A Prayer for the Children

Luke 18:15-17 NKJV
"Then they also brought infants to Him that He might touch them; but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 But Jesus called them to Him and said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 17 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.”

My loving Heavenly Father,

Thank You for loving me as Your child.  Thank You for calling me to simple childlike faith.  I have seen that kind of faith in my children and now in my grandchildren.  

I remember kneeling at my mother's knee and asking You to come into my heart when I was only four years old.  I remember Your calling me to preach when I was six.  I can never escape the recollection of Your cleansing and filling my heart with the fullness of Your Holy Spirit when I was sixteen.  Child-like faith.

I remember our daughter praying simply to ask You into her heart when she was just six years old. Our son did the same.  I remember that same little boy, a preschooler, singing songs to Jesus, telling Him of his  childlike love for His Savior.  My children's early prayers lisped heavenward often stirred me to tears.

Now, I am privileged to enjoy three small grandchildren.  I see the same simplicity of faith in them. The wonder on my granddaughter's face when she opens a cherished birthday present.  The anticipation in my grandson's eyes when he carries the iPad to his daddy and says "Baba!"  He is asking his daddy to do a video call with me.  The excitement in my grandson's face when he recites the names of all of the trains in his "Thomas the Tank" collection.  The trust of a toddler to reach his arms upward for me to hold him, only to twist and flex in an attempt to escape my secure grasp.  He never comprehends the danger of the fall if he is successful in attaining freedom from my embrace. Trust.  

And then You tell me to become as a child again.  Convicting.  Challenging.  Inspiring.  You call me to simple faith, an honest trust, a rediscovered wonder, a natural obedience, and an enduring forgiveness.

Thank You for loving children. "It is one of the loveliest things in all the gospel story that Jesus had time for the children when He was on the way to Jerusalem to die" (William Barclay in The Gospel of Luke, 1953, p. 235).  Thank You for my children and grandchildren.  They bless me.  Help me to take time with them.  Thank You for making time for this child of Yours.

Your son.

Amen.