Everything I Learned About Listening To My Children…

I Learned From Jesus

Part 1

Is there anybody in there?

Is there anything more heartbreaking than seeing a little child trying to get her/his mom’s attention, only to have her give a quick “uh-huh” in response while scanning the shelves for a can of peas? Is there anything sadder than a little child attempting to talk to dad about her/his day only to have him wave her off while he is talking on the cell phone?

Many of us have call waiting on our telephones; I am here to break it to you that our children do not come equipped thusly. Our children are constantly “on”, and they do not “hold” very well. Granted, there are times when you will have to ask them to wait for a moment, but in reality, these times are few and far between. More often than not the musings of a child take the backseat to whatever activity we are currently engaged in. Shame on us! Are we busier than Jesus was? Did He not have one or two things on His plate? While He was preaching the good news, raising people from the dead, teaching His disciples, keeping a busy public speaking schedule at the local synagogue or mountaintop, healing a few incurables, and single-handedly cleaning out a temple, it appears that He still made the time to interact with children...and they weren’t even His!

The disciples, ever ready to open mouths and insert feet, rebuked the parents who brought their children to Jesus. Yet instead of simply waving them off, and making a few blessing hand gestures, Jesus was upset! The NIV refers to Jesus as being indignant; the KJV calls Him displeased; this is the only recorded time that the Bible refers to Jesus as being displeased or indignant. Roget's Interactive Thesaurus defines “indignant” as an adjective conveying the concept of anger. It suggests alternates such as “boiling, furious, heated, and livid“. Jesus then proceeded to rebuke his disciples but turned to the children and took them in His arms.

Take the time to stop and remember you are at the center of your child’s life and we as parents need to affirm to them that they are precious in God's sight, fearfully and wonderfully made! Over the course of the next few weeks I want to challenge all of us to re-examine how we interact and are perceived by our children.

God’s not done with us yet!