Children Still Live The Dream

This might come as a major shock and surprise to some who know me as one who endeavours to follow Jesus, but follow me on this.

I really do think Jesus was onto something.

I know. It’s a shocker. You probably weren’t expecting that. It might have come like a bolt from the blue. There you go, though, ponder that for a while.

What I mean is, like His disciples I am surprised that Jesus had time for children. He’s busy being the Teacher and also the Messiah and yet He still insists on making time to embrace the children around Him and engage with them.  It is almost as if the Kingdom of God is made up of qualities such as child-like faith! How amazing is that?

I only mention it because today yet again I was reminded of how important the child and the young person is. Some poor colleague of mine had to endure a painstakingly boring meeting of bigwigs who were setting up events for young people. In all their high-class, power-driven garble everything they talked about appeared to go over the head of the one young person who was among them who had been drafted in to gain some admin experience in taking the meeting’s minutes. How sad was that? Talking about the young people without a clue about the young person.

Sometimes that is my attitude to children – talking about them without the faintest idea … until I take a leaf out of Jesus’ book and engage with my children and appreciate again some outstanding wisdom and general approaches that they have which I might have overlooked. Then I remember what childlike faith is about, as my dad and my heavenly Father still remind me of in how they engage with me.

Stevie Wonder has a lot to answer for. One of them is coming up with a brilliant song called Children Still Live The Dream.  It is a brilliant song that you probably have never heard, because he’s never released it and it’s never been on any of his albums.  When you hear it you’ll agree that it is an absolute scandal.  In any case the song tells of how our children can hold the key to a lot of truth and opportunity, but we must allow them to have at it. The ‘Dream’ he’s referring to is Martin Luther King’s dream. The innocence with which children engage with those things where sophisticated adults struggle is all the more reason to join jesus in embracing children and young people and make the most of them.

Otherwise we could end up with another generation who only know how to be boring power driven adults and lose that valuable connection the child like faith gives to the father of lights.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd