Lessons For Living Life Wide OpenSample

Mareto struggles with the intangible aspects of life. He loves things like letters and numbers and trains and blocks—things that remain constant, things that he can see and touch and hold in his hands. Abstract truths are a little tougher. It can be difficult for Mareto to understand that the tree is bigger than the bridge in one image but not another. Why isn’t the same label applied to the tree all the time? Mareto likes things ordered and consistent . . . and tangible.

Last year I went to visit Mareto at school and to eat lunch in the cafeteria with him. I like to check on him during his day to see how he’s interacting with his peers, to see if he’s smiling and happy, and mostly just to get a few minutes of hugs and giggles because I miss him. When lunch ended that day, the class lined up and I took Mareto’s hand. We walked through the halls back to his classroom, swinging our interlocked hands along the way.

We were rounding the corner when Mareto tilted his head toward my face and casually mentioned, as if we’d been talking about it all day, “Jesus is God.” It was a statement, not a question. He said it in the same way one might say, “Timmy’s shirt is red.” In a normal tone and volume—just sharing a true thing.

I sat in the parking lot thinking about that simple but profound moment for a while. How did Mareto know that? Yes, we are a Christian family. We pray together before meals and over the children at bedtime each night. We sing songs and love others and go to church and serve together as a family. John and I share our faith with Mareto and Arsema because it’s who we are and how we do life.

But faith is abstract. . . .

We don’t have to understand everything to believe in something bigger than ourselves. In fact, that itself is the faith part—we haven’t seen Jesus literally, but we see him with our hearts and souls. We might not have all the right words, but we have assurance. Mareto believes because he has faith, and it’s just that simple. Jesus is God.