From the Editors September 29, 2014 Issue

Learning as a child

Susan Stark

A child tends to come to each new lesson with a clean slate—fresh and ready to learn. Watching young children gives us a glimpse of how much potential is ours. When it comes to learning the spiritual concepts taught in Christian Science, we learn eagerly by becoming childlike.

Childlikeness, which is not anything like childishness, embraces an almost uncountable number of strong qualities. They include purity, faith in God, humility, innocence, trust, and a love for good that includes a natural rejection of wrong. Above all, children are teachable.

Children were welcome in Christ Jesus’ presence. The great Teacher associated childlikeness with the kingdom of heaven and encouraged his disciples to be like children. The disciples once asked Jesus, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He answered, “Whosoever … shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1, 4).

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