One time Jesus picked up a little kid and said, “I’ll tell you the truth. Unless you change and become like this little kid, you’ll never get into the kingdom of heaven. You’ll never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
I want to grow up to be a child. I do. I’m not talking about being childish—just childlike—childlike in my trust. Childlike in my dependence upon God, childlike in my hope, childlike in my thankfulness, childlike in my love, my wonder, my worship and my joy. I want to grow up and be a child.
As I watch kids during Christmas it reminds me of several reasons that I want to do that. Have you ever noticed that kids have just mastered the art of living in the “right now”? They just live right now. They’re not stressing out about tomorrow. They’re not focused on what happened yesterday or didn’t happen yesterday. They’re just enjoying the right now, right now. They’re living in the moment.
They understand that someone once said, “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.” Every moment that we are alive is a gift from the hand of the gracious God. And this very moment, right now, is the very best one we are going to see because every moment is the moment we have right now.
Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That’s why they call it the present.
Because of that I want to grow up to be a child.
(This entry is a small piece of my Christmas message from 12/23/07. The full message can be listened to from relaxedchurch.com after the above date. Discover a few of the things we can do to grow up to be a child.)
Steve Thornton 