Little Children and the Kingdom

I delight in watching my two youngest grandchildren playing in the garden, for they play with such joy and delight without a hint of pretension. Everything is exciting. So much is new as they constantly make new discoveries. They can play for an hour with a few twigs, stones and leaves as they allow their imagination to run wild. Watching a butterfly moving from flower to flower gives them great joy. They love to play with water and screech with laughter as they jump in mud puddles. The most apparently insignificant things fill them with joy and a sense of amazement.

The truth is that little children still have that sense of joy, delight and wonder that we so easily lose as we go into adulthood and then move into our older years. Perhaps that is why Jesus says, “. . . unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” The following poem, which I wrote many years ago, is aptly entitled, Little Children:

Walk little children walk

for the sun shines upon you.

Run little children run

for the day is before you.

Dance little children dance

for the Spirit directs you.

Play little children play

for the delight that engulfs you.

Smile little children smile

for the good that surrounds you.

Laugh little children laugh

for the joy that overtakes you.

Cry little children cry

for the pain all around you.

Mourn little children mourn

for the injustice nearby you.

Trust little children trust

for the Kingdom is within you.

Arise little children arise

for the King now awaits you

in the New Heaven and the New Earth.

PRAYER:

Heavenly Father, restore to us the joy of your salvation. Recreate within us a sense of childlike joy and delight at the wonders of your creation. May you re-imagine our hearts and minds that we may see the world and its people from the perspective of the New Heaven and New Earth. Amen.