Be Like Children
“All grown-ups were once children but only few of them remember it.”
~ The Little Prince
Many times, we hear that we should be childlike and we think that is something negative. It is not negative to be childlike. It is negative to be childish.
If we are childlike in our faith, we approach God with an innocence that allows us to look to God for His grace and direction, to trust God implicitly, and to know that God is the one who protects us. If you look at any child, you can see those characteristics taking place. A child looks to his or her parents with devotion and love. The child knows that he or she will be protected and cared for. The child knows that, while the parents are around, all is well, all is safe.
When we get older, we begin to push those limits. We begin to assert our own independence. We begin to tell our parents that we do not need them around and that we do not want them around. We believe that we can take care of ourselves and we go to great lengths to prove that. Unfortunately, as we push our parents away, we often push our God away as well.
We adopt the same attitude spiritually toward God that we exhibit to our parents. We tell God that we do not need Him, that we can take care of ourselves. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. However, try to tell someone that who is exerting their own independence.
We were all children at one time. We all knew what it was like to depend upon our parents for love, affection, and attention. We all knew what it was like to feel safe in their presence. Yet, when we grew up, we began to label those kinds of feelings and thoughts as childish. They are not. They are childlike. There were true reflections of our relationship with others and with our world.
When we can come to the realization that we can have God while seeking our own identity and asserting our own control over our lives, we will be in a much better place. God does not want to have us absent ourselves from Him. He is comfortable walking with us and He waits for us to ask Him for what we need.
Trust in God as a child does. Look to God for grace as a child does. Know that God is really there as a child does. Adopt those childlike characteristics to your life and you will find that things get much better because your positive attitude is anchored in God.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God to help you maintain a childlike faith and trust in Him.