During a time of my life when I felt completely NUMB and unable to feel joy, I was given the opportunity to ‘teach’ little children.
Just being around them melted my heart and their love of life showed me how to feel joy again in mine! Their wisdom was above their years … or maybe because of it! I realize now that was the point of the opportunity in the first place … not to ‘teach’ the little children … but that the little children ‘teach’ me.
“Ya, Be Quiet and Wait”
I learned from little 6 yr old Max, with all his profound life experience, what we can do when things are hard and it seems like our prayers aren’t being answered. When asked, he belted loudly in his high pitched voice: “Ya Be Quiet and Wait!”
Ya Be Quiet and Wait. Wow! How simple, yet how huge, right? Silence your doubts, stop listening to your fears and just wait on the Lord. Spot on, Max. It doesn’t get more simple or more powerful than the pure faith of a child TRUSTING COMPLETELY in their Heavenly Father. In His timing, in His care and in His unending love.
Be Quiet and Wait. Trust the Lord’s timing and His love.
We are His children, He knows what He’s doing.
Changed by a Soft Heart
I learned from little 6 yr old Ella, with her singularly larger-than-life heart, that we need to have a soft heart when listening for the word of the Lord.
She told me about a stone when water is poured over it … No matter how much or how strong the water is, the stone is too hard and it won’t let the water in. A sponge, however, even if it is hard to start, allows the water in, as much as it possibly can … and holds onto it, as much as it possibly can! That’s why it is changed by it!
Cultivate a Soft heart. Break down that hard heart.
Allow the words and Grace of the Lord in! Soak up and hold onto as much as possible!
Our hearts will expand and we will be changed!!
Thank you for Happy
I learned from little 4 yr old Clara as she offered a clear, simple prayer, straight from her soul. Second line of her simple prayer was, “Thank you that we can be happy.”
Wow. Again, how simple, but how huge! I have never thought to thank my Heavenly Father simply for the ability to BE happy! What a gift that ability is!! For the capacity, for the choice, even just that I can FEEL happiness as I am tried and tested in this mortal experience.
Thank you Heavenly Father that we can Be Happy!
An Abundance of Everything Needful
I realized recently that I can Be Happy simply because I am blessed. And we all, each one of us, have the ability to say that! Yes, we have struggles, pain and heartache, but we ALL are SO INCREDIBLY BLESSED.
Lately, I’ve been thinking of the word *NEEDFUL*. Just the word keeps coming into my head. I’m realizing, of the things that are truly needful, I have those IN ABUNDANCE. Everything that is truly needful, the Lord is providing me right now IN ABUNDANCE!! I have air to breathe, I have light, I have shelter and sustenance, I have LOVE … If it is truly needful, I have it, right now, IN ABUNDANCE! And yes, He is providing many, MANY of my wants as well!
Thank you Heavenly Father for the perspective of *truly needful* and providing all those things in such abundance! We have so much to be grateful for!!
Realizing Contentment
A little card on my fridge reminds me that Gratitude turns what we have into Enough. What a blessing the contentment of *enough* is! I love the perspective of *enough*. The Savior, in His life, was all about *enough*. Not too little, not to excess, but Enough.
And realizing that in our lives … we have Enough, we are Enough, our efforts are Enough … Enough is what the Lord asks of us. We are thoroughly capable of Enough.
My hope is, in this current season of life, that we realize the contentment of enough! We realize even more that the Lord is providing us with everything truly needful in abundance and He will continue to do so! We are incredibly blessed and have every reason in the world to simply choose to Be Happy!
And when things are hard, which they often are — especially when it seems like God is not answering our prayers — that we can remember to Just Be Quiet and Wait. Trust that He not only has us well in hand, but is literally PAVING the way before us to succeed in everything needful! And as we continue to follow Him with a soft heart, open and accepting to His words and His Grace, He will carry us through every hardship and every change.
Have a lovely and enjoyable season of life, full of the amazing, continual light and love of our Savior, Jesus Christ … IN ABUNDANCE!!! ❤️❤️
