The Heart of a Child

Matthew 18:4 "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like one of these children is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

When we are children there's a part of us that is open to love, and faith and trust.
Through a little child's laughter and teary eyes we grow older and that part of us dies.
Innocence lost, is so hard to regain.
We get forgiven but hold on to the pain.
But Jesus said to the crowd roaring wild; "Come to me with the heart of a child."

It's so hard to open ourselves up to others, we're afraid to trust our own sisters and brothers.
But there is a love so costly and dear, a love strong enough to cast out fear.
Let's take off our masks and drop the facade and live like the children of the Living God.
Take a chance, you may be betrayed if you risk it all but He'll be there to catch you when you slip and fall.

There's a holy laughter, and tears so pure, there's an innocence that will always endure.
There's a dream and vision, an endless sea, the tingling of life in a heart set free.
Nothing to prove, no possessions to hold but a joy and peace more precious than gold.
It's a beautiful place, fiery and wild when we return to the heart of the child.

Remember that our Father to whom we pray considers us His children each day and like little children we must learn to rely on the love of our Father who reigns on high.
So much prejudice to forget and unlearn, it's the heart of the child for which we yearn.
We can't enter heaven with a heart defiled, it must change through Jesus to the heart of the child.

The Doll Maker

In a little village, there lived a crafts man by name Ebun, who made wooden dolls for children.

Ebun was so naturally gifted in his handwork that his fame spread to all the neighboring villages. People from all over the region came to buy wooden dolls from him or bring their broken dolls for repairs. He carefully studied the broken dolls and looked for the best way to mend it such that it looked exactly the way it was when he first made it.

Ebun had a little daughter for whom he made a very beautiful doll on her tenth birthday. The little girl was so much in love with her little doll that she always played with it along with her friends. One day while playing with the doll, the wooden doll got broken and the little girl cried and ran to her father with the broken doll. When she got to him she complained that her doll's arm got broken while she was playing with it. The father took time to listen to her complaints and then told her to leave the doll with him and come back later for it. The little girl said "no daddy you don't understand, all I want you to do is carve out another arm and polish it, and then use some glue or nail and join it back that's all !!. The father still tried to explain to her to leave the doll with him and come back after sometime for it because he made the doll and he knows how best to mend it when it is broken. The little grew impatient and said to her father, "Daddy, you are not doing it the way I want, you are too slow." With that statement the little girl grabbed the doll and left her father's workshop. The father called after her but she wouldn't come back, and he felt so sad.

Like that little girl, most of us take our problem to God and try to dictate how He should solve them to Him. We often fail to realize that God made us and He understands how best to handle all our daily problems if left at His feet.