Cyber Baby Logic

This past weekend I cleaned out a cabinet drawer. Every home has one - that drawer where you place things, believing that you 'might' wish to revisit sometime. Our drawer had a collection of CD’s that were given to us several years ago. None of them had sufficiently appealing titles to entice us to pursue loading them in our player or computer. One of the disks had the title of ‘Cyber Baby.’ And the tag line beneath the title was ‘Care for your own baby just like a real one.’

I thumbed through the instructions, in disbelief, as the poorly translated English (this having originated in Japan), explained that it would provide all the joy and happiness of having your own baby without the pain of giving birth!

And it said that the more care and love you showed it, the better the baby would thrive. There were instructions on where to click to make the baby laugh and giggle, a cyber bottle to feed it, and a series of icons for various toys. There were even icons for changing the baby, should it encounter cyber-soiling and require a change of nappies.

If only life were so simple! But it's not. As humans, we scramble along, trying our best to walk in Jesus' footsteps, we get a full dose of life's shocks, surprises, and general untidiness. And we find ourselves asking, ‘Was I absent when they had the class on this?’ There was no class! And the road map that Jesus gave us for following in His footsteps isn't very detailed.

The main roads are obvious: Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbour as you love yourself. But how to get to those roads — and how stay on them — is often very difficult to see. How to love wisely and well, how to be true friends, how to find our gifts and carry them where they needed, how to keep going when we get tired and it gets dark: Trying to walk in Jesus' footsteps can be very confusing, and sometimes we can feel scared and alone.

That's why Jesus' words mean so much to us: ‘I will not leave you as orphans,’ He says. You don't have to walk alone. I'm giving you an advocate, a mentor, the Holy Spirit of God, to be with you and guide you at every step of the way. The Spirit will help you see the path, and will give you the heart and the energy to walk it.

But you must listen carefully, for the Spirit whispers very softly, and often speaks when you're not expecting Him to speak at all. The Spirit seldom says what you expect or what you're ready to hear - so you'll have to listen with an open heart, if you want the truth.

Trust can help you hear. The Spirit knows what is true and loves you even more than you love yourself. Trust that, and step-by-step, you'll find your way home.

Remember: Happiness comes from within, not from a CD.

Lord God, grant us wisdom to share Your word, in such a way that those who need spiritual food may feel fulfilled. Help us to listen, both to You and to those in need. Our trust is in You and it is in Christ’s footsteps that we follow. Amen

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