Faith of a Child

The Kingdom of Heaven Belongs to Children
On the way to work last week, I was thinking about Jesus telling the disciples to let the little children come to him for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Jesus was not happy with his disciples when he said this. The disciples had been telling the grownups that they shouldn't have brought children to Jesus. I wonder if they thought Jesus was too busy to pay attention to children? I do know that Jesus quickly let the disciples know that they were in the wrong.  As I thought on this I had a "God moment" of realization, Jesus was telling us to have the faith, focus, and trust of children if we want to follow him. 

My grandson is two years old and he repeats everything he hears at least five times. When I show up at the door, he says,"Hi Grammy!I happy to see you!" and then repeats it four more times. His little face is all smile and lit up from the inside out with his happiness at my arrival. He throws open his arms and runs to me for a big hug and a kiss.  It is humbling to be greeted like this. What a precious gift that little boy is giving me. Unconditional love and joy at seeing me. 

Can you imagine Jesus showing up for a visit and saying,"Hi Jesus!I'm happy to see you!" with a face that is all smile,  lit up from the inside out, and running to hug him in greeting?
That is the joy Jesus wants us to have in our relationship with him. Unconditional love, joy, and trust is a precious gift that can be given to Jesus as each of us lives in the moment, trusting him to take care of us, and finding joy in his presence through the indwelling Holy Spirit. 

How many times have you watched a child playing with complete concentration, totally absorbed in what they are doing? 
Children live in the moment. They aren't worrying about yesterday or tomorrow. Nope, small children live in the moment and trust their parents to take care of their needs.  Can you imagine what would happen if grownups focused on Jesus and his teachings in the same manner? Life would be lived without stress while trusting Jesus to take care of every outcome.