from her mother. My daughter Laura is an adult now and as such has tamed her wild tongue a little bit. Madelyn, who I lovingly call Mim, has not. Mim says whatever she’s thinking. It pops into her head and she says it. Just the other day she told me that she’d seen an old picture of me with blonde hair. “Hey Grammy, so I saw a picture of you when you used to have blonde hair.” She looked at me, cocked her head, gave me the quirkiest little look and said, “Yeah, keep the red.” See what I mean? No. Filter.  And quite frankly we all love it, for now, because Mim is six years old. Eventually she’ll have to find a filter. Although knowing her as I do, I suspect it will be a tiny one. She reminds me of my Gram who never really got that concept either. She just learned to pseudo whisper her comments.

          Maybe that isn’t a bad thing. Mim says what she wants, to her family, her teachers and to God. She isn’t afraid to express herself. In prayer, Mim approaches the throne of grace with the confidence of the beloved child that she is.

          In several places in Scripture we are told to become like children, to interact with God with the pure and simple faith of a child. Hmm… maybe those filters are overrated. I’m not advocating speaking your mind at all times. Feelings get hurt that way, damage gets done. We are also advised in Scripture to be quick to listen and slow to speak. (James 1:9) Reading the verse above and thinking of Mim, I realized that yes, in our human interactions we need to follow James’ advice and to have a filter but when we are speaking to our Father in heaven anything goes, with respect of course. Our Father is available always to hear our hearts. He already knows what we’re thinking and how we’re feeling. Sometimes in an effort to spare our family and friends we don’t say what we’re thinking or feeling. With God we can. We can whine, cry, laugh, vent and beg and we can do it with confidence, confident in the fact that His feelings for us won’t change.

         

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