Five children are running through the house yelling to each other. They bang through the doors and leave them open, inviting flies inside. Their noise makes it hard to think, much less write, and I tell them to go outside. “Ride your bikes or play on the trampoline,” I say.
Silence descends, an empty one. Just me shuffling around in a silent house, listening to a fly buzz against the ceiling.
In the stillness, I recall an oft-quoted line from President Theodore Roosevelt: “No other success in life—not being President, or being wealthy, or going to college, or writing a book, or anything else—comes up to the success of the man or woman who can feel that they have done their duty and that their children and grandchildren rise up and call them blessed.”36
Build a house and you’ll eventually leave it behind. Castles crumble and mansions burn. Use your life to establish businesses or accumulate vast wealth or achieve fame—and in several decades it will likely all vanish from the face of the earth.
Invest your time in the life of a child, and the results have the potential for eternal rewards. “Empires fall, mansions crumble, cattle die, and machinery rusts away. But a child lives on and on in the lives of descendants and in the lives of those he influences, all the way into eternity.”37
Jesus loved children when he walked on earth, and he gladly welcomed them into his presence. He still loves all the children all over the world. He longs to bring each one into his Father’s heavenly kingdom.
But we grow up, we lose a child’s trusting heart, we become skeptical and cold and proud and bitter. We build walls around our souls or become rigid or unrepentant or self-righteous. So much of what Jesus loves in a child’s innocent heart is gone.
Yet it doesn’t have to be so. We can consciously choose to become a child of God, a trusting, humble child who depends on the heavenly Father. In fact, we really have no choice if we want to live for God. For Jesus said, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3).
The children question my decisions occasionally and quarrel with one another and their playmates. They need chastening and lessons in honesty and unselfishness and love. In our relationship I see a parallel that often reminds me of my relationship with God. He has to keep guiding me, teaching me, and chastening me, and sometimes it takes a long time for me to learn a single lesson. Just as I love my children and want the best for them, God loves each of his children. He wants what’s best for every single one of us too.
But that best is seldom achieved without some pain and learning and struggle. And then the difference between children and adults becomes more apparent.
Children normally submit to the loving authority of their parents. And each person who belongs to God will submit to him and his Word. The one who doesn’t belong to him will refuse.
| Prayer | Reflection |
| You are a heavenly Father watching over your children, just as I watch over mine. Guide me and keep me from wandering into places where I don’t want to go. | How can I prove that I am one of God’s children? |