The child in our thought

It's not something we can leave to others. Nurturing childlike trust and spiritual receptivity is our responsibility!

When I see a small child with rosy cheeks and glowing eyes reach up to take a parent's hand, I am again made aware of the wonderful gift that trust is. It shows the real beauty of faith and the peace and stability that come when there is no fear. We can each cherish this childlike trust and receptivity in our lives. And by protecting and nurturing childlikeness in our own hearts, we strengthen it for everyone, everywhere. Such childlike thinking is a blessing; it opens our thought to a holy state of consciousness that advances with meekness to receive God's goodness, to be obedient to His wisdom, and to feel the warmth of His constant love and protection.

Spiritually receptive, childlike thought, then, is not something that we grow out of or away from, but closer to, as we learn more of God and our relationship to Him. Mrs. Eddy writes in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health, of the need for childlike receptivity: "Willingness to become as a little child and to leave the old for the new, renders thought receptive of the advanced idea." Science and Health, pp. 323–324. There can be no real spiritual growth or understanding without this willingness. It is the foundation for healing.

Many contemporary life styles are rejecting the strength and simplicity of this Christlike purity. Children and their purity seem to be under attack in so many ways throughout the world. Apathy, rejection, disdain for young people and their welfare— these are attitudes that perpetuate the false images of young people as self-centered, undisciplined, disrespectful, and so forth. We need to nurture the child in children and pray for their freedom (and our own) from materiality and the false influences of worldliness and peer pressure. In our prayer we can replace these false images with the understanding that the true identity of God's creation is perfect, obedient, and pure.

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Moving—the God-directed way
August 22, 1988
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