Our first morning in Delhi, we walked over to the orphanage for breakfast. At first, the children were keeping to themselves, but the moment you get on their level, they open right up and love.
My legs became a railroad tunnel for a dilapidated plastic train, my lap a LaZboy recliner, and a broken wheel doubled as a cricket ball.
Here in India, you call someone older than you “Auntie” or “Uncle” as a sign of respect…and for an aunt who misses her precious niece and nephew very much, this is the best thing since hot chapati. My aunt instincts kicked in on high and I no longer needed to look presentable or mature- I was running around on the rooftop and being loud.
Children bring out this freedom in us. They tear down our fortresses of defense and our towers of self-importance. They have the ability to love as the Father loves- wholeheartedly, without condition or restraint.
And aside from showing us up in the love department, these children also blew us away with their faith. We would come over for dinner and they would be in their rooms singing Hillsong, quoting Scripture, and laying hands on one another and interceding…we’re talking 3-12 year olds. Unprompted. Just digging into the Father.
When you get older, you allow so many things to complicate the simplicity of things. The more knowledge and accolades we accrue, the more we think we’ve “arrived”. We make it about us, when it’s always been about Him. God is showing me, more and more, how children really get it. They don’t allow pride or insecurity to cloud their views of themselves, of others, or of God.
In Matthew 11:25, Jesus puts it like this:
“O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, thank you for hiding these things from those who think themselves wise and clever, and for revealing them to the childlike.”
May we never become too self-important or busy to sit in the dust and learn from these bright treasures.
