A Child’s Heart

I’ve heard others say there’s something magical about becoming a grandparent. “Your heart just opens up in a whole new way,” they say. I’ve experienced the magic in the past 18 months. I think for several reasons: I’ve had the privilege of caring for my grandson for several hours each week; I experience moments that I never experienced with my daughters because I was too busy working and traveling; I’m also at a point in my career where the problems of work plague my subconcious less and so my fuller attention is on my grandson when I’m with him; I’m also confident in his parents that he will be taught and will embrace great values so my role is to model them that shows him the legacy of character. A child’s heart is precious thing.

I also think it’s why Christ enjoyed spending time with them. He rebuked the disciples when they tried to hinder kids from clambering around Him (Mt. 19.13). He thanked God the Father for revealing truths to ‘little children’ (Mt. 11.25) and told us we had to become like ‘little children’ to enter the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt. 18.3). Welcoming a child is like welcoming Christ Himself (Mk 9.37) just as He said doing good for the least, last and lost was serving the King (Mt. 25). He warned anyone who caused a child to sin would be better off tying a giant wheat-grinding wheel around his neck and falling off a cliff into the sea (Mk. 9.42). Most of us can remember stories from Sunday School or Wednesday night kids programs and that’s probably why He taught us with lots of stories.

Rudyard Kipling may have said it best: “He who can reach a child’s heart can reach the world’s heart.”

We praise and honor—though not often economically—those who take care of the little children. We disdain, detest those who intentionally harm kids. Pedophiles and other child abusers—physical or otherwise—are on the bottom of the rung in the prison hierarchy.

However, we unintentionally harm them when we look to our own needs and ignore theirs by what we do...and more importantly what we say. At times, when it’s more important for me to be right...to be in control...to fix a mistake...to change something from what I don’t like to something I want...I can say things that hurt the child’s heart—even hurt an adult’s heart—even more importantly other people’s children’s heart...when I talk about ‘those people’s kids’. Those people’s kids are “precious in His sight” also.

God, help me that I focus on loving my grandson more than myself.