We are thankful for children. This may be implicit coming from a children’s ministry, but really – we are thankful for children. Children are joyful – a sad child is a reality, but a rare one. Children so easily give away their smiles, their laughter, their happiness – I wish that attitude was the norm for me, rather than the exception. Children make us believe in make-believe. It is a cold heart that cannot engage children with their jokes, their ideas, their games. Because much of that is as real to children as what they see and feel and hear. I think this is why Jesus says to have faith like a child. Children easily believe in those good old endless things, like hope, and justice, and heroes. Christianity isn’t silly (Christians can be a bit odd) but it requires trusting that something is there even though we can’t experience it with our senses. This comes easily to children. Lastly, we are thankful for children because they remind us that God is not done with this world. To have children means you believe there will be a future for them. Maybe they don’t reach adulthood before The End, but they can experience the joy of walking this earth with a God who loves them very much.
We are thankful for children. Take time this month to thank God for the children in your life – sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, great grandchildren, your friends’ children, the children in our neighborhoods. And I challenge you, because I know you can do it, and because we are called to – reach the children in your life with the gospel. The world will have them if you let it, and the world does not love children. The world may preach open-mindedness, freedom, enlightenment, but we know that’s not what is in the world. The world is cruel and cold. A renewing of the mind comes from knowing Christ. True freedom is being saved by Christ, and abundant life does not come from meditating on the universe, but by hearing and doing the will of God, which is found in His Word.
Will you thank God for the children in your life? And can you express that thankfulness by striving to lead the children in your life to Christ?
Thankful for the children,
Dillon Wertman
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