Our four-year-old grandson, Oliver, provided a very special lesson to me that impacted my praying. Let me set this up for you.
Oliver is a sweet, blond haired boy who can go off and play by himself or have you play with him. He does well either way, depending on his mood and the moment. We call him Ollie or Ollie-pop. He loves trucks and excavators. He also loves it when we set up a fort or den with blankets draped over chairs. Grandpa gets to play the grizzly bear while Ollie and his sister, Charlie, scream, laugh, and jump on the grizzly’s back.
In the midst of all of the playing and without warning, Ollie will stop what he is doing and say, “I love you, Grandpa.” The words might be accompanied by a kiss or a hug. It’s so random! We can just be walking in a store with him sitting in the shopping cart or walking beside you. He will ask a question followed by 50 “whys”. Then, he will just say, “I love you, Grandpa.”
That melts you faster than butter on a hot biscuit on the hottest day of the year! What prompted it? What was he thinking just before he said it? He isn’t trying to schmooze something out of grandpa. He hasn’t been asking for anything while using those words as if to manipulate me. There’s nothing asked for after he says it. He will just go back to what he was doing, picking up right where he left off. While I can’t answer the why?, I can tell you that it is the best thing in the world to hear those words come voluntarily from his heart and mouth.
I love you, Grandpa.
This really hit me the other day while I was driving and praying. I was talking to the Lord, thanking Him for a variety of things when I told Him that I loved Him. That felt like it came out of nowhere and I was a little stunned by the rapid transition. That’s when I thought about Ollie. This is the action of childlike faith and trust in our Abba Father.
Matthew 18:1-4 says, “At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? (2) And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, (3) And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. (4) Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”
If you have forgotten the simplistic trust, joy, and affection of a little child, you need to get around some and be reminded what it looks like. We are never commanded to be childish. We are to be childlike. There’s a big difference!
Imagine today being so caught up loving our Father and just out of the blue saying, “I love you” to God. Joshua 23:11 says, “Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the LORD your God.”
Images are taken from https://pixabay.com/, https://www.pexels.com/, or https://unsplash.com/images or created in Windows Copilot. According to the websites, they are Royalty Free and free to be used for our purposes.
