Mark 10:13-16 (NRSV)
Read Mark 10:13-16 on biblegateway.com
Verse 13People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. Verse 14But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Verse 15Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." Verse 16And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.
Devotion
My wife and I are blessed with two young sons. Kristian demonstrates a great conscientiousness in tasks he undertakes. At times he worries, but then seems to channel such worry into jobs well done. Nils, on the other hand, has always been free of second thoughts. He demonstrates an enviable reliance upon his natural gifts.
Yet, both boys enjoy the child’s capacity to let go of everything at the day’s end. They pray bedtime prayers of thanksgiving and intercession, and then promptly sleep soundly till morning calls them into action.
Perhaps this is one of the observations which led Jesus to bless and uphold little children as model citizens of the kingdom. Elsewhere Jesus admonished his followers to have no anxiety for the morrow. “Consider the birds of the air and the lilies of the field,” he said, to which he might well have added “and the sleeping children in their beds!”
Prayer
May we not carry one day’s cares into the next, but rather sleep the unburdened sleep of children. Take us up and bless us, Lord. Amen.