BECOMING AS LITTLE CHILDREN...

NOTE:  I am now in my 15th year of writing a monthly Visiting Teaching Letter to the sisters in my ward who are on the "no-contact" list.  A few years ago I compiled some of those "LETTERS OF TESTIMONY" into a small booklet to share with family and friends.

For the last several months the topic of the monthly Relief Society lesson has featured attributes of the Savior.  For April the attribute for study is "without guile or hypocrisy".  It is an attribute I want to emulate all the time, though I fall down sometimes. 

In thinking about personal experiences with this particular attribute of Christ, I remembered this little incident in the early 70's.  I have decided to keep it as a handy reference to remind me why the Savior has asked us to become like little children.  (See The Ensign, April 2015, p. 7 for the complete lesson reference.)

April 2015

I have a unique painting of Jesus Christ displayed in my home.  In it Jesus looks like a carefree young man who is carrying a little boy on his shoulders.  They both look happy.

The scriptures are clear that Christ liked to be with little children.  He took them into his arms and blessed them in both the Old and New Worlds.  In Mark he said, "...for of such is the kingdom of God."

We can imagine that the kingdom of God is peopled with those who are without guile or hypocrisy--that is what little children are.  We can learn much about being without guile from them.  They are innocent, honest, and pure.  They are not trying to act differently from what they are feeling or thinking.   There is no ulterior motive for their actions, no putting on a mask to hide something they are not.  They are simply like Christ--without guile or hypocrisy which is the attribute of Jesus Christ we are learning about this month.

Years ago when my two oldest boys were just toddlers, my husband decided to go back to school and therefore went straight to the university every night when he left work in Denver before coming home to Arvada.  That meant the evenings without him were long and lonely.  So I devised a little activity that my small boys and I looked forward to and enjoyed for a couple of hours on those weekday evenings.  I called it "School" and suggested since Daddy was at school, we could be at school, too.  Every night after their baths, we would gather around the kitchen table where I had laid out little exercise books, puzzles, word games and other fun learning activities.  That was the incentive they had not to spend too much time playing in the bath tub.

One night Brice was having such a good time in the tub, he just didn't want to get out.  I'm not sure if I had something special I wanted to share with both of them at the same time or maybe I was weary or had something I needed to do after they went to bed or maybe I was just tired of being alone at night without Ross.  But...after repeated reminders, I gave the ultimatum that if Brice didn't get out of the tub right then, he would have to go straight to bed and not play "School" with us that night.

Another few minutes passed while Harold and I kept busy doing something together at the kitchen table.  Suddenly a scrubbed and cheerful Brice

appeared in the doorway with a bright smile ready to join in.  I flat out told him he had taken too much time and lost his turn to play school that night.  I was firm. "Go to bed!"  Brice's face fell in disappointment and his smile faded, but I was adamant.

Then Harold spoke up.  He told me Brice hadn't meant to take so long in the tub, and couldn't we--just this once--let him play with us instead of having to go to bed all by himself?  Please...?

It wasn't what Harold said.  It was the two big tears that were coursing down his cheeks in pure empathy that made me realize these weren't two little kids bent on making me upset or deliberately dawdling so MY plan didn't work.  Here were two sweet little boys who just wanted to be together with me and do the fun things we had been doing every single night.  That flash of understanding stabbed me straight to my hardened heart.

I learned a lot about "without guile and hypocrisy" that night and why Christ put the little children in his midst and told the people they needed to become like them-- because the little children were like him.  Understanding that concept will help us strive to follow Christ's example.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the First Presidency said, "None of us is quite as Christlike as we know we should be.  But we earnestly desire to overcome our faults and the tendency to sin.  With our heart and soul we yearn to become better with the help of the Atonement of Jesus Christ."

That inspiring picture of Jesus with the little boy on his shoulders is on the wall that faces the staircase in my home.  Almost every day when I come down those stairs I am reminded that Christ liked to be with little children.  I want to be "child-like".  I want Christ someday to "like" to be with me.

The lesson says, "We know 'we will be judged according to our actions, the desires of our hearts, and the kind of people we have become.'  Yet as we strive to repent, we will become more pure--and 'blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God'".

We cannot go far astray if we keep looking to little children, who are without guile and hypocrisy, as our role models while we work on emulating the Savior.