Today I...
Built a (Lego) castle
Read some fairy tales (of sorts)
Fell in love (again) with my "boyfriend"
Washed our carriage (mini van) with my hero
Was rescued from an evil, talking (stuffed alligator) Dragon by the Prince!
I get jealous of my 3 year old. Why? Because he is constantly imagining, enjoying, and fully in the present moment. I tried to get in his mindset as I spent a full day with him while the other children were in school. We pretended to be characters on another planet. We pretended our grapes were little people. We went from playing blocks to animal hospital pretty seamlessly. It brought me back to the time when I didn't have all of my adult worries, and yes, I got envious. What would it be like to truly have the mind of a child right now? Although I thoroughly enjoyed my day, in the back of my mind was: schedule, dishes, laundry, dinner, worries, obligations.
My favorite chapter of scripture is found in the Book of Mormon. 3 Nephi, chapter 17. Christ is visiting a people in the Americas after his resurrection. He has been teaching them and finds that they are getting weak and tired. He invites them to go to their homes and prepare for the morrow, when He will visit them again. They weep at the thought of Him leaving their presence and hope that he will stay with them. He senses their desires and THEN THE COOLEST STUFF HAPPENS.
He asks that anyone needing healing come forth. He heals the blind, deaf, maimed, afflicted, according to their faith.
He asks that all of the little children come forth. He has the children surround Him, and then asks everyone to kneel, and He prays. And the prayer he offers is so beautiful that the words are too sacred to record:
17 And no tongue
can speak, neither can there be written by any man, neither can the
hearts of men conceive so great and marvelous things as we both saw and
heard Jesus speak; and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our
souls at the time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.
18 And it came to pass that when Jesus had made an end of praying unto the Father, he arose; but so great was the joy of the multitude that they were overcome.
20 And they arose from the earth, and he said unto them: Blessed are ye because of your faith. And now behold, my joy is full.
21 And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them.
24 And
as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they
saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it
were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.
Can you imagine this scene? Can you imagine having your child receive a blessing at the hands of the Savior? Can you picture the angels surrounding the children? If I close my eyes and picture this, I feel peace and light.
So, the question is: Why is it that He wanted the little children surrounding Him? After playing with my son the answer is obvious. They are pure. Unobstructed by worldly views. Ready to see and believe miracles.
I recently watched a movie called "Heaven is For Real". In it, a little boy has a near death experience and goes on to teach his family, congregation, town, and the world about what he saw in heaven. There are a lot of things I liked about this movie, but one thing I had a hard time with was the hesitancy of the adult characters to believe this little boy's story. Why wouldn't Heavenly Father allow this boy to to have these sacred experiences? He was a little child, who was purely receptive.
In the Bible, we learn the following from the Savior:
“Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
“Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” Matthew 18:3-4
If we had the mind of a child, we truly could slay the dragons in our life. Dragons of greed, pride, self-consciousness, stress, and hopelessness.
Off I go. The Prince is calling me....
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