On a recent adventure I was on a back road somewhere in Southern Minnesota going through a little one block long village. I can’t remember the name of the town, but what I do remember is a sign. It was one of those yellow caution signs. It said, “Watch the Children.”
It didn’t say,
“Watch for the children.”
Nor did it say “Watch!
Children at play.”
It just said, “Watch the Children.” I was not sure that I read it right, so I stopped, backed up and sure enough it said… ”Watch the children.” “Watch the children”
Isn’t that what Jesus suggested that we do? He said, “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”
Watch the children….
If you have ever taken a walk with a child you may remember how long it took you to get where you thought you were going. There was so much to see. You had probably not noticed that “beautiful” dandelion and certainly you hadn’t picked up a “lost worm” and put him back on the grass. Maybe it was a leaf that caught the child’s interest, or that wonderful water puddle just waiting for tiny feet to jump in it.
The other day I watched this wonderfully patient mother with a 3-year-old who was busily inspecting a utility pole. Her interest caused me to stop and look for myself. Sure enough there was much to feel and much to see on that pole… bugs scurrying into cracks, some places smooth as silk, rough patches where the bark had been stripped from the tree, knot holes that made pictures for an imaginative mind, different colors in the wood grain…and to think, I had passed by it many times before and never noticed!
It is with awe that children explore the world God has given them. All around them, they see the possibilities. There is no dream out of reach. Children speak the simple truths, “God loves me.” That is enough. Children trust…. totally and untarnished.
Is this not what God wants of us?
Just pondering.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month our contributor is Pastor EvaLyn Carlson of the First Congregational Church, United Church of Christ.
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