So whoever will humble himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
– Matthew 18:4
He enters a room with six-year-old abandon, bursting with enthusiasm.
He never shows up at our house empty-handed, though. Sometimes he clutches his newest collection of cards or rocks or fishing gear to show us. Often he brings a gift, handmade, to offer us with solemn blue eyes.
At our delight, he shines and the floodgates open. He fairly dances as the words tumble out in succession: His latest project and how he made it. What he has planned next. Do we want to help him? How about right now?
Eli is the eldest child of our eldest son and like his parents, a minstrel of the King.
He doesn’t play an instrument yet, but like his father, he was born with a song bursting from every fiber of his being. Without reserve he flings his arms around this beautiful thing called life. He embraces God’s creation and instinctively responds to the silent song of the Creator.
His inquisitive nature leads him to the same sorts of questions his father asked at that age as he discovers his world in layers and processes each one.
Why is the sky blue?
But why?
Why blue, though?
Every child is born singing the Song.
Trinity radiated in mirror-image from the face of a child. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit soul-cast in mud. God-kissed creation reaching to touch the face of the Sovereign.
Children believe with open hearts, because no one has yet betrayed their trust. They love unconditionally, because they haven’t learned yet how to set conditions on their affections. They absorb God’s world with wide-eyed wonder because no one has yet filled their eyes with the things that grieve His heart.
They remind us of what we lost and need to reclaim.
The Song never leaves the child. The child grows up and forgets the words.
Eli, thank you for being you. Thank you for loving unconditionally and seeing the world the way the Creator wanted us to see it. Thank you for the Song that flows from you with such joy.
Thank you for reminding me to keep on singing. I want to be just like you when I grow up.
I will remember my song in the night….
– Psalm 77:6
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