Finding Our Inner Child

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” Mark 10:15

Christmas, birthday parties, amusement parks, trick-or-treating, Disney movies, Easter egg hunts, certain words or combinations of words bring back childhood memories.

We were all once children. My three-year-old granddaughter sometimes asks me: Were you a baby?

It is hard to believe when you hit old age and all that comes with it that we were ever children or babies. Nevertheless, we all were once upon a time.

My maternal grandmother in her old age had a curio cabinet filled with baby dolls. She would occasionally take one out and hold it and look it over. Her countenance was transformed and took on the appearance of a little girl again. It was beautiful to behold. Joy can do that, even to those of us growing gray and wrinkled.

Jesus said we must be like children to enter His kingdom. At first glance His words seem inconceivable. Like when Jesus told Nicodemus one must be born again, and the Pharisee could not comprehend turning back the clock and entering the womb a second time. Neither can we reverse the aging process and relive our childhood, no matter how much we might wish to do so.

Childlike faith and joy are a gift from God. The world makes us hard and jaded, cold and lifeless. But the Spirit of God revives us, fills us with joy, and opens our heart to the possible and impossible.

Finding our inner child is possible only through opening our hearts and minds to joy, to God. Put aside your unbelief and dare to believe that God has more in store for you than your wildest imagination could ever conjur. Ask God to fill you with joy and faith and the goodness of God. Allow God to help you find your inner child.

Prayer: Dear Lord, give us childlike faith and joy. Renew within us the courage to believe in the impossible, for with You all things are possible. Amen.