Child-like not Childish

Matthew 18:2-4 (New International Version)
2 He called a little child and had him stand among them. 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Children have always been some of my best mentors. As a teacher, I always learned a lot from my students. Now, as a grand father I am learning a lot from my grand daughters. I always had difficulty with this passage because I confused child-like with childish. Being considered childish is something I dread. I don’t want to be embarrassed, I have too much pride. Lately I have been spending a lot of time with my Granddaughter Emily, babysitting while mom and dad are at work. She is 21 months old and a busy, independent little girl. We have become quite close and my heart leaps when I open the door to her house and she lights up with a smile and laughs, “Grampi”. She does not have to do anything special to earn my love; I love her because she is. She does not try to impress me about how good she is, she just takes for granted I love her and she is good enough the way she is. She trusts me. She comes to me with what ever need she has: hunger, hurt, messy diaper or the need to laugh. She doesn’t try to earn it, she just trusts that I love her and will provide. It has been my struggle to see God this way, to just trust Him and know that He loves me and will provide.

Simple Joys

Tomorrow I get to play with my grand daughters, Emily and Hannah. It is amazing what I will do just to have time with them. It is forty five miles there and forty five miles back and I think nothing of it. Monday I was their all day by myself and by four o'clock when their father returned I was wiped out. But here I go back and looking forward to it. They bring back the joy of such simple things.

Emily is 21 months old. She loves to swing at the park and while she swings, she says, "Wheeeee!" When I hear her I am filled and complete. What could be better than completely giving yourself over to the simple joys of the moment and just saying wheeeeeeee!

Hannah just turned 4 months and has the most captivating blue gray eyes. She is just starting to interact with those around her. Monday she was making sounds in reponse to me talking to her and smiling back at me. Just that simple droning sound kept me entertained all afternoon. A simple joy of the moment. All I could say was "wheeeeeeeeee!"