Jesus and Newton

Jesus said many things. One thing He said is  "Unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 18:3)

You may argue over what the kingdom of heaven is and weather you care to enter, but I find it more interesting that Jesus connects, or makes room for a connection between turning and children.

One of the fun things my sister and I did when we were young and playing together was spin while listening to the Alleluia song from Handles Messiah.  We had a long empty wooden dining room where we could just spin and spin and spin. I don't think this is what Jesus meant when he said "turn and become like children", but spinning sure was fun.

In my, college English class on Dante, I learned that the word "repent" means to turn around. Children then, I suppose, are constantly repenting. Children have to be constantly re-directed. Much of  this redirecting involves turning around. "Peter, come back, get away from the road!" "No.,..John, turn around your bedroom is this way." "Stop, come back, and finish wiping the table." In all of these scenario's the child has to stop what they are doing and then change their direction of motion. We also know that older children are not very easily physically turned around, but that a change of mind, a turn of mind, will move the child or teen to obey or behave more responsibly.

A child is most easily turned. Why? Well, the number one reason is physical. A child can be physically picked up and turned around facing the right way. Children overall seem to be very sensitive in mind, they are learning so much every day, and are even sensitive in soul, they tend to respond appropriately to right and wrong actions

Have you ever seen a child, laugh while eating a stolen cookie right in front of your face?  The child knows he did something wrong and acts in a way according to that disobedience: pridefully. When you send them to their room afterwards, will they not most readily cry either in anger or remorse? Have you ever had a two year old, grab some non-appropriate object and then run away to hide with it? Do they not most readily feel ashamed such that they suddenly run and hide? Though it might take a while for a child to understand that others feel pain, they are most ready to cry out if they get hurt (in most cases). Children also seem have a great sense of justice. This is often seen when they are learning to share. But are they not also able to simply distribute Mercy? When I gave a four year old girl a new coloring book, her three year old brother calls out repeatedly, "I want that! I want that! I want that!" Oops, on my part. (I showed him one of his own coloring books that he already had, colored with him and he was happy) His sister though after taking a turn coloring in the new one, offered him a turn. She even gave me a precious sticker in thanksgiving for the gift.

The point being, we as adults have lost our sensitivity of person. We have become stuck. If somebody tries to pick us up against our will we can hit them victoriously because we are strong and heavy. We are stuck in our OCD ways and will not let our mind's be opened to new ideas because it makes us uncomfortable to do something different. We run away from feeling bad when we cause hurt, (how dare we do something wrong or mess up) and then celebrate our bad as good, and shut out all such guilty feeling, angry feeling, or any real feeling at all.

Do we feel shame or remorse? Are we open to learning or seeing a better way, or to appreciating another color (besides our favorite),? Are we willing to get out of our chair and help our roommate or spouse in doing the dishes when asked, or when we see a need for help? Or do we try to stop feeling, stop learning, and stop moving?

Be not afraid to turn, to become sensitive to the world around you. For when you turn, repent, accelerate, there is so much power under your control to do as you wish! And if you can stomach it, try spinning sometime to  music. Not only is turning powerful, its also just for fun!

Perhaps Jesus words could be understood as "Unless you accelerate and have fun, you will...(wait for it,)...... not have fun!"

Newtons second Law works perfectly here.
F=(mass)(acceleration)
Fun=(You-body-mind-soul)(moving/turning)