Kiss it better

Sometimes it feels like I spend half my day kissing pinched fingers and banged elbows. Our children both throw themselves into their games with total abandon, so they constantly careen into various objects or each other. Then they hold out the part that hurts to me or to their father and say, "Kiss?"

A kiss obviously doesn't undo any of the damage. The skin stays scraped, the bruise stays purple. But usually that tiny gesture of parental care is all they need. They just want to know that I see the hurt, that they're not alone with the pain and they don't need to be afraid.

Jesus invites us to become like children in our faith. Perhaps part of what he means is that we can show God our hurts. We can handle almost anything the world sends our way as long as we know we are not alone. God is with us, freeing us from fear and loving the pain away.