Her Childlike Encounters with the Divine

Its a bright summer day and a 5 year old girl is playing in the corner in the mud.

Her mother is around watching her as she talks to herself while playing. There are other kids of similar age running around and having fun while wondering why this little girl is not joining them. It would be good to have another playmate.

Away from all those thoughts is the little girl, a bit annoyed that it is loud. "Why do the kids have to make so much noise?" She thinks to herself. She would not say that aloud because she knows inside she is different. Just does not know how yet. She will wait.

Her mother is a social butterfly and busy having conversations about the daily life with her friends while watching her little girl from the corner of her eye. There is a thought that is bothering her. Why does my little girl not play like the other kids? She thinks. If only she did, it would be so much more normal. She is somewhere influenced by the other moms around who think there is something wrong with the little girl. Some even suggested visiting the counsellor. There are many good ones around. Some also relate it to the fact that she is a single child and suggest she needs siblings to play with...

Unaware of all these things, the little girl in her plain green dress continues to dig the mud to find treasure. She has once found a unique stone and has hopes that she will find more. She never feels alone. She has a friend. A friend who is always protecting her and guiding her through this. "He also makes things happen" - she would say.

The faith that this little girl had in divine started from the fact that she acknowledged that there was a super power. She did not know the name then and over the various phases in her life, the name has changed from the friend, to the moon, to the Universe and then God and holy spirit. But there was one thing constant - the presence and the belief in the presence.

The little girl in the plain green dress was me.

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, to be with you forever—

the Spirit of truth.”

— John 14:16-17

Holy Spirit, thank You for making Yourself known to me in the quiet and the colorful, in childhood and now. Keep my eyes open to Your movement, my ears tuned to Your whisper, and my heart ready to follow You, always.