Childishness vs. Child-likeness II

Everyone has an inner child that we’d never lose as long as we live. No matter how old we grow, we’d still be someone’s child. But the expression of our child-ness is very important in every relationship. There are certain aspects of our inner child that certainly must grow, and then there are those aspects that we must never let go no matter how old we get.

Adulthood is crowned with complex reasoning that leads to needless worry. As long as we don’t lose our child-likeness, life’s journey will be nothing short of amazing even in the most bizarre moments.

CHILD-LIKENESS

Child-like wonder

A child will always ask the simplest of questions that have complex answers. According to a study in UK, curious kids ask a staggering 73 questions every day. “Why do people die?”, “how are babies born?”, “why is the sky blue?”, “how was I made?”. These questions are so simple that we think we have answers to them, but we usually don’t. Children are fascinated with the world around them and have all the time in the world to at least notice the minutest of details even though they cannot comprehend it.

When we lose our child-like wonder, we think we basically know the answers to everything. We explain everything away instead of simply letting ourselves be amazed by it. We miss the simplicity of fascination and the acknowledgement of a mysterious beauty that leaves us in awe. Sometimes we feel we have so many things to worry about than to be fascinated by nature and our surroundings. Remember, God is in the detail. It is the little things that do count. If we overlook the little things and focus on the “big” things, we’d be disappointed more times than necessary. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

Child-like trust

Like children, we usually don’t know what’s best for us even when we think do. God wants us to trust him like a child trusts the parents. Even as parents, we generally don’t know what’s best for our kids. But we do know much more than kids do. We do know the consequences of their little actions – eating soap, playing with the kitchen knife, not doing their homework; the list goes on and on – and we try as much as we can to direct their paths and instruct them. God, on the other hand, knows all things. He is the only one big enough to see the bigger picture. The only way to trust God is with child-like trust.

There’s going to be a lot of mess, shortcomings, failures, heartbreak, division and misunderstandings so difficult and unending on our individual journeys that we don’t see how it’s gonna get any better in the end. There’s gonna be times when we think God’s promises are simply outrageous and that His decisions are questionable. It’s only by child-like trust – “It is so because Mom says so: It is so because God says so” – can we continue to trust God in the midst of the storm.

Child-like joy

This world is so full of troubles, trials, tribulations and torments. Life is hard. Life has a way of throwing new problems at us while we solve the old ones. We can all relate with how tough life can get no matter who we are. Some situations are clearly out of our control; there is nothing we can do about it. Those are the situations we worry about the most. Worry is not a sign of care. To understand the main differences between worrying and caring about something, click on the link to read Caring Too Much Without Worrying.

Not being worried also doesn’t mean pretending not to care. Having joy in the middle of the circumstance only comes after establishing your child-like trust in God. Happiness is based on the happenings of life, but joy can only be within. Once you have child-like joy, you stay true to yourself regardless of what happens.

It’s been said time and again that it’s not about what happens to us that matters, – what happens to us is nothing new; it happens to other people too – it’s our reaction to what happens to us that really matters. Joy comes when we trust in something bigger than the circumstance. Joy is not pretending to be happy; joy is knowing that all things work together for good.

What is more beautiful than being child-like; you’re innocent in thought, humble at heart, joyful in spirit and fascinated with nature. I believe life is not so much becoming who we are than unbecoming what we are not. We are all born a child and must remain like a child in order to be teachable, love fully, live freely and laugh wholeheartedly.

I love you ❤️