Thankful Thursday – The Faith of a Child

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.”  (Matthew 11:25)

And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 18:3)

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."  (Matthew 19:14)

The beauty of Christmas, for me, is seeing it through the eyes of my children.

During our family time on Monday night, we talked about the way Christmas is traditionally celebrated in Great Britain.  One of the traditions we discussed was the children writing letters and leaving them beside the fireplace for Santa to “claim”. 

As one of our activities that night, each child wrote his/her letter to Santa.  (Okay, Sam didn’t actually “write” his, but he did a great job dictating to Mama what he wanted it to say!)  :-)

After finishing up, we placed them all in envelopes which the children decorated with crayons, markers, and pretty Christmas stickers.  Each child then deposited their letter on the floor in front of our fireplace.

Then we forgot about them.

Yesterday, when my Mom came to visit, we all gathered in the family room to watch The Santa Claus Movie (one of Nana’s favorites). 

There was a scene early on in the movie (during the explanation of how “Santa” became “Santa”) in which the children wrote letters and placed them before the fireplace.  Magically they would begin to sparkle, and be taken up the chimney to be delivered to Santa and his elves. 

At that point in the movie, Jacob turned around and looked at me in wide-eyed wonder.  Then he looked towards the fireplace. 

I could see his “wheels turning” so I said, “Oh My!!  What happened to YOUR letters?”

His face beamed and he replied, “Santa got them!”

Then Emilee chimed in, “Mama, oh Mama, do you really think?…”

And then I assured her that Santa MOST DEFINITELY got her letter. ;-)

Magic.  Pure magic.

Oh I’m not referring to the fact that the letters mysteriously disappeared up the fireplace to Santa’s Castle in the North Pole, but the gleam in my little ones’ eyes, and the bountiful faith in their precious little hearts.

You see, that’s the way our Savior wants us to approach Him. 

…to see Him in wide-eyed wonder.

…to trust him with abandon. 

…to believe Him to oblivion.

That is why I pray for the “faith of a child” today.

And I am so very thankful for my own little children who teach me this truth so well every single day.

 

Be sure to join us over at Grace Alone to share your thankful heart.