One day a seven-year-old granddaughter said to her grandfather, “In this family we are kind of serious about God, aren’t we?”
Grandpa said, “Yes, we sure are.” And the little girl asked, “Why?”
Grandpa wrapped the little girl in his arms, hugged her real close and said, “So that I can hug you and tickle you and try to tell you how much I love you and how glad I am that God gave you to us.”
The little girl grinned and said, “That’s cool.”
I’m not sure that hugging and tickling everybody we meet would go over very well. They might actually come and put us in one of those jackets with the buckles and really long sleeves and lock us in a rubber room.
However, we are supposed to figure out how to show that love to everyone we meet. The love we have experienced through Christ is supposed to be shared.
Thanks to Billy D. Strayhorn for sharing
My Commentary:
This story captures something wonderfully simple and deeply true about faith: at its heart, Christianity is not primarily about rules, arguments, or appearances. It is about love.
The little girl’s question is honest and insightful: “Why are we so serious about God?”
Children often cut through complexity and ask what adults sometimes forget to ask. And the grandfather’s answer is beautiful because it is not theological in an abstract way — it is personal. He connects God directly to affection, gratitude, joy, and relationship. “So that I can hug you and tickle you and tell you how much I love you.”
In that moment, faith becomes something living and warm. God is not presented as distant or frightening, but as the source of love itself.
The humor that follows makes the point even stronger. No, we cannot literally hug and tickle everyone we meet. But we are called to communicate love in ways people can receive: through kindness, patience, encouragement, generosity, listening, forgiveness, and compassion.
From a Christian perspective, love is never meant to stop with us. The love we experience from God is meant to move outward into the world. Faith that remains private, hidden, or self-contained misses the very nature of Christ, whose whole life was an outpouring of love toward others.
And often, it is the smallest gestures that reveal that love most clearly — a gentle word, a welcoming smile, a hand on a shoulder, a moment of attention when someone feels forgotten.
The little girl summed it up perfectly: “That’s cool.”
And perhaps genuine Christianity, at its best, really is that simple. To know you are loved by God… and then to spend your life helping others feel that love too.
Do YOU feel the love of God coming through a gentle word, a welcoming smile, a hand on your shoulder, and a moment of attention when you feel forgotten?
THANK YOU GOD FOR EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE. SOME WERE BLESSINGS AND SOME WERE LESSONS. I’M GRATEFUL FOR ALL OF THEM!
The last few years I have tossed and turned at night, worrying that we have forgotten what America is all about. I’M A DOER, NOT A TALKER. So I wrote WHAT MAKES AMERICA AMERICA.
I have 62 short Chapters that look at every aspect of life in America, from Disney World to the Supreme Court. Here is the link https://a.co/d/00Lyqe1C that will connect you with my Amazon page. Click READ SAMPLE and you can read the First Two Chapters of the book for FREE. It’s a great way to celebrate America’s 250th.
