This statue of the risen Christ welcomes visitors just inside the main doors at the Mercy Medical Center in Sioux City, IA.
Hundreds of people come and go throughout the day.
I saw a young family come in with a toddler just learning to walk. The Grandmother was sitting in the lobby and the baby girl started waddling toward her … chirping and waving her arms.
She took two or three steps and fell on her bottom. "Come on," Grandma cheered. "Get up. Try it again. Come to Grandma. You can do it."
So the baby tried again and fell again and tried again and FINALLY made it. "You did it!" Grandma said. "You made it. What a good baby." Everybody clapped, including the baby.
There was Jesus right there hanging on the wall behind the baby while all of this transpired. I thought, "That's it. That's got to be how Jesus welcomes his children who struggle day by day to know him. We fail over and over and yet God keeps his arms outstretched towards us.
Now if that's right, that makes me feel pretty good and certainly loved.
Jesus, who was tempted in every way that we are, sees us fall flat on our rears time and again. But what he says is, "Come on, baby. You can do it. Get up. Try it again. Come on. I love you."
"Come to me , all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest." …Matthew 11:28
"Teach us all, kind Jesus, to put childlike trust in you alone."
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