My family was sitting down to dinner. It was a big family affair, not for any particular reason other than the extended family was all in one place. That doesn’t happen often in this busy world. The grownups were all busy setting the table and taking their seats and greeting one another as families do at such times. Just as things were beginning to settle my mother looked down at her youngest grandchild, who was seated beside her. To her surprise she noticed that throughout all the commotion he had sat in his chair with his hands folded ready to pray.
In the mind of the littlest among us there was no doubt of what needed to be done. He was waiting for the rest of us to catch up! He had no other duty or priority. He had been raised to believe that when the family gathers around the Lord’s abundance, you pray to Jesus to thank him for it all. It wasn’t that the rest of us forgot, we just got distracted by each other.
This event reminded me of Mathew 18 where Christ said “Assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.”
There are many things that Christ would have us learn from the littlest ones among us. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful start if we could learn such a love for Jesus, that praying to him took priority over eating, visiting, and other distractions of our daily life. Any parent, or anyone else with a small child in their life knows how completely, and unconditionally a young child loves. The only other person who loves most of us as a young child loves, is Jesus Christ. Christ loved us enough to die for us, each of us, before we were even born.
Just as this example shows how we should love Christ. It shows us how we should love each other. When was the last time your spouse was a real priority in your life? What about your children? Or your parents? More and more, I find myself feeling that our lives have somehow become backwards, or inside out. We spend 5 of 7 days each week earning a living, so we can spend the other 2 with the people we care about most. Wouldn't it be great, if we could use the example of the littlest one, to help us express Christ like love to those we care about.
Let’s learn from the example of the littlest one at the table. Work to love our savior without doubt. Let a child’s love be our example in our relationship with Christ.Let that example also transform the relationship we have with those close to us. At the same time we must teach our children that they should place their love and trust in Jesus. We need to make sure they understand that he belongs to them as much as anybody. They have a right to talk to him, and should expect to do so. Just don’t be to hard on yourself, when a young child you know reminds you how to love Jesus they’re just doing their job!
