Matthew 19:13-15
The Little Children and Jesus
13 Then people brought little children to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked them.
14 Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” 15 When he had placed his hands on them, he went on from there.
John 17:3
Now this is Eternal Life
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
I remember the first time I read William Wordsworth "Splendor in the Grass"...I felt something inside...It was like I had grown up, and did not even realize it...So as I read the poem I could relate to it...There was a time when everything was radiant, bright, and exciting... Curiosity always filled my mind...But now much of that had changed...I was in school, working and living on my own and keeping busy...Those things that once held my curiosity was leaving or had left and I was closer to this new world...A world where your work, keep busy, and struggle to find that same beauty in the grass that you did when you were five or six or even twelve years old...
SPLENDOR IN THE GRASS by William Wordsworth
What though the radiance
which was once so bright
Be now for ever taken from my sight,
Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendour in the grass,
of glory in the flower,
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be;
In the soothing thoughts that spring
Out of human suffering;
In the faith that looks through death,
In years that bring the philosophic mind.
It seems when we are young, we do have this splendor of many of the simple things...We can find a splendor in the grass...In fact, when we are young you can find splendor in many things and then we grow older and grow up -and maybe see less of the splendor...In C. S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia -Voyage of the Dawn Trader, Lucy asks Aslan when can they come back to Narnia...Aslan answers her "you will never come back to Narnia....You are too old, children...You must begin to get closer to your own world"..."It isn't Narnia, you know," sobbed Lucy..."It's you...We shan't meet you there...And how can we live, never meeting you?"..."But you shall meet me, dear one," said Aslan..."Are — are you there too, Sir?" said Edmund..."I am," said Aslan..."But there I have another name...You must learn to know me by that name...This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there."...
The children in Lewis' story are growing up, they are losing the splendor, they are coming closer to the earthly world now as rational, logical adults...Our vision and outlook changes as we grow older...Our grown up faith must look through death...And the next several years will bring us a more philosophical mind...Maybe a less splendored mind...Aslan, as Lewis explained is an alternative to our Christ...Aslan is like Jesus, describing the things in our world, as well as Narnia...We grow up as innocent children, believing much and having the invitation of Jesus "for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."...The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the little children...
As we grow up, we leave the world of make believe (we leave Narnia), and view the "real world" in a more sophisticated way and a more formal way...And probably a more educated way...We may have gotten older, but God is still here...He is the LIVING GOD...Our lives and our youthful plans turn out most of the time different than the plans we had when we were twelve years old...Our lives are a story...There are detours and there are changes, in our lives, in even our best laid plans...Our journey changes, but God's destination for us in the end does not change...For this very reason, God gives us our youth, to give us a slight glimpse of the Kingdom of Heaven...Perhaps, so we will know Him better in this world...Our goal is to be united with Him, in His Kingdom...And to reach this goal, it takes our death...Our goal is not answered by us because we have done this or done that...We may take the wrong path as the prodigal son did...The goal is reached because we have a LOVING Father...He is with us every step of the way...Even when the road seems terrible and full of potholes, He is there...It is not the steps we take in this world and always walking down the right or wrong path that gets us where we need to go...It is His LOVING and gracious steps toward us and the faith we have in God and His Son, that give us eternal life with Them...