A few days ago, our 6yo son came home from Kindergarten with some important news.
"Haley kissed me at school today", he announced with a disgusted look in his eye.
"What did you do?", I asked.
"I told her that if she did it again I wouldn't be her friend anymore."
"That's not very nice," I said, "You don't want to hurt her feelings. She was just trying to be nice to you… that's what little girls do sometimes."
"…but I didn't like it…," he finished. He was not budging on this one. She had an affection for him, but he was not interested. Period.
I brought it up again yesterday and asked if she'd kissed him lately. "Nope….so she's still my friend. But yesterday she kissed Dallin!"
In worship, I sometimes wonder if God is more like Haley than we think. We ask him to come and be with us and, when He does something unexpected (or something we just don't feel comfortable with), we push Him away. Tell him to quit it. Make it clear that if that kind of thing continues, we're outta there.
Of course, it has nothing to do with song choice, whether or not we raise our hands, or if we use drums or organ. Those things are irrelevant. It has more to do with how the Spirit personally and corporately moves among us. Touches us. Turns our hearts. Connects to the deepest longings and fears within us. It is during those times that we have to choose to accept his expression of affection… or wipe it off with the disgust of a 6-year-old.
And God may indeed move on to someone else who is willing to accept his affection. And I wonder what we miss out on…
After we talked some more, I told our son, "Next time she kisses you, tell her she owes you a dollar." Everyone laughed but him. Dryly he responded, "My kisses aren't for sale."
Good boy.