Wanna play?

Children are fascinating. I like to watch them. I like to watch them as an observer, a learner.
Children say what is on their minds. Children make friends quickly and forget wrongs fast. Children trust willingly and believe outlandish things innocently. Jesus said if we want to follow Him we must become like little children. I want to follow Jesus. I can learn lessons from children.

Children are even more fascinating when they do something that I can remember doing but for some reason now, as an adult, I won't do anymore. In some cases that's good. I don't shoot spit wads at people in restaurants anymore. Not that I'm not tempted occaisionally but I fight off those urges to protect the reputation of my church and family. I don't sneak from table to table in those same restaurants stealing all the creamers and downing them like shots either. But there are other things I remember doing that I wish I still did and wonder why I don't.

I was watching some kids the other day at a park play yard and noticed an obviously new kid that was a bit anxious because he didn't know anybody. He wanted to play and kind of hung around the outskirts of the small group playing on the bars. Who wants to play alone anyway? He moved in a little closer to express his interest. Soon the others recognized the new kid and one said, "Hi! Wanna play?" This little guy's face looked like the night sky on the 4th of July. It exploded in delight. He dashed into the group. Within seconds his newness vanished. He was IN!

Watching that whole scene I thought to myself, "Why don't I do that anymore? What is it about kids that accept others, new people, so easily but adults struggle with that? Why do I think twice about reaching out to someone?"

I think I know the "adult" answer. Of course! You don't know what kind of person that is! They could be a wacko or a pervert or any sort of undesireable! Kids don't think that way but adults do. That's because we're smarter than kids. We're WAY more wise! Right?

I thought some more. I don't really think all new people are wackos and perverts. But what I do mull over in my head are things like this: "Are they my type?" "Are they likable?" "Are they fun?" The biggest and maybe most disturbing question might be, "What will I benefit from accepting this person into my life?" I have to ask myself, "Are those questions a child would ask?"

Children don't ask those questions, they just say, "Wanna play?" Why do I first put a person through a series of personal litmus tests before I'll extend an invitation of acceptance?

Little children and Jesus are a lot alike in this way. Jesus accepted everyone, even wackos and perverts. He didn't approve of their behavior all the time but He knew to keep first things first. Accepted people are much more likely to make behavior changes than non-accepted people. Jesus knew that. He practiced that. Most of us adults want people to change into something we can accept before we ask them to come play.

I just finished a book about the 1947 baseball season. This was Jackie Robinson's rookie season with the Brooklyn Dodgers. The book told the story of the abuse Robinson took as the first black man in baseball. The racial slurs were hateful. The taunting, inhuman. The prejudice and bigotry, vile. Those things ate him up inside but he didn't have much recourse in a white dominated environment. He just wanted to play.

On one afternoon in Philadelphia, the taunts from the crowd were beyond what any human being should have to tolerate. They shouted and mocked and cursed and threw things. Even from the opposing teams dugout came the hateful taunts. Pee Wee Reese was one of the most beloved ball players at the time. He played shortstop for the Dodgers. He hadn't done much to welcome Robinson himself but what he saw and heard was just too much. He jogged across the infield from his shortstop position to Jackie at first base and put his arm around him and whispered something to him. The sight of their hero, Pee Wee Reese, with his arm around the black Jackie Robinson quieted the crowd in an instant. It was almost eerie how the action on the field dictated the emotions in the crowd. Then cheers. Probably cheers from those who were as appalled at his mistreatment as Reese was but cheers none the less. What was happening? Simple, there was a man on the outside that for whatever reason no body wanted to play with. One man stepped out of himself, denied his own interests and said, "Wanna play?"

Things don't change over night and neither did baseball or culture. But we're farther along than we used to be. Race really isn't the issue here. It's Jesus words that are the issue, "Love each other as I have loved you." Love doesn't demand that you be anything before you are loved. Acceptance does not demand that you meet a standard before you are accepted.

I want to be like a kid again. Yeah, in more ways than one I suppose. But I really want to be the kind of child that Jesus says I need to be. The kind that accepts people first and then worries about all that other "adult" stuff later. I want to accept people like Jesus does.....wanna play?