Today, after my morning prayers, I had to drop my daughter to school. This is an everyday job, but of all days, my daughter asked me today – Daddy, when I look at the sky, I see the blue sky and the Moon following me, why is this happening ?. I paused for a moment, and I also realized that this is a question from a little child, so what am I supposed to stay ? The answer I gave is as following -
Baby, please understand that God is very Good and he is so good that he gave us the Sun to shine for us during the day and in the night he gave us the moon and the stars so that we don’t remain in the dark. God has created all this around us just because he Loves us so much. And when you see the moon in the morning, it means that God is showing us an even greater measure of his Love. I quickly helped her to remember the Psalm that we pray at Vespers in the Orthodox Church. The Vespers service in the Church always begins with the chanting of the evening psalm: “…the sun knows it’s time for setting, Thou makest darkness and it is night….” (Psalm 104: 19-20) This psalm, which glorifies God’s creation of the world.
I thank God today for the grace to respond to my daughter. I also believe after this experience, why Christ actually told us in Matthew 18:3 – “Truly I say to you, unless you will be converted and become like children, you will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven”. How can a grown up man/ woman be converted or transformed like a Child ?. I am learning all these points from my 2 daughters. They are my teachers everyday. May you all learn from Children as well.
The following points will help us to become like Children -
- Learn to be happy with simple things
- Live life in a simple way
- Don’t be scared to try out new things
- Be Innovative
- Be Creative
- Failure is normal, it is not the end of the world
- If you fall, get up, if you fall again, get up again
- Explore new possibilities with people, even with yourself
- Talk to Others
- Don’t be judgmental
- Forgive quickly
- Ask for forgiveness
- Don’t remember wrongs that others have done
- Play – It is normal
- Sometimes bad things happen, they are not always happening, move on !
- Some arguments are good, but don’t allow it to last long
- Experiment with different things
- If you get bored with monotony, do something different
- Make others laugh
- Show your love to others
- Don’t be rigid with yourself or others
- Animals, Butterflies, Birds and plants are your friends, atleast admire them
- Sing Songs to God
- Never Give Up
- Last but not the least, Pray in a Simple way.
The list is endless, you must transform and become like little Children to enter into the Kingdom of God.
