Welcome the children

 

There’s a short gospel passage (Matthew 19:13-15) about Jesus welcoming the children.  He scolded the disciples that tried to hinder the children.  Something characteristic about children made Jesus exclaim, “The kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”   My first thought was that Jesus was highlighting the dependence that children have on their parents as the way we should go to God.  As I reflected on the passage, I began to ask myself many questions like, “What knowledge or behavior do adults miss about the kingdom of God that children seem to possess?”  It dawned on me during my analysis that I was stuck in an adult mode.  I was analyzing, critiquing and searching for the right answer.  In my adult analysis I lost the freedom and spontaneity that children possess, and Jesus was welcoming.

A child-like dependence on God is a valuable spiritual characteristic, but freedom and spontaneity are equally important to me.  My grandchildren continually teach me to relax, have fun and play. 

Do you recall when you last felt joy and delight?  In a world where we’re bombarded with life and all of its details, I think joy might escape sometimes, unheeded in our rush to finish our to-do list.  We do have to get those things done.  We have responsibilities to our families, to our jobs, to society.

For adults, the moments of pure joy can be few and far between.  And we probably take so much time trying to figure out if that moment actually was joy that we miss it.  This makes me think of my granddaughter Lily when she and I would play “Where’s Lily?”.   It was a game we made up similar to “peek-a-boo”.  I would pretend not to see her and “look” for her everywhere calling out “where’s Lily?”.  She would be standing right in front of me, waiting for me to say, “Ooh! There she is!”, and then we’d giggle together.  There were times it could go on for 30 minutes before one or the other of us would simply lose interest or focus.  But for those oh so few minutes, Lily and I were both so completely in the moment, present, full of joy and delighted to be there in one another's company.  I’ve since enjoyed the same game with both Josephine and Paloma, with just as great enthusiasm, joy, and delight.

During these times and in many others the freedom of childhood rushes over me and for a time the important things in life seem to be so clear.  After a time, I fade back into adult mode, and I become less spontaneous or free to embrace the Godliness that’s present all around me.  I’m not advocating for adults to not act responsibly or maturely, but we must also re-learn how to be free and recognize the Godliness around us.  We must allow ourselves to play, be silly and spontaneously embrace the God who is waiting with open arms.

My prayer for today is that we can all take a good length of time with a young child to find our own answers to the reason Jesus states, “The kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”