One of our primary responsibilities as Moms is to teach our children; but are there things we can learn from them, too? Evidently Jesus thought so: on one occasion he said to his disciples: ” I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”
There certainly are things I observe in my children which I would like to emulate. I love their spontaneity – their ability to focus on the moment in hand and to enjoy it. Children focus on what they are doing – they don’t get distracted by anxiety about tomorrow or yesterday’s failures or mistakes. Children don’t worry; they assume we’ll take care of them and trust us to do so. Although we do have responsibilities and do need to plan ahead to some extent, how many of us go beyond that and get caught up in worrying about the future? Jesus said that we ought not to worry about tomorrow because God – who is our Heavenly Father – knows what we need and will take care of us. I would like to “live in the moment” as much as my young children do.
Another thing I like about children is that they are free from pretense and prejudices. You don’t have to wonder what they are really thinking, when they tell you something! It is obvious whether they are happy or upset about something. They don’t have prejudices which prevent them from enjoying other people for who they are.
Perhaps this is just my children, but another thing I’ve noticed is that they are cheerful and optimistic. They don’t get up thinking “Oh no, this is going to be a terrible day!” And they make the most of their opportunities, which means that they help themselves to have the best day possible (sometimes at our expense…!) As I said above, yesterday’s failures don’t stay in their minds long; they pick themselves up and try again – and probably succeed this time, because of their persistence.
I hope that I can regain some of the spontaneity, trust, openness, optimism and persistence that I see in my children. I think that to the extent I can, I will enjoy my job as a Mom even more and my children will enjoy me more in turn. And perhaps I will be a little more like God wants me to be, too.