The Children Teach

“And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, ‘Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’” 

Matthew 18:3

Written by Miss MacDougall

I’ve quickly learned on my teaching journey that there is quite possibly as much for me to learn from my students as they can learn from me.

Christ tells us there is much spiritual wisdom we adults can glean from the disposition of children. Many saints and theologians have spoken about this “way” of spiritual childhood.

Saint Therese of Lisieux, “the Little Flower” is one saint particularly well known for her “little way of love and trust.” She believed that the best way to get to heaven was by doing ordinary things with total love and abandonment to God’s plan, like a child who depended on her Father; and she lived it too.

Through my day-to-day teaching, I often see how Christ is calling me to become more childlike, so I too can hopefully “enter the kingdom of heaven,” starting in the here and now. 

One thing I’m reminded of by my students is to be more teachable. Younger children have a special receptivity to both tender guidance and firm admonishment. We adults can become set in our ways, losing mental and spiritual elasticity over time. Seeing the children’s openness makes me realize I should be more receptive to God and what He is teaching me through my everyday circumstances and interactions with others.

The love and affection little children have for their teachers and caregivers is pure and precious. Children trust more easily and naturally than adults. Their hearts are already wide open, eager to accept our love. I’m reminded that I should treat God in much the same way. 

If the children can trust us, their flawed, human caregivers, how much more should we be ready to trust and ask for love from our Heavenly Father: an all-loving, all-powerful God, and the giver of all good!

Children depend on us. They ask for and accept our help. I’m consequently reminded that I should depend on God. Just as the children recognize when they can’t do the math question alone, or aren’t able to open their water bottle without help, I should recognize when I need to ask for God’s grace in my life. 

The younger children are, the more frequent their spontaneous hugs, “I love yous” and declarations of “you are the best teacher!” And so, I’m reminded to give spontaneously, and to “love without counting the cost.” (Mother Teresa)

Saint Therese, in her autobiography A Story of Soul says: 

“The elevator which must raise me to the heavens is Your arms, O Jesus! For that I do not need to grow; on the contrary, I must necessarily be small, become smaller. O my God, You have surpassed what I expected, and I want to sing Your mercies.”

Independence and self-sufficiency may be celebrated traits when it comes to worldly affairs. But Christ teaches that the simplest way to heaven is by becoming little, trusting, receptive, and dependent children, allowing our all-loving Father to carry us in His arms; and that is what my students teach me too.