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Like a little child
LK 18:15-17 People were also bringing babies to Jesus to
have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But
Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to
me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a
little child will never enter it."
As Art Linkletter said, kids
say the most wonderful things sometimes. My little grandchild, Marius, was
getting into the car one day when the Santa Ana winds caught the door and
whipped it shut unexpectedly hitting him in the head in the process. He
wasn’t hurt but just shaken and turned to my daughter and said, “Next time
let’s take separate cars.”
“All I
Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten” is
a book of short essays by Robert Fulghum, first published in 1986. I think
that they need come up with a sequel of that book with a slightly different
title. Something like, “I learned all I need to know about life and faith
from my three year old grandchild.”
This last week I was in my car
taking my grandson on one of the little trips we go on each week to see or do
something together. Now I have to admit I was really pre-occupied and
thinking about a lot of other things so I was really not concentrating on our
time together as we drove out to Lake Perris to see the ducks. Normally, I
have a children’s praise CD that I have playing in the car that has a lot of
wonderful Christian children’s songs but I had forgotten to turn that on. I
hear a little voice from the back of the car saying, “Where’s our music
grandpa?” He wanted to hear the music of the praise kids singing about Jesus
and faith.
We maneuvered through the
traffic and I began to think about work, all the problems there, all the
projects, and the impossible deadlines. I guess I kind of rested my head on
my left hand against the window sill as we drove on through the traffic. And
then the little voice came from the back seat again.
“What’s wrong grandpa?”
Marius knew something was wrong. It was at this point that grandpa lied - I
told him I had a headache. I told him that if he remembered when he prayed
later he could pray for grandpa’s headache. I was figuring that I would
probably be prayed for later that night…if he even remembered at all. And
then I heard the little voice from the back seat came again. “God please
help grandpa to feel better- Amen”.
We drove on a bit further and
again the little voice, this time saying “Tell me the story about Samuel
sleeping.” This is his request for his favorite Bible story about the first
time that God spoke to Samuel. I told the story and then he wanted to hear
it again so I did a replay.
As we reached our destination,
I realized I had not imparted anything to him that day but he had taught me.
I realized why Jesus said to model our lives of faith after little children.
If we sing songs of praise to God, if we identify needs of others and
immediately pray for their hurts, if we remember what God has done in our
lives and read the stories of faith in the Bible, we need do no more. I have
made the Christian life way too complicated - to Marius it is simple.
Richard Lewis
Pathway Christian Church
Riverside, CA
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