106: BECOMING LIKE A LITTLE CHILD

Yesterday was Yom Kippur. One of the things I did to observe this day was to not drive my car. I walked and took the Trax to work. It took me over an hour. However, it was one of the most peaceful and enjoyable hours that I can remember. I walked through the park, I listened to the birds, I walked next to the slow moving river. I read on the train. I was at peace.

Like most people, I drive to work on the freeway and find myself impatient with others who are not driving fast enough for me. Yesterday was a strong contrast from my usual daily life. If only everyone would take one day a year and slow down.. and even leave their cars at home like they do in Israel on Yom Kippur. Here is a picture taken in the busy city of Jerusalem of the empty roads yesterday, and a little boy playing with his ball on the usually busy freeway full of cars. 

  

In an  ever increasing busy and chaotic world, we need to find peace and quiet in our lives. We must return to what we were in a more innocent time. 

Christ’s admonition to us all is to “become as a little child” (Matt. 18: 3). In order to go forward we must go back to acquire the attributes that a child possesses.. That is, returning to a child-like time of faith, innocence, and openness to new knowledge. We cannot develop without returning to a time when we were willing to develop. For the child, every day is filled with discovery and delight. For the elderly, oftentimes new ideas are threatening. Minds close down, attitudes harden and learning is resisted as we age.

'What people need are not more answers, an answer ends the discussion. What you need is a question.. you need a question so that you will open your mind. .you need to open your mind so you can become like a little child ….you need to become like a little child so you are in a suitable environment that revelation can take place, and you need to have revelation take place so that you can reconnect with heaven, and you need to reconnect with heaven, so you can get to know who God is, and you need to get to know who God is so that He can in turn can make you a member of His own household and redeem you from this current plight that you find yourself in darkness and distrust."
quote from a lecture given at Chiasmus Conference given by Denver Snuffer.  

Here is a video that shows the simpleness of life from a viewpoint of a child.