After posting this photo from Appleton, Wisconsin on a page of recent photos in the Appleton area of my Website, I was touched by the simple beauty and harmony of the two children as they selected flowers at our local farmers’ market. In a world of anger and hate, how desperately we need to remember the plea of Jesus Christ that we become as little children. One of several such passages is found in the Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 9:22:
Therefore, whoso repenteth and cometh unto me as a little child, him will I receive, for of such is the kingdom of God. Behold, for such I have laid down my life, and have taken it up again; therefore repent, and come unto me ye ends of the earth, and be saved.
I love the way many little children – the sweet ones – play together (not all are sweet all the time, of course – some learn to be nasty far too early, and some just have bad days every now and then). For these archetypical little children, differences in skin color, religious beliefs, economic status, and political viewpoints do not stand in the way of friendship and enjoyment of one another’s company. There is a childlike openness and warmth that seems akin to the charity that Christ calls us to seek – a gift that is miraculous and beyond the abilities of us jaded adults to feign or develop ourselves. It takes a miraculous rebirth and infusion of God’s power, as Moroni 7 teaches (“pray with all the energy of heart” that we might receive this gift of charity).
We all need this gift. I know I do.
As a lifelong “mormon”, I finally took the advice to “become as a little child…”, giving up all my long-held beliefs and essentially asking God to show me what Truth was…what was eternal truth, not the dogma of mortal men, but the “Truths of God.” Lo and behold, I was taken on a journey of unprecedented growth, learning that I didn’t know anything, and finding that if I wanted to know Truth I would have to let go of my security blanket which I clung to so tenaciously–Mormonism. What wonderful, exhilarating, fascinating possibilities unfolded as I slowly but surely let go of those beliefs that had bound me and kept me from growing spiritually and emotionally! I have discovered a world I never knew existed, and I would not go back to the confining dogma of Mormonism for all the money in the world! This isn’t what you wanted to hear, but it is the truth–at least for me. I once thought that there was no good in Mormonism, but now I see that is serves a purpose for those that need it. I look at it as “spiritual preschool”. I don’t fight or resist it, but accept it as necessary for those that need a beginning course into spirituality…and also for those who use it as a drug to numb them to reality, using it as a “boat” to get across the lake of “life”, but refusing to get out on the other side and continue on their journey through the desert. They just want to stay in the “boat”. (Thanks to Alan Watts for the analogy of religion as a boat.)