The winged gatekeeper’s words echoed in her ear like a taunt mocking her.
“… you’re still a child in all the ways that matter,” he had said.
Her growing ire fueled her burning chest and heated cheeks. She crossed her arms and kicked the air in front of her. “The only reason I’m a child is because you turned me into one!”
“I merely turned you into what you needed to become to enter the kingdom. You wish to be here, do you not? Now that you’re in, whether you reach the palace is wholly up to you.”
His amusement frustrated her, but his kind tone as he spoke the words made her back off. Did she really need to be like a child to enter His kingdom?
Thomas tilted his head to the side as he bobbed up and down in the air, looking down at her. “Should you wish to return to what you were, traveler, there are two ways. You go backward or onward, but onward will take much more time and a lot more challenges, and I doubt you’ll come out of it as you once were. Instead, you will emerge as you should be. So, which way is it?”
The choice she had to make calmed her and pulled in her ability to reason. She cleared her throat before, and with another stomp of her foot, spoke out her decision. “Onward!”
“Brilliant!” Thomas clapped his hands.
The sojourner smiled. She had just gone through a vast wilderness. Surely His kingdom would be easier to traverse! “What do I have to do to get to where He is?”
Thomas’s smile never left his face, but her inquiry doubled his delight. “I’m glad you asked! First, you must go to the academy. They’re already expecting you. Just follow the star to get there.”
The moment he said it, a burst of light appeared right before her and bounced in the air a few times before bolting west.
She sighed as she followed the sparkling burst of light with her gaze, but not with her feet. She had been a fool to believe that by crossing the wilderness, she had already reached the end of her journey. It was becoming increasingly clear the wilderness was only the beginning, and the kingdom itself was a journey all on its own.
And the first step of the journey was to follow the light.
Manna
Verses for Meditation
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17 (ESV)
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Psalm 119:105 (NLT)
Author’s Reflections
We are to be childlike, not childish.
This stage of the journey requires extraordinary faith — the kind that causes a child to be secure in the love and strength of a father. It is an unwavering trust in a mother’s ability to nurture and sustain.
Childlike faith is something a lot of us may have experienced at some point, but have forgotten how to practice. Perhaps because we’ve been broken, betrayed, and disappointed. We trusted someone in authority to come through for us, and they didn’t, and we begin to question if God could come through for us as well.
He is able.
If we are to enjoy the fullness of His kingdom, we need to get to that point of childlike trust.
How?
His Word is always a great place to start. No matter how much darkness tries to catch up with us, we keep on following the light until we ourselves become light.
This is from allegorical devotional, The Kingdom Child.