“Each day of our lives

we make deposits in

the memory banks

of our children.”

—Charles Swindoll–

_____________________________

The Wisdom of a Little Child

by Debbie Allen

There is a kind of purity, innocence and wisdom in life that belongs to children alone. Out of the mouths of little children flow the sweet, unheard-of, and outrageously funny ways of thinking; that wield the power to leave us laughing, crying, and even scratching our heads in amazement at the depths of truth that we sometimes find hidden there.

 Consider my six-year-old nephew, Calvin, for instance.  Ever since he was able to utter words, it wasn’t hard to see that he was a deeper thinker than most children his age.  As I stood watching Calvin playing with his older cousins in our playroom one evening; I was amazed how differently he played than his cousins. Two of the girls randomly grabbed matchbox cars from a jumbled pile, then drove off in two directions to get to a bare spot on the carpet where they decided a pretend store was located. Not Calvin.

“That’s not where the store is!” Calvin insisted.

Then he ran over to the table where they’d all been coloring earlier and showed them exactly where the store was located on the map of the pretend city, he’d drawn-out in red crayon!  The girls watched his eyes toggling back and forth between the map and the floor for a few seconds.  While they stood there giggling, Calvin scooped-up an armful of Legos and proceeded to build them a two-level store on a different corner of the carpet.” The right corner!” as he put it. He even designed an elaborate parking lot in front of that store where the girls could park; so, a policeman wouldn’t give them each a ticket!  He has a v-e-r-y creative mind and every detail matters most to him.  Though some adults might call this quirky; in our family, we’ve come to label Calvin’s canny ability to reason things out and solve problems that other kids didn’t even know existed as his Little-Old-Man Syndrome…a little boy who is wise beyond his years!

One day over breakfast recently, Calvin’s Grandma shared the cutest story about him.  Calvin is almost a grownup now.  He’s six-years-old and his Little Old Man Syndrome continues growing right alongside of him. While Calvin was vacationing in Hawaii with his mom, dad, and little sister; he decided something was missing in his little life.  I’m sure he must’ve pondered it on the beach for a while before deciding the matter was serious enough to ask his mom about it.

  “Mommy?” he inquired, tugging on her shirt, “When is another baby going to be coming into our family?” 

 Now…knowing Calvin’s deep thought processes, mom knew to respond quickly before any new questions formed on his horizons.

“Calvin, Mommy and Daddy have talked about it…and we both decided that there isn’t going to be any more babies coming into our family.”

He was not at all happy with the finality of mom’s answer back.  So…with scrunched brow and arms folded across his chest, the little old man rose-up inside of Calvin to help him form a new hypothesis concerning his dilemma.  One that made perfect sense to him…and still left him with a smidge of hope.

“Mommy, you and daddy don’t know that!”

“What do you mean, Calvin?” Mommy responded, confused by his adamant insistence.

 “You and Daddy can’t know that because… only ‘The Belly’ knows!”

The mind of a little child is truly one of this world’s greatest gifts and deepest mysteries, all rolled into one!  Children often take something we, as adults, know to be true, and exchange it in their minds for something they think makes perfect sense to them. But because of their own inexperience and lack of understanding in life, it too often leads them further and further away from plain truth.

Did you know, even as adults, something similar can happen to us in the spiritual realm?  Our own know-it-all hearts, too often, confront God in a manner similar to how Calvin reasoned with his mom. We take our questions and dilemmas to God, but we don’t always agree with what He has to say back to us.  What’s best for us in our own eyes doesn’t always align with God’s Perspectives and what He knows is ‘best’ for us in life.  That’s when the distance between God’s Perspectives and our own perceptions grows as wide as the chasm that existed between Calvin’s endearing, ‘Only the Belly Knows’ theory; and God’s, ‘Only the Father Knows’ Truths for living life.

If we choose to trust in our own thinking, aligning what we believe with this world’s self-centered and immoral ways, perverted thinking, and skewed messages for our hearts, concerning how to live our lives; we are guaranteed with every step we take to be moving farther and farther away from plain Truth.  Wisdom is completely void in this place.

God’s instruction for our hearts, however, is described in Psalm 19 as being ‘perfect’ and it ‘renews our life.’  Everything He tells us is ‘trustworthy, making the inexperienced wise’. His precepts are ‘right and make our hearts glad.’ The ordinances of our Heavenly Father are ‘reliable and altogether righteous’.  When we choose to trust them, our hearts find them ‘more desirable than an abundance of gold’ and ‘sweeter than honey dripping from a honeycomb.’  God’s Words can always be fully trusted, telling us everything we need to know to live-out the life He gave us before others; so that others are pointed back towards God and His Perspectives on right living.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

” The world has nothing to offer our hearts that will ever supersede the value of trusting in God’s

flawless and unchanging Truths to guide us throughout life. “

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The world has nothing to offer our hearts that will ever supersede the value of trusting in God’s flawless and unchanging Truths to guide us throughout life. This is why its so crucial to teach our children about the One Who loves them most. To share with them the greatest commandment God ever gave to us:

 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your strength.” (Deut. 6:5)

On the heels of this commandment, Moses reminded the Israelites standing before the Promised Land:

“And you shall teach [God’s Truths] diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down and when you get up.” (Deut. 6:7) 

When we, as parents do these things, every aspect of life becomes a platform for modeling our own love, trust, and obedience before God.  Our obedience in this area also proves to be our greatest potential for passing along to our children, a visual picture of what it looks like to live-out a life of faith.

Nourishing the souls of our children with Truth within the setting of what God calls the family (one man and one woman), is the greatest thing a parent can do for them; before they step out into this world on their own. No one sends a soldier out into a raging battle without bullets, yet our children are sent out into the raging battles of this world far too often, without God’s Truth in their hearts to guide and protect them.  The result?  Failing to diligently teach God’s Truth to generation after generation after generation has brought us to todays world.  A world filled with children who grew into adults having no appetite for God’s Truth.  Because they are hollow on the inside from lack of spiritual development, their thoughts, desires, and actions are misplaced.  Self-absorption is the new normal.   Touching screens to connect with friends on social media replaces the warm touch of a genuine handshake and a cup of coffee in person.  Our ears are so filled with Bluetooth ear-buds listening to the latest-n-greatest trending podcasts on “How to Live Life”; we no longer hear the Cries of the One Who IS the Greatest…calling out to our hearts to ‘Follow Him.’

We live in a Nation whose perceptions of right and wrong are just as far from True Wisdom, as Calvin’s ‘Only the Belly Knows’ theory was from God’s ‘Only the Father Knows’ Truths for living life.  The wisdom of little Calvin still brings joy to my heart because I know that his mom and dad will one day, teach him the truth and set him on a right path of thinking.  But what about our Nation? Our pride and preferring our own self-assured ways of thinking to God’s?  Our indifference to His ways? How can we as parents expect our children to become a mouthpiece for Truth in this world; when so many have failed for multiple generations to teach them d-i-l-i-g-e-n-t-l-y, how to love the Lord God with all their hearts, all their souls, and all their strength? I believe that the fate of a nation hinges on the wisdom of its little children, or lack of it; and on the willingness of its parents to walk-out the ways of the Lord before their children, becoming the model of faith, love, and Godliness their children and this world so desperately need to see.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“The Hope of generations to come begins and ends with the wisdom of a little child…or the lack of it. “

—D. Allen—

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Our Father God’s call on each of our lives is to grow to love and serve Him wholly, and to diligently, teach our children to “walk in His Ways and do what is right in His Eyes.” (1Kings11:38); as opposed to walking-out the mis-guided ways of this world and believing the lie that Truth is relevant and “everyone does what seems right to him” (Judges 21:25 NIV). The farther we move away from God’s Truth for living life under His Authority as individuals and a nation; the more chaos and injustice will ensue…in our world, our governments, our streets and our homes.

Author and speaker, Charles Swindoll, once said, “Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children.”   Why not make those deposits ones of Faith, Hope and Love; daily impressing upon their hearts how to love the Lord God with all their heart, soul, and strength.  And on the day when they step into this world on their own with all those deposits we’ve made in them, they will understand that they are carrying something of eternal value.  A heart that knows and loves God, the strength to walk in Truth and carry it to others, and a soul that will one day live forever!  Not only are they the Hope of generations to come, but we as parents, “have no greater joy than to know that our children are walking in Truth.”  (3 John 1:4 NIV)

PRAYER:

Dearest Lord and Heavenly Father…what a gift you have given us in our children.  I can’t count the ways you speak to my heart through them. Their laughter…their thoughts…their quirky little ways. You have placed a high priority on little children and so should we, as parents. You have hidden Your Wisdom for living life within them.  I pray You will give us discerning hearts when it comes to teaching our children how to love you with all of their heart and soul and strength. Remind us as we peer out into the mess our world has become, that parents and the family (as You designed it), play a crucial role in passing the baton of Faith on to our children; and then out into our world. The Hope of our future generations depends on our faithfulness…both to You and to teaching our children Godliness. Forgive us for falling short of the roles you’ve given to each of us. Strengthen us so that we might walk in obedience before You in these difficult days. May we and our children continue to be a mouthpiece for Your Truth and Justice in the days ahead of us. Help us to set our face like flint to do Your will, and confidently know that we will triumph, because You are standing alongside of us.

IN JESUS NAME…AMEN