The other day, a friend remarked, “You certainly do enjoy your time with young children and babies.” I had told him about a joyful evening I’d spent with another friend’s two young children. His comment made me realize just how much I had changed since becoming a student of Christian Science about two years ago. It meant so much to me to realize that my devoted study of Christian Science was making a beautiful and visible change in my character. Not only do I now enjoy children, but I find them to be my spiritual teachers. Here’s what I mean. 

Before Christian Science came into my life, I was completely uninterested in children and failed to understand why others were drawn to them. I observed that people seemed to love having children, but I identified more with the viewpoint of some that children are burdensome and too much work. However, I had read in the Bible of the importance Jesus placed on children, saying, “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3). So, what was I missing?

After beginning my study of Christian Science, I became conscious for the first time in my life of the overwhelming fact that through God-directed prayer, I could put off, or grow out of, anything about myself that did not align with God’s idea of me as a perfect, spiritual expression of His nature and qualities. Now I wondered if this could include changing my view of children. Could I wholeheartedly love and welcome the company of children?