Having a “small voice” in your circle of relationships can help you in at least five ways. For example, Rhoda’s keep you snug. Children live in the land of make believe where everything is possible. It’s that snugness makes dreaming possible and remind us to stay alive. We adults separate work and play. But for children, their work is play. Mark Twain said, “Children see work and play as words used for the same thing under different circumstances. Children keep us snug, and that helps because you have to be snug to hear the voice of God.
Children not only keep us snug, they also keep us authentic. That’s why we play games with “boo” and “grrrr.” Have you noticed that almost every children’s story has a villain? That’s how kids learn to master their fears. Story book villains helps them learn that monsters are real. Not the under the bed kind of monsters, but the monsters that we adults are all too familiar with in everyday life. We need to face the monsters of life and turn them into instruments of creativity and growth. Children scare the pretense away and shoo out the trite. You can’t be a hero without a villain.
Third, children keep you small and humble. Kids know that meaning and significance are found in the small things. The communion elements, both bread and cup, are small.
Next, children keep you light. Their story books are filled with light hearted and light headed airborne characters. Gravity is an adult disease that leads to the grave. Its natural to children to be idealistic. You have to learn to be a realist.
Finally, children keep you alive. In a child’s world, every thing is alive. Animals, plants, trees, inanimate objects all become alive and talk.
The value they add is that they help us see everything for the first time.
Jesus said that if we want to enter God’s Kingdom, we have to come as a child. If we want to understand what it means to trust God and place our faith in Him, we have to do so as a child. And if we want to know what it means to follow God passionately, we need to look to children as our examples. That’s why its important for us to relate appropriately and frequently with kids. They set the pace.
