Through The Eyes Of A Child

I’m sure you’ve heard the verse, “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

When we were raising our children, I took that piece of wisdom literature very seriously. It was Ken’s and my responsibility to raise godly, kind, forgiving, and caring children. As they grew into adults, they would become passionate about loving God and loving the people around them.

Now that I’m a grandmother of three boys, I’ve realized that we have so much more to learn from children rather than just training them. Matthew 19:13-14 says:

Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

The disciples rebuked the children! They disapproved of their behavior. They were training the children that Jesus didn’t have time for them. Jesus was teaching the disciples and the crowd gathered that the kingdom of Heaven belongs to those with the innocent faith and humility of a child.

Ken and I took our two year old grandson, Emery, to Disneyland a few weeks ago on our day off. No parents, just Mimi, Pops, and Emery! What an adventure! Disney is like a second home for him, so he knew exactly where he wanted to go, beginning with the train, followed by the carousel, etc. We just followed his lead. As I experienced Disneyland through Emery’s eyes, something “magical” began to happen inside of me. I found myself yelling, “Look Em, there’s Mickey!” and waving like a crazy woman. His innocence and excitement for the adventure began to awaken me to the little child inside of me… the one that trusts Jesus no matter what challenges I may be facing and sees those around me like He does! Matthew 18:3-4 reminds us:

"Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Grateful for the lesson I’d learned, as we were leaving, I was looking forward to resting while Emery napped on the way home. I knew he was exhausted! He was yawning and rubbing his eyes all the way out of the park. Except he didn’t. Instead, he sang “Blippi” songs the entire way.

Of course, there was one more lesson to learn! It was after a couple of hours of gridlock traffic and finally making it to the 15 from the 78 that I remembered what our daughter, Brittany, had told me! Emery won’t take a nap anymore or go to sleep at bedtime until you pray with him.

Emery has to talk to Jesus to be able to sleep! Wow! Do I? Do you?

There is a reason Jesus loved to spend time with children. Thinking back over our Disneyland day, through the eyes of Emery, I was reminded to live in the moment, trust Jesus with everything else, and just live the adventure of loving everyone around me! Oh, and don’t forget to talk to Jesus throughout my day!

Now, if I can just convince Ken to get us Disneyland annual passes!

Pastor Pam

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