How many times in your life has someone told you to stop acting like a child? Have you been told that it is time to grow up? Well, I am encouraging you to not listen to those people and keep acting like a child. Keep your childish wonder, keep your childish imagination, keep your childish hope.
In my last article, I wrote about having a Christmas spirit all year long. One thing that will keep your Christmas spirit, is becoming like a child again. Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote, “We are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time.”
Let’s learn together how to keep a childlike wonder, imagination, and hope. Keeping a childlike wonder can be difficult when you have to face the reality of this world day end and day out. In the modern world, we are forced to rely on facts alone. Relying on faith, on the wonder of God, makes you seem naïve to the rest of the world. Christ has called us to live by faith — the faith a child has in their father. In Matthew 18:3, Jesus said “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” When we place our faith and wonder in Christ, we will have a peace that will come over our hearts. God promises to always take care of his children.
When we are children, we are encouraged to use our imaginations. The older we become the less imagination is on the forefront of our minds. But I urge you to use your God-given imagination. God wants to be involved in all the plans we make for our lives. He wants us to prosper and be happy in this life. He wants us to use our imagination that he has given us to see what our lives can be if you keep him the center of our lives. In Habakkuk 2:3 it says, “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.” God wants us to see a future in him and pray for how we want our lives to become. We use our God-given imagination to see our lives and use our prayers and faith to know God will give us what we need in his perfect timing.
Children, especially during the holidays, have a pure hope. While they may be hoping for a certain gift from Santa or hoping to catch a glimpse of a reindeer flying across the sky, their hope is one of pure innocence. The older we get our innocence is taken from us by the evil ways of the world. The hope we once had dwindles a little more every day. But as soon as you give your life over to the ways of Christ, that beautiful innocent hope begins to return. We begin to have a childlike wonder again, we begin to get our childlike imagination back; our childlike hope is renewed again. Psalm 71:5-6 says, “For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you; you brought me forth from my mother’s womb. I will ever praise you.” We are brought back to the confidence we had in God when we were just mere children.
This holiday season, I urge you to participate in childlike behavior. Believe as a child. Have the wonder of a child. Have the imagination of a child. Have the hope of a child. Let your heart become soft again and fully rely on God to sustain every aspect of your life.
This week’s recipe is a Christmas candy classic with a twist. Yummy Coconut Balls. It is delicious, festive, and fun! You can give them as gifts or enjoy them while you wait for Santa to visit you on Christmas Eve. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
“Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.” Mark 10:15
April 19, 2024
