14 Days to PeaceSample

If Jesus commanded us to become like little children, it must be possible! 

Pandemic brought loads of worry with it.

Worry plays by no rules and is no respecter of persons. Rich. Poor. Successful. Struggling. Married. Single. Christian. Atheist. Elderly. Middle-aged. Young adult. Teenager. Worry attacks all, except … well, yes, there is one group that seems immune. 

Little children. 

Toddlers don’t lie awake at night in worry. Sure, they can get scared. They can have bad dreams. But two-year-olds don’t brood with angst over future, hypothetical problems. They don’t know the meaning of the word “dread.” 

When our kids were little, we didn’t tell them we were going to the doctor until we arrived at the pediatrician’s office. If they had to get a shot, well, boom, they got it and off we went! A moment of pain but no worry about it ahead of time. 

Ever noticed how few of your worries actually come true? Mark Twain once said: “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.” 

Too often, I feel like the man who complained to his next-door neighbor, “I haven’t gotten any sleep because of your rooster crowing all night long.” 

“Why,” the farmer replied, “that rooster doesn’t crow all night. He crows only two or three times the whole night.” 

“I know,” said the sleepless neighbor, “but I sit up in bed all night waiting for the next crowing.” 

Adults worry because of what they don’t know but think they know. Little children don’t worry because of what they don’t know—and know that they don’t know it. 

In other words, the secret to sleeping like a baby is admitting how little you actually know about the future, and instead of imagining the hypothetical, negative possibilities, simply admitting that God is in control. Do all you can to be safe and help others, but you might as well sleep like a baby because you are not in charge of the world. And that’s the Gospel!

Questions for Reflection:

1) Why do you think Jesus commanded us to become like little children?

2) What are the main things you worry about and why? What does the Scripture say about worrying? Draw lines from those worries to characteristics of God.

3) Pray that God would make you like a child—carefree and worry-less. Lean on Him and find rest, not worry, in not being in control.