In late elementary school and early Middle School, for a couple of years, everywhere but church and school, I wore a hat. For some reason, I was attached to this cranial covering. It was made of denim, but it was a sailor hat… I wore it flap down, like Gilligan… of Island fame. Not sure why I loved it so much. I guess it was like a special security blanket or stuffed animal, only for my head. Or perhaps it was because my creepy old balding, red-headed, round red faced bus driver used to call me “Cotton Top,” and I wanted to cover my white blond hair. He used to make me sit on the seat closest to him… gives me the heebie-jeebies even now. As I would get on the bus and try to quickly move to the back, he’d yell in a gravelly, whiskey, smoker's voice, “Get up here Cotton Top and sit in this seat right here!” I used to beg my mother to drive me to school, but that didn’t always work out. I lived in terror until we got a new bus driver...the next one was a little less scary. I still wore that hat for a while… somehow I didn’t mind the taunts of my sister over it. It finally disappeared somewhere… I guess my mother quietly threw the sweaty, dirty, old thing away one day, like mothers do when it's time to get rid of pacifiers, security blankets, and... security hats. I guess the attachment to it was only temporary.
From what I understand, we were always made for loving attachment… to God and the people He loves. The need to attach and belong is so strong that if we don’t do it properly in God’s way with Him and the significant people around us, we can end up attaching our lives to unhealthy things like addictions, work, hobbies, stuff, (hats) and even religion. Sometimes we attach in unhealthy ways to others who are unhealthily attached to us too. There is good news for all of us, though. When we are born again spiritually, like Jesus talks to Nicodemus about in the famous “Nic at night” conversation in John chapter 3, we are attached to God and we belong to Him permanently. When we are born physically there is a natural loving connection between mother and baby. It brings the security, belonging, joy, and peace babies need to grow up healthy. When the Holy Spirit connects us to God, our secure, healthy, grateful, and joyful connection with Him begins. When we attach to Him, we begin to understand our new identity as one of His children. Jesus tells Nic, the uber religious "teacher of Israel," and us, this new spiritual attachment is a must. He says, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ John 3:5-7 (NLT2) Attachment is a big deal spiritually and emotionally. There is a temptation for us to remain attached to the unhelpful stuff and detached from God and those who belong to Him. We have to fight against this trend and keep finding ways to reattach to God and the people He loves in healthy ways. If we will first reciprocate God’s loving attachment to us, back to Him, He will give us what we need to re-establish those relationships we may have missed out on and/or establish new ones. Relationships with God and other people are not like pacifiers, security blankets and old hats discarded after a while… they are important and valuable forever. We learn later, that Nicodemus, does some things for Jesus that make us think he may have been “born again” that night. Wonder if he ever said, “I may have been born at night, but not last night”? If you are not sure, be born again in the Holy Spirit, attach, connect and don’t let go, then connect with God's people and don't let go!
Hang in there people! God is glad to be with us! I’m praying us all!
