Let the child come to me!

Everyone who knows me will tell you that my grandson has stolen my heart! For me, as for all you other grands and great grands, there is nothing better than spending time with those sweet little ones! And I am very fortunate that I am able to spend a good bit of time with my "honey bun". I started calling him that around the time he started smiling. When my children were younger we would make honey buns and the sweet icing we spooned over them would drip off the top and puddle over the bottom. That sweet, dripping topping is just like the sweetness that drips from my little honey bun...and it puddles down around whomever he is with! Sweet, sweet, sweet!

Today, I want to talk about the example of pure sweetest that comes from God and is meant for all of us...the example God shows us through children. I think the sweetness I see in my honey bun can be translated into the word "kindness" for us adults. It is pure, it is sincere, it is innocent, it is joy, it is a character trait God want from each of us! When my honey bun has a drink and spots my cup of coffee he immediately points my cup out and wants to bring it to me so I can have a drink too....he sits in my lap and I cover him with a blanket he always checks to see if my feet are covered and wants me covered up also....he always wants to share his meals with me....in the mornings if I finish my breakfast before him he gives me a rousing "Yayyyy, Meme!" for being the first to finish. When we go for our walks he brings me my shoes before he puts his on...we colored in his color books yesterday and he would pat my hand, name the color he was holding in his sweet little fist and then say, "here Meme...nice Meme...nice!" ....offering me his markers and giving me encouragement. All during the day he will randomly come over to me, rub my hand, and then kiss it, and tell me "Hi, Meme"!...or run over to me throw his little arms around me and give me a big kiss and smile! So, so , sweet! And this is just a small portion of the random sweet gifts I receive from him every day I spend with him!

So what happens to us as we grow from children to adults?! The sweetness we have as children just seems to drip off our plate and disappear as we grow into adults!  Make no mistake...the above paragraph about my toddler is not just a forum for me to do a little bragging...it holds a simple metaphor of a childlike heart; a profound spiritual truth that we need to come back to as adults! Jesus wants us to throw off the burdens of adulthood...worry, anxiety, insecurity, despair. Jesus desires our souls to live abundantly with a free, kind, joyous, giving, secure interior. Jesus wants each one of us to have a heart of a child..."I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3

For today, let's try to go back through the years to the lightness of a happy childhood.^. Look at your own children or grandchildren and feel the freedom of those unpretentious times. Ask God today to start transforming you and help you get back to the place you started, to give you the kind heart of a toddler...give you a heart that is ready to encourage, pleased to shared, quick to love...a heart that is pure, joyous, giving and unburdened.

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." Matthew 19:14