“I assure you that unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the Kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 18:3, GNT).
In their book, The Parent You Want to Be, Les and Leslie Parrott tell the story of a four-year-old girl named Shia. Shia began asking her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. The parents worried, that like most toddlers, Shia might want to hit or shake the baby. So, they refused their little girl’s request. Yet Shia insisted. The parents eventually realized that she wasn’t showing any signs of jealousy, so they allowed Shia to have her private conversation with the baby.
Elated, Shia walked into the baby’s room and shut the door. But the door fell open a crack—just enough for the parents to peek in and listen. They watched as the little girl moved quietly toward the crib, put her face close to her brother and said, “Baby, tell me what God feels like. I’m starting to forget.”
I have discovered that children are more spiritually sensitive than many adults. However, their capacity to experience God’s presence tends to decline as they age. This is why Jesus challenged his generation with the following admonition:
In their book, The Parent You Want to Be, Les and Leslie Parrott tell the story of a four-year-old girl named Shia. Shia began asking her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. The parents worried, that like most toddlers, Shia might want to hit or shake the baby. So, they refused their little girl’s request. Yet Shia insisted. The parents eventually realized that she wasn’t showing any signs of jealousy, so they allowed Shia to have her private conversation with the baby.
Elated, Shia walked into the baby’s room and shut the door. But the door fell open a crack—just enough for the parents to peek in and listen. They watched as the little girl moved quietly toward the crib, put her face close to her brother and said, “Baby, tell me what God feels like. I’m starting to forget.”
I have discovered that children are more spiritually sensitive than many adults. However, their capacity to experience God’s presence tends to decline as they age. This is why Jesus challenged his generation with the following admonition:
I assure you that unless you change and become like children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
For Christians, death is not the only way the kingdom of heaven can be accessed. Jesus claimed that the kingdom of heaven can be experienced here and now.
The kingdom of heaven incorporates all the spaces that God occupies, including our hearts. However, like the frequency on an FM dial, we must attune the ears of our hearts to God’s voice. As parents, it is up to us to help our children build a relationship with God by recognizing when God draws near and speaks with them.
Prayer is the primary means we use to make this spiritual connection. Praying together as a family allows our children concrete opportunities for opening their hearts to God. Praying at the dinner table. Praying before bedtime. Praying in worship. The more occasions we can find to pray with our children, the greater the likelihood our children will communicate with God on their own.
Like most things in life, spiritual development doesn’t happen apart from routine training. Children especially learn best through consistency and repetition. Just as an athlete practices her craft regularly to increase muscle memory, spiritual discipline is required so that no family member quickly forgets what God feels or sounds like.