~Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo
It is the nature of young children to be trusting. Indeed, they often must be taught to be wary of strangers, because to them, any kind person may instantly become a friend with whom they will be willing to go anywhere or do anything. They do not take into account their companions’ appearance, reputation, name, or status, only the affection and acceptance they offer. They will readily believe anything that a trusted adult tells them. Innocently gullible as they are, they possess a refreshing trait which most of their elders have lost: they are uncalculating in their response to love, their hearts not yet hardened and skeptical.
In adulthood, experience too often leads us to demand assurance before we will risk opening our hearts to another person. We have to know first: well-informed (or perhaps uninformed) judgments and suppositions about others take the place of child-like trust. We have concluded that we must guard our own safety, manage our own provision, and depend on no one. A child trusts only because he can’t manage alone; we can take care of ourselves.
Just as a child’s trusting attitude toward man can be so easily directed in simple faith to God, the grown-up’s independent distrust of his fellows likewise may correspond to his view of his Creator. It is a great risk to put his whole life in the hands of One he cannot see or understand. He continually seeks proof of God’s goodness, afraid to respond unreservedly, like an innocent child, to the love showered on him. No wonder Jesus says that only the childlike will enter His Kingdom! A child’s faith can put his teachers to shame – he is told that God is good, and he believes it without question. He may know next to nothing about theology, but to him, God is real, and He is his Friend. Such a child knows what we are so quick to forget: we are not alone; we have Somebody to look to, if we will. May we become like children again, throw all self-preserving skepticism to the wind, and take His hand in fearless trust.
"I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the
Kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."
Mark 10:15
Ah, yes! Thanks, lovely! This is just perfect.
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