Day 16 of Advent: Christmas for children

“…The child doesn’t have to struggle to get himself in a good position for having a relationship with God; he doesn’t have to craft ingenious ways of explaining his position to Jesus; he doesn’t have to create a pretty face for himself; he doesn’t have to achieve any state of spiritual feeling or intellectual understanding. All he has to do is happily accept the cookies, the gift of the kingdom.” — Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel

You don’t have to have children to remember what it was like to be one.

Do you remember those early years of blind trust?

I’m still a bit child-like today, so I can remember clearly, and my heart still gravitates toward those naive, trusting sentiments.

I trust that God takes care of me.

I trust that I don’t have to hide.

And the evidence that God cares deeply for us in our child-like trust is that He sent a child  to us,

a baby to deliver the world.

And that baby grew to be a man,

a man who one day told the people around Him,

“Do you want to see Heaven? Look in the eyes of the children.

Do you want to know what I am about?

I am about them.

I am about their welfare,

their lives,

their hearts.

Do you want to see Heaven?

Be like these little ones,

and the Kingdom is all yours.”

If God sent a baby to be a man like Jesus,

maybe still today, He honors the child-like.

Still today, He instills peace in us,

teaches us to love and give and be

all things Kingdom.

On Christmas morning, the children will be

giddy by the Christmas tree,

opening presents and remembering

a Savior Babe who did magic here on earth.

Will you be with them?