The Miracles of Children and Becoming Like a Child

Jesus took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.” 

-Mark 9:36-37

Children are the most precious beings here on Earth! In Matthew 18:3 Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." God wants us to be more like children and come close to Him and to be able to enter His Kingdom. I love kids. I have been a teacher for 33 years and have worked with many kids over the years. There is something so innocent and endearing when it comes to interacting with children. Today while watching an episode of Touched By an Angel, they dealt with a young girl who was very close to God, she was happy, content, and had a strong faith already. They even said that children are born with a natural faith in God, but adults talk them out of this faith as they age. We must always allow kids to grow and feel their strong faith as youngsters and not discourage their faith and beliefs. Today when I was walking down to the beach, as I walked, I passed a mother and a young boy. He was about four or five years old and reminded me of me when I was that age. He had blond hair and brown eyes. He said "hi" to me and seemed like he wanted to talk more, but his mother steered him off in another direction. He was very cute and sweet. Kids for the most part with a proper upbringing are innocent, friendly, and kind by nature. I have been fortunate and blessed to be a teacher and work with a lot of kids and also have many nieces and nephews as well. Children are simple gifts given to us from God. Real miracles! My parents and family were brought up Catholic and have always valued the sanctity of life, so could never understand why someone would permit abortion or taking the life of an innocent, unborn, helpless, and voiceless child before birth. So many people who cannot have kids want to adopt and there is always a loving home for every child. Children are a real blessing! According to: Luke 18:15–17, "And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them. But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." God wants us to become like children in order to enter Heaven. In the story today in Touched By an Angel, the teacher and psychiatrist wanted the child who felt close to God and heard Him to take drugs and get psychological help. Her mother thought at first this was best too, until she realized how special her daughter was and with the drugs prescribed, they changed her into a zombie who was not able to feel God further. The story was a very nice reminder to all of us that as we age, we tend to lose our capacity to feel and sense God or have any spirituality, we need to be careful not to lose that. It is beautiful to see young people and how innocent they are, how inquisitive they can be, how opened they are, but our society and adults change all of that as they grow. The innocence of a child is one of the most precious gifts, a real miracle from God! 

The song they sang at the end of the show today was Simple Gifts. When I took a music class in college we had to learn to play an instrument and I played the dulcimer. I made one and we learned many wonderful folk songs. This song Simple Gifts is one of my favorites that we learned how to play and sing. I will include a YouTube with the song in case you have never heard it before, it is precious!

Simple Gifts - Yo-Yo Ma & Alison Krauss on YouTube