Jesus, Hold the Kleenex

It takes a good sense of humor to be the mother of boys. For that matter, I should probably expand that to say, to be a mother PERIOD, takes a good sense of humor. But I'm thinking about boys and Kleenex right now, so read on, I am going somewhere with this.

Ours was a culturally tolerant household. The boy's quick wit often produced some of our funniest moments as they reflected over the religious or political fervor of a friend or relative. That they were great mimics, only added to the wonderfulness. Some folks, as we all know, can get pretty wound up on those volatile subjects and we had lots of resource material for them to draw upon. So, when my oldest discovered that there was a Jesus 'action figure', he made sure we had one. Remember now, my boys grew up in the heyday of action figures beginning with GI Joe and morphing into He-Man and Transformers. The possibility of a religious action figure, seemed too good to be true. The potential for fun seemed unlimited. And true to form, our little Jesus with his moveable arms (so they could be raised for a blessing, of course) turned up in all sorts of places from a church study group where someone accidentally spilled water on the table and a participant quickly took Jesus and had him walk on it; to his mysterious appearance in our Christmas manager scene, masquerading as one of the wise men to see if the religiously sensitive would notice. (They were SO disappointed this didn't get a rise.) You get the idea. It was a good time while it lasted. After the newness wore off, Jesus got relegated to my studio desktop. It was a pretty dull time for him I'm sure, not much to do, until one day I noticed his hands were raised and decided to let him hold the Kleenex packet.

Okay, now get ready. Here's where this all connects. As I placed the little packet in Jesus' outstretched arms I smiled and smiled thinking of my boys and how they would have chuckled if they saw me doing it. The packet was almost more than he could hold. It covered up his face, but he stood firm. As time passed, I kept refilling his little arms and thinking each time about the sweetness of it all…this little action figure sitting up there being so useful. I'm one to often write a meaningful phrase or poem on a little card and for long stretches he would hold those for me. One day looking across my work table I thought of how sturdy a little man he was and how I enjoyed having him always there, to recall the boys and to hold up what I needed. And then, it came to me that he had become one more reminder of something more.

We are all, always looking to feel that God is close, in whatever form we choose to recognize. We do not want to be alone in this often overwhelming world. We created our religions in response to our experiences with faith. They provide a ritual of form and belief and an intimacy that reassures and affirms that we are watched and cared for. We need this. Each of us, every day, need to know there is a spiritual part of our lives, known by many names other than Jesus, but named or not, existing, waiting quietly, willing to hold the kleenex, the affirmation card, the bad doctor's report, the pink slip, as well as the birthday cards, and travel tickets and baby announcements. Of course, this is a silly little metaphor. For heaven's sake, it's a Jesus action figure we are talking about here. That is the wonderful part. This is about our ability to notice what this means beyond what it is. I have a treasure of memories associated with this bit of plastic and those represent a richness of experience and interpretation that sustain me. The world shimmers around us, everyday, full of so much meaning and portent, asking over and over to be seen and noticed. It is full of assurance and guidance and meaningfulness that cannot exist unless we choose to see.

What kind of person finds meaning in an action toy? I'll leave that for my boys to answer. I just tell them they are lucky to have a mom who is providing such good material for her memorial service. Meanwhile, I'm sticking to my story. It is the little things in life-sometimes wrapped in the gentle guise of humor, that most often get us over the rough places. Who said, 'you can't spend your time waiting around for the big things in life, they don't come often enough'? I agree. We can nourish and feed ourselves over and over and over from the wealth all around us, everyday, if we would only choose to take our gaze from off what we think we should receive and let it fall instead upon what we least expect.

"The universe abounds with gifts. Receive. Open your heart and receive them. Have no expectations. Stay present as bits of grace fall your way. Be grateful for all you receive, expect little, and accept all that is given with good intention. Penny by penny, moment by moment, the universe provides, and we must learn to accept." Karyn Kedar