My son, Elias, is 14-months and at that age where curiosity abounds. He is into EVERYTHING. As he explores, you can’t miss that look of discovery. mischief, and wonder on his face.

As he grows, I find myself continuing to have a better understanding of what Jesus meant in the story of him and the children (Luke 18:15-17):

People were also bringing babies to Jesus to have him touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Elias receives everything with hope and joy. If I give him ball, he shrieks with delight, even though he has played with it a million times. If my husband Matthew says, “Where’s Mommy?” and Elias spins to find me, hope sparkling in his eyes.

I want to receive the kingdom of God like that, shrieking in delight, with hopeful eyes sparkling.

But, usually, I don’t.

Instead I receive God as I check him off my to do list, a quick prayer as I am thinking about a dozen other responsibilities. 

Elias puts a lot of hope in me as his mommy. I feed him, change him, clothe him, hold him, love him. He knows no other way and he does not worry.

This parallels Gods provision for us. In Matthew 6:25-26, Jesus reminds us not to worry.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

As Elias gets older, he will lose his childlike dependence on me. My prayer is that he will grow to love the Lord and put his hope and trust in Him.

Why do I find myself asserting my independence from God?

Why can’t I depend on the Lord that way a child depends on his mother?

Do you ever feel the same way?

This fall, my prayer is that I will come to the Father, seeking childlike hope and joy.

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