“Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” – Matthew 18:3

One of my greatest pleasures is having my grandchildren come to visit for the day. When I am expecting them, I unlock all the doors so they can come right in. They know the way to my house and tell their parents which roads to turn on as they drive along. Soon, I hear their feet pounding and then voices shouting, “Nana, I’m here! I love you more than anything else, and can I have a cookie?” As I stand in the doorway waiting for them, this always puts a smile on my face and joy in my heart.

There are many wise and knowledgeable people in the world, but we can take a spiritual lesson from children. My grandchildren have no trouble announcing that they love me and are excited to see me, or that they love cookies and are excited to get one. There is no struggle in their minds about whether they deserve my love, and if I say the cookie must wait until after dinner or some chore, they do not doubt that they will eventually get it. Why would they have doubts? Grandma has never let them down before.

Much like I stand in the doorway anticipating the arrival of my grandchildren, Jesus stands at the doors of our hearts waiting for us. With joy He is looking for us to come bursting through that door shouting, “Hey, here I am! I love You! Will You fill me to overflowing with Your love again?” The simple love and trust that delights a grandparent also delights our Father in Heaven. And He gets more joy from meeting our requests than we do from answering the requests of our little ones.

If we watch children and listen to their prayers, we can learn something: keep it simple! They love God wholeheartedly, and trust Him to do what He has promised. They may not be able to count to ten or tie their shoes, but they can sing, “Jesus loves me,” and believe it with all their hearts. They can pray that Mommy will feel better and expect it will happen.

Do we want to see the Lord move in our lives? Do we want to see prayers answered? We need to have a simple faith that God loves us unconditionally and will perform what He has promised. Somewhere in life, we tend to drift away from that simple faith to a more complicated way of thinking. Perhaps we start to doubt that He loves us when we realize how much we do not deserve it, and then how easily we can begin to doubt that He will answer our prayers. Instead of listening to those doubts, let us pray to this end: “Lord, give me the faith of my childhood, because nothing is impossible for You.”