On Being Like Children

Ye open the eastern windows,
That look towards the sun,
Where thoughts are singing swallows
And the brooks of morning run.

In your hearts are the birds and the sunshine,
In your thoughts the brooklet’s flow,
But in mine is the wind of Autumn
And the first fall of the snow.

Ah! what would the world be to us
If the children were no more?
We should dread the desert behind us
Worse than the dark before.

What the leaves are to the forest,
With light and air for food,
Ere their sweet and tender juices
Have been hardened into wood, —

That to the world are children;
Through them it feels the glow
Of a brighter and sunnier climate
Than reaches the trunks below.

Come to me, O ye children!
And whisper in my ear
What the birds and the winds are singing
In your sunny atmosphere.

For what are all our contrivings,
And the wisdom of our books,
When compared with your caresses,
And the gladness of your looks?

Ye are better than all the ballads
That ever were sung or said;
For ye are living poems,
And all the rest are dead.

Isn’t that a lovely poem? It reminds me how children are so carefree and full of life! They are not burdened and worried, the way we adults can sometimes become.

It reminded me of this verse: Matthew 18:3 Jesus said “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

God applauds the unworried, trusting ways of children and wants us to live in a trusting peaceful state, too. Through prayer, I am asking him to help me become more like the wonderful children in my life.