The Older I Get, The Younger I Become

We must grow up by becoming more childlike. It sounds contradictory, I know. Recently I read a message about childlike faith. It made me think about my journey and how the more I grow in my relationship with God, the more childlike I must become. Life is hard at times but many things that we go through are made more complicated simply because of our need and desire to fully understand everything and control outcomes. We refuse to let go and let God.

In Matthew 18:3, Jesus says “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” In thinking of the characteristics of children, I initially think of their lack of wisdom since they have not lived long enough to experience much. On the other side of that, I consider the amazing things about being a child.

Because of that lack of life experience, they do not live in fear. Children believe what their parents tell them, and they believe that their needs will be met. They don’t question or need explanations about how these things work. They simply trust.

Being more childlike is not much of a stretch for me anyway. I am a dreamer who wants to believe that people are inherently good. I believe that my Prince Charming (i.e., a God-fearing man with integrity who is taking responsibility for healing from his past trauma and not expecting me to operate within his dysfunction…but I digress.) is out there somewhere. We will cross paths soon and live happily ever after. I love unicorns more as I get older. If armed with Bubble Yum, I would be willing to bet that you can’t beat me in a bubble blowing contest. Also, I listen to music and laugh about something every day. That is just some of the fun stuff, and it’s important as well.

I like to have fun and keep my messages simple and light. At the same time, I do not want to oversimply this and ignore the fact that there are so many terrible things happening in this world. Many of us may be in a difficult season right now. Not all children have a great childhood, so childlike faith is even more of a foreign concept when they become adults who are suffering from trauma endured during childhood. Maybe they never had an opportunity to be fearless, happy, and carefree.

There are so many layers. I certainly question God about a lot of things. I just don’t demand an answer. I tell God that I do not understand, but I trust Him completely. When I need to know something, God will reveal it to me. When I need to do something, God will prompt me to act and provide a way for me to do so. It does not matter what is going on. I trust that my needs will be met by my Heavenly Father. That is childlike faith.

Some days are more challenging than others. I am thankful to have people in my life that I can be honest with and get encouragement from during those times. They are my safe space to express human feelings and doubts; my safe space to have a brief childlike tantrum, but then pull it together and be reminded of who God is and what He says.

One thing I know is that God has never failed me, and He is never going to. The same goes for you. Rest on His promises, renew your mind often, and release that child inside of you. Trust that God sees you and hears your prayers. He may not answer when we want Him to or in the way that we want Him to, but He is a perfect Father who will always take good care of us.

Your time spent reading this post is deeply appreciated. If you prefer listening, all blog posts are available on SoundCloud.