Become as a Little Child
Posted by Connor on July 29th, 2006
I have always been intrigued by the scriptural call to become “as a little child”. As is the case with any symbolic scriptural passage, I think this can be interpreted in numerous ways, some more applicable to each of us than the others.
Jesus counseled us:
Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved. ( 3 Nephi 9:22, c.f. 3 Nephi 11:37)
Thus we see that our becoming like a little child is a corollary to our having repented. I think this is not hard to imagine. For those that have children, imagine having to reprimand your little child (not a teenager!) for their misbehavior. Within minutes, the child is once again happy, joyful, and full of energy, having “forgiven and forgotten”. They are quick to understand that even though you as their parent have scolded them, you still love them and want the best for them.
So it is with God, I believe. He reprimands us for sinful behavior, but he wants us to bounce back quickly from the experience. He doesn’t want us to mope and whine (as teenagers will do), endlessly complaining about how severe the punishment was, and throwing ourselves a pointless pity party. He wants us to move on, happy with life, understanding that He still loves us and wants the best for us.
This is further illustrated by the (famous and oft-memorized) scripture:
For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord, and becometh as a child, submissive, meek, humble, patient, full of love, willing to submit to all things which the Lord seeth fit to inflict upon him, even as a child doth submit to his father. (Mosiah 3:19)
Here, becoming as a (little) child is one of the conditions set forth in order to not become “an enemy to God”. Or in other words, to be on the “right hand of God” we must embrace the childlike characteristics delineated in the verse.
One of the most key characteristics in this verse, in my opinion, is that we must be “willing to submit to all things” that the Lord wants to impose on us. We must keep ever present in our minds and testimonies that “all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things” (2 Nephi 2:24). He, as our literal Father, knows what is best for us, his (little) children.
James M. Paramore, former member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, gave a BYU devotional in 1983 titled, like this post, “Become as a Little Child“. It’s an insightful talk on the subject, and I’d like to highlight a couple things from it.
It is obvious … that children don’t know everything. But … there are many things that they know instinctively that are great gifts, and if not understood and pursued energetically can limit the power, beauty, quality, and destiny of our lives.
As educated adults, we (myself definitely included) somtimes let our judgments, perceptions, and feelings become clouded by our (highly deficient) knowledge. As Paramore points out, children aren’t burdened by such acquired knowledge, and therefore they act upon and are driven by things they know “instinctively”. Children are innocent and pure, and it is to that exact state we should try to return through our life-changing repentance. Paramore highlights five things that children possess—qualities that we, too, should seek to acquire in our effort to become like them.
- Power of implicit faith
- Power of obedience
- Power of love
- Power of service
- Power of enthusiasm
Rather than describe each one, I recommend reading Paramore’s talk to see how he describes them. I think that these five are wide-ranging, but not comprehensive or exhaustive. Are there others that he is missing? Is there a special trick or method to better becoming like a little child? Are there any experiences or lessons you can share that might help myself and others better understand our relationship with God, as Father and (little) child?
This could fall under the principle of faith I suppose, but I would include the concept of trust. One thing I find interesting as I raise my two daughters is their willingness to trust me if I ask them to. In other words, there are a lot of things they won’t believe or do if faced with it on their own; however, I can almost always get them to trust me when I tell teach them something or ask them to do something. Moreover, even if my oldest is scared to do something (particularly something I know is enjoyable or fun) she will follow suit if I ask her and explain things to her. I think it’s pretty easy to see how if adults had this attitude toward the Father and Christ, we’d be in pretty good shape.
Also, another characteristic of children that I think should be mentioned is their desire to understand. There is far too much apathy in the world, especially among many adults in the church (myself included). The vast majority of people think they “know it all” and have “heard it all before”. Well, nothing could be further from the truth!
You should see my oldest (who is reading pretty well) ask me the questions she asks and beg me to tell her about certain things. For example, the other evening she came to me and asked me about lady-bugs and why they have black dots on their backs/wings. She told me her theory: how many dots is how old they are (in years she though). Well, I’m not an entamologist, so I had no idea how to answer her question. So I said, I don’t know (she was of course shocked that I didn’t know :)). Then I told her how we could find out; I took her to the computer and pulled up the lady-bug article on Wikipedia.
Well we learned about lady-bugs and how many different species there are etc–their number of dots is determined by the type of specie. Well, this turned into a discussion about butterflys and so on.
Anyway, my point is that if adults had the drive to learn and understand that children have, they would be brought to the truth!
Comment # 1 left by Wade on July 29th, 2006
Wade,
Good examples. I am reminded of children who are learning to swim. Seeing an ocean of uncertainly all around them, they have to trust their father (or mother) and “jump in”. The inherent trust a child possesses is quite an example for us who sometimes lack trust in our Father and what He is doing.
Comment # 2 left by Connor Boyack on July 29th, 2006
What does it say of people like me who feel like their kids often drive us crazy?
This discussion alway makes me think of how screwed up we are in terms of what important characteristics are.
Now, on the flip side, Paul speaks of a time where it is time to put away childish things. How to stay child like without being childish. That is the question.
Comment # 3 left by Eric Nielson on July 31st, 2006
Eric,
Not being married or having kids, I suppose my perception on this matter is somewhat limited. Elder Eyring gave a talk on this subject that addresses your question. A snippet:
Most of us want to be strong. We may well see being like a child as being weak. Most parents have wanted their children at times to be less childish. Even the Apostle Paul used these words as he was about to urge us to incorporate charity, the pure love of Christ, into our lives: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
But King Benjamin, who understood as well as any mortal what it meant to be a man of strength and courage, makes it clear that to be like a child is not to be childish. It is to be like the Savior, who prayed to His Father for strength to be able to do His will and then did it. Our natures must be changed to become as a child to gain the strength we must have to be safe in the times of moral peril.
As per driving your kids crazy, I don’t have any advice to offer.. though I’m sure God can serve as an example in that regard as well. Think of all the stupid things we as his children do, and think of the perfect way in which he patiently, lovingly responds. I guess practice makes perfect.
Comment # 4 left by Connor Boyack on July 31st, 2006