Let's Be A Little Childish, Shall We?

Le'ts be a little childish, shall we? Today's post is inspired by something I read recently about being like a child. A little girl at church named Emma had only been in Bible class for about 45 minutes when she saw her daddy waiting for church to begin. She ran through the foyer, wrapped her arms around his legs and squealed, "Daddy, I've missed you so much!" It wasn't like he'd been gone on a long trip...they had only been seperated for a short time, but she couldn't wait to see her daddy's face! I love that picture. I love hearing how with such excitement, she announced her love to all. He didn't try to quiet her...he just reveled in this display of love being shown by his tiny daughter.

I guess looking back a bit, as my children are now teens, I can see that many times I pushed my children into this little mold that like many who had gone before me had lovingly advised would be a perfect fit. However, some of the best advise I ever got was from this amazing mentor of mine who seems to live her life with that same sort of child-like qualities. She scolded me for always being more concerned with what people thought about me than what my Father in Heaven was thinking. I have always lived my life with this sort of concern, "What Will they say if I....." etc. Since meeting this amazing woman who sees the world through the eyes of a child, I can honestly say that I want to run to my Father with my arms open wide, squealing with joy and, I want to raise my children to do the same. I can remember back to when my son was little and suddenly he had these opinions that differed from mine. I know... Horrors! I tried and tried to squeeze him back into this nice little package that I wanted to present to the world. Why...because of what people would think about me. I have learned more from watching this baggy pants boy about God than I have learned from most people the church places high on a pedastal. You see, this boy that I tried to mold into something I thought was so godly showed me Jesus in the flesh time and time again.

Ever since reading this post, I have been a child-watcher. As a teacher, I am continually amazed by the things I learn from children, but suddenly, this served as a reminder to me that I am to live my life like a child. So, what does that mean? Well, tonight, as I stood in this incredibly long line at Wal-Mart with my kids after church, I noticed these two little girls playing in line. Now you have to know that I hate shopping AND I especially detest Wal-Mart because of this very thing...long lines...but tonight, I was reminded of my need to be more like a child. There was this little girl standing with her mother in line. She had this sort of sparkling personality that seemed to light up the entire line. As I stood there, I saw this little four year old girl with the pig tails skip back in the line where another girl about her age stood with her mother. "Hello" the little girl said to her, "do you want to be my friend?" She nodded in approval, looked at her mother and suddenly, they were fast friends. The other little girl was Hispanic and spoke very little English, but this didn't seem to hinder their conversation at all. They held hands, skipped all through the line, and played a game of chase after knowing each other for only five minutes. "You speak Spanish?" the first girl says..."that's ok if we don't talk the same, we can be friends anyway." Amazing! Although I hate Wal-Mart...I loved seeing God sharing with me just one more way I can grow closer to Him. I was reminded that I am never quite so comfortable as this little girl when I first meet someone. So...for me...I'd like to be more childish in the way that I live my life. I'd like to walk up to somone, introduce myself and then skip off with them as my new best friend. I will work this week on learning what it means to be child-like, what about you?