Psalm 8:2
Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
One of the most moving accounts ever recorded in the Book of Mormon (may I say ever recorded in any scripture?) is the account of Christ appearing to the Nephites and, after a full day of teaching and testifying, gathering the children at His feet. Then, praying profoundly for these little ones, “he wept, . . . and . . . took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept again; and he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.”52 Then the heavens opened and angels descended and ministered unto them, encircling the little children as if with fire.
But this is not all. In the days that followed, Jesus “did teach and minister unto the children of the multitude of whom hath been spoken, and . . . even babes did open their mouths and utter marvelous things; and the things which they did utter were forbidden that there should not any man write them.”53
Given the power and majesty of the teachings the Savior had given these Nephites—including the calling of the Twelve Nephite disciples, the sermon at the temple, prophecies about the tribes of Israel, clarification regarding the law of Moses, introduction of the sacramental ordinance, great discourses on prayer and the Holy Ghost, to name just a few—it is amazing to think that what these children knew and said was even greater than the things Jesus taught their parents. Nevertheless, the book says of the children, “He did loose their tongues, and they did speak unto their fathers great and marvelous things, even greater than he [Jesus] had revealed unto the people.”54
The prophet Alma taught: “[God] imparteth his word by angels unto men, yea, not only men but women also. Now this is not all; little children do have words given unto them many times, which confound the wise and the learned.”55
We all cherish our children. Mine mean more to me—and to their mother—than any possession we own. All of us can respect our children and listen to them. In so many ways we need to be more like them, because “of such is the kingdom of heaven.”56 Children come “trailing clouds of glory . . . from God, who is [their] home,”57 and thereby they will frequently be the source of God’s inspiration and utterance to us. Even in the most trying of times, we cannot remain despondent when holding a baby or looking into the innocent, wonder-filled eyes of a child. As their bodies grow, so does their enthusiasm—brimming, bubbling, and contagious with energy too great to be contained in little bodies. No trouble can overwhelm the delight of childhood. “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings [God has] ordained strength.”
Notes
^57. William Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” in New Oxford Book of English Verse, 509.