With three little kids, my house is one filled with many different emotions all day long. Little kids wear their emotions on their sleeves. There is no guessing on how they are feeling ( maybe a little bit of guessing on the why they are feeling)- they will let you know! Kids are open, honest, and can be pretty blunt as well. My oldest is almost three and he’s already told me to stop singing on multiple occasions! There is a reason why Jesus said, “let the children come to me” (MT 19:14). There is something so pure about how a child reacts to everything. Their joy is true happiness, their tears are sincere and their anger is obvious. They love deeply without a hidden agenda. They run to their parents when they are afraid or get hurt and trust them to take care of them.
From the very beginning all they have is their emotions as a way to communicate with us. Babies cry when they feel lonely, are hungry, need a diaper change, or are tired. When they look at you and smile that’s their way of showing you that they recognize you and love you. Their happiness is so great that they smile at you to express their love for you. Kids trust their parents to take care of them and give them what they need. I’ve always loved going over to my babies as they napped and just admire their peaceful faces. They are able to just completely relax and sleep in comfort knowing that they are taken care of and are protected.
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| My beautiful baby, Theresa, napping! |
Somewhere along the way we all grow up and learn how to contain our emotions – almost to a fault. If kids can trust their parents that much and are completely open to the world why can’t we do the same with God? We put up barriers not letting anyone in but are we also blocking God from coming into our hearts too? Are we honest with Him? Do we share all of our feelings with Him? The good and the bad? Do we trust him to take care of us and our needs?
It’s hard to build a relationship with someone when we have developed a habit of controlling our emotions and holding everything back. A lot of the times when we meet someone new, we want to make a good impression and make sure we are very polite, and look put together. If someone is coming over to the house, I know that I make sure that all the toys are put away, the house is vacuumed, bathrooms are clean, the dishes are done, laundry is put away. The thing about God, though, is that he doesn’t mind the mess, he just wants to be invited over! And, once He gets there, He will even help you clean. God doesn’t want a relationship with your idea of a “perfect, put together self”. He wants to get to know the real you- mess included. He wants to know you on a bad day, a good day, a day when you’re exhausted, depressed, angry, scared. He wants to know all of your faults, weaknesses, your “ugly” side, because to Him, all of these things combined makes you perfect, because it makes you the person He created. He created us with free will, and knows we won’t always make the best choices (which is why he died on the cross for us so that we can have forgiveness). He created our emotions for a reason and wants us to trust Him enough to share them with Him and offer them up.
We can choose to go to Him directly, or we can even go to Him through Mary. I don’t know how many times I have gone to my mom when I have been upset, in need of advice, or even just to talk! I also don’t know how many times my own kids have called out for me when they needed something, or just wanted me to be with them. Mary wants us to go to her and build a relationship with her too, so that she can help guide us to God.
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Gabriel and Rebecca think is is so fun to look
out the door and see me! (Snowy is not quite as entertained!)
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We can learn a lot from our kids, because when we look at them, we can see their souls. They are not afraid to hold anything back. Being more childlike when it comes to my faith has been one of my goals recently. I want to be able to see the joys in life through a child’s eyes, because to them, everything seems so beautiful. I want to be as open to God as they are with me. I want to fully trust Him and his plan for me, because I know that once I do, I will be at peace.
Thank you, God, for my wonderful children!
