Lord, it's a blessing to hear children laughing, carefree, able to be full of wonder, zest and youthful energy - Childhood is a time in our lives when we can focus all of our energy and thoughts on each moment we're living in - with not a single concern or thought for our future or past, for we are content that our future (for children, this usually means the next day) is perfectly safe and secure because our present is safe and secure. We're content and unworried about our future because our present, from the moment we're born (and before) is filled with love - a loving Father, a tender Mother, sacrificing themselves on our behalf to see to it that we are cared for to the best of their abilities. In a home where all is as it should be, we do not worry or think "will I have enough to eat today? Will I have clean clothes to wear? Or an clothes at all? Will I have a safe, warm bed to sleep in tonight?" No, we're blessedly free of such burdens (again, most of us are, there are children growing up without love, which is why God commands us to care for orphans and the fatherless - we all need unconditional love in our childhood as a foundation to build our adulthood on).
Now if we, as children with loving parents who care for our every need, have no cares or worries for our future, if we are confident and content to live in the moment, fully alive to it, why do we stop living this way when we become adults? Why do we let worry and fear enter in? As if we are no longer children? Children with at loving Father who cares for us, who provides our every need? This is what Jesus was talking about (one aspect anyway) when He said - "I SAY TO YOU, EXCEPT YOU BE CONVERTED, AND BECOME AS LITTLE CHILDREN, YOU SHALL NOT ENTER INTO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. THEREFORE I SAY TO YOU, TAKE NO THOUGHT FOR YOUR LIFE, WHAT YOU WILL EAT, OR WHAT YOU WILL DRINK; NOR YET FOR YOUR BODY, WHAT YOU SHALL PUT ON. IS NOT THE LIFE MORE THAN MEAT, AND THE BODY THAN CLOTHING? BEHOLD THE BIRDS OF THE AIR - FOR THEY SOW NOT, NEITHER DO THEY REAP, NOR GATHER INTO BARNS; YET YOUR HEAVENLY FATHER FEEDS THEM. ARE YOU NOT MUCH BETTER THAN THEY? WHICH OF YOU BY TAKING THOUGHT CAN ADD ONE INCH TO HIS HEIGHT? AND WHY TAKE YOU THOUGH FOR CLOTHES? CONSIDER THE LILIES OF THE FIELD, HOW THEY GROW, THEY TOIL NOT, NEITHER DO THEY SPIN: AND YET I SAY TO YOU THAT EVEN SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY WAS NOT CLOTHED LIKE ONE OF THESE> WHEREFORE, IF GOD SO CLOTHES THE GRASS OF THE FIELD, WHICH TODAY IS, AND TOMORROW IS CAST INTO THE OVEN, SHALL HE NOT MUCH MORE CLOTHE YOU, OH YOU OF LITTLE FAITH? THEREFORE TAKE NOT THOUGHT, SAYING WHAT SHALL WE EAT? OR WHAT SHALL WE DRINK? OR WHEREWITHAL SHALL WE BE CLOTHED? (for after all these things do the gentiles seek) FOR YOUR (generous, loving, caring, faithful) HEAVENLY FATHER, KNOWS THAT YOU HAVE NEED OF ALL THESE THINGS. BUT SEEK YOU FIRST THE KINGDOM OF GOD, AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND ALL THESE THINGS SHALL BE ADDED UNTO YOU. TAKE THEREFORE NO THOUGHT FOR THE MORROW, FOR THE MORROW SHALL TAKE THOUGHT FOR THE THINGS OF ITSELF. SUFFICIENT UNTO THE DAY IS THE EVIL THEREOF".
This is why John addressed his epistles to "my little children" for he knew that little children need their fathers in a way that grown up children forget to. Little children openly and freely love their Father in a way adult children do not. I miss the days when my children would unabashedly run through the house screaming "daddy's home!" and throw themselves at me as I walked in the door. Everyday coming to me and hugging me saying "I love you daddy". Let's all be "little children" of our heavenly Father who openly and unashamedly love Him and who rest peacefully in His love for us each day, knowing He takes care of us better than our earthly fathers ever could. Let's take Steve Martin's advice and "get small". Let's live carefree as do the children I heard today laughing and playing together. Let's humble ourselves and become like little children, fully trusting our Father and only concerned with loving one another......amen.