An interim thought: Children

He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. “

Matthew 18:2-3


I have always found it interesting that Jesus said this, since most little children can’t read. However, my experience inside of our culture’s Christianity largely consisted of ‘wrestling’ constantly to make myself read and understand the Bible.

Reading a book about someone I didn’t really know was overwhelming. When you throw in a few confusing and misleading translations, numerous conflicting ideas about what this or that passage really means, and mix it together with people who think they’ve been put on earth to set everyone else’s Bible doctrine straight or declare them to be destined for a really hot place, well - somehow the above Matthew verse never made much sense to me.

I spent years agonizing over the Bible, trying to understand it, and trying to get someone to explain it to me in a way that would help me grow spiritually as promised. Sometimes, the offered explanations further confused and scared me half to death. Things only grew worse over the years, the more I tried. The final blow came when I read a book written by a master of Scripture Twister. After that, the only reason I had any desire to remain a Christian at all was, hopefully, to keep from going to hell. I was a lot more like a 39 year old basket case than a trusting little child at that point.

These days, I find myself asking my heavenly Father to help me see what a daughter looks like in his eyes. To understand what it is like to be like a little child, in his arms, safe and loved forever.