Let Them Be

Series: Changes

Mark 10:15 ESV

Ecclesiastes 12:7 ESV

Children

While being a child is not listed as a spiritual gift I kinda think it should be.

I’m not sure if the way I think it commonly thought of as a “good thing” but it certainly is “a thing”. I am 4’11” tall and I certainly do have the mind of a child.

See, I’m a silly sort of person.

I love silly things.

I talk to my dog and I think he talks back. Now, before you send me off to a facility you might need to understand that I am an empath. Even though I didn’t major in psychology in college, my communication studies support my claim. If we allow ourselves we can communicate in myriad of ways.

Plus, in my humble opinion children who have not been stifled are really geniuses.

In Mark 10:15 Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

I think I was not stifled because my dad believed in scripture and he believed that children should be allowed to be children. He read his ole Bible from cover to cover constantly (actually when Gunsmoke wasn’t on) and I think he got the point.

Think of it this way…children are a miracle from God.

Solomon, who was very wise wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:7, “and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”

Man says, “from ashes to ashes” at the burial ceremony. The middle part in between is up to us. Unfortunately some (many) aren’t given the opportunity to be children.

One of my grandfathers was a jolly and very fun man. He loved people, especially children. When we (the girl cousins) were left in his care we could scream and run and I don’t remember ever being told to keep the noise down. He was an only child and his parents adored him. His dad died before I was born but I knew his mother well. She was a sweet woman who looked at me and spoke softly. She made me smile.

My other grandfather was the opposite. No screaming, no running in the house, and no loud laughing were ever allowed. I never understood why until I was older. I learned he was the older son and he was often left to care for the younger children. There were a lot of young children. He was tall by the time he was 12 or 13 and he was sent to work to help feed the other children. He had to quit school after he finished 8th grade. Many children born in 1901 did not go to high school. In my grandfather’s case, since he was big for his age he was able to get a laborer’s job which paid a good wage.

Normal for him was working, not playing.

He wasn’t allowed to be silly even as a child.

Jesus said it all when he told his disciples to let the children come (Mark 10:14). Let them come.

Let them be children.

IN Jesus, Deborah

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